Let me start this review with acknowledging one fact right from the start:
I love fishing but I DO NOT like fishing for cuts of meat in a meat fondue bowl! So If you a lover of meat fondue or as I call it "fishing with stick in a hot bowl" then by all means visit Restaurang Stäket as it is a meat fondue institution.
To be honest Stäket is not only a meat fondue institution, it is a city institution being one of the most classical, oldest, highly reviewed and regarded restaurants in the small town of Lund.
However in my opinion we are now beyond the point of classic. Everything, not only the building and the décor but even the menu and the visitors, are retro. In fact it is so much so that if this place was in the states it would without a doubt be a mid-evil theme restaurant. Also as the rumor has it changes are few and far between, during the last 20 years.
Being an institution is truly a double-edged sword, it can be assuring but it also can result in an Era of Stagnation. The Kitchen turnouts are the living proof of this stagnation. The biggest problem is the fact that Stäket relies so heavily on the costumers being in love with the old classics such as meat fondue and Plank steak (beef on a oak plank with duchesse potato). So much so that the rest of the menu gets as much or as I see it as little attention as the classic dishes mentioned above. Let's face it a plank made in the oven or a meat fondue, with mainly cold sauces doesn't really make or break or test a kitchen and its chef.
In conclusion what this kitchen puts out, is somewhat sloppy, uneven and uninspiring and I am refraining from the usage of the word Retro. In fact the generous cuts of meat or fish, more in term of quantity and not quality, are often bland and given life by the side orders.
For instance the garlic & thyme baked lamb gets its taste from the rosemary sauce and YES you are right not from garlic nor thyme. The Chocolate cake is really a volcanic lava-like texture brownie relying heavily on the sour cream served on the side to balance its overwhelming sweetness. it is not gooey it is more dry and lumpy. I also suspect that the duchesse potatoes are sometimes made out of a box as in "Instant Mashed Potato Powder" as the texture varies from dense,heavy and thick to fluffy and light. And If not made out of a box, it only goes to show how uneven this kitchen has become. read more