Silvis Restaurang — Restaurant in Göteborgs Stad

I love Middle Eastern food. It is naturally a very vegan friendly cuisine with plenty of options such as the classics hummus or baba ganoush, but also different types of vegetables in all sorts of forms. Unfortunately, Gothenburg doesn’t offer many places with a cuisine like that, and primarily you will find shady falafel sheds. So, Silvis is a nice sight, as it tries to give Middle Eastern cuisine the respect and celebration it deserves.

Silvis is located somewhat hidden in a side street right next to Andra Långgatan. To me, it was invisible for years until I finally got to know of it. Upon entering however, a beautiful vibe was presented. This feels like someone with passion is owning and managing this place. Good first impression, despite the randomised tiles with no clear pattern. Upon seating we receive a massive menu, but it offers tasting menus with a variety of dishes for the undecided folks like we are. We opted for the small version, Aladdin, for 269 SEK/person. They can make all of them vegan, so that’s a great sight. Despite having a fully packed place, waiting time was quite short and we started to receive our first dishes, hummus, baba ganoush, salad, olives and some bread. And oh boy, was the hummus a heavenly experience. In this sense: if your hummus is good, you already win.

Our second part of dishes had some halloumi in it, but the waiting staff was very professional and changed it up fast, so we received our next dishes shortly thereafter. An assortment of falafel, tahini sauce, skillet fried cauliflower and filled wine leafs. Again, all of it was rather well adjusted and we started to fill up. Just as we were about to finish our food, being happily full, we got a surprise: another course with some more food! Quite unexpected, but alright.

Unfortunately the third round consisted of meat alternatives to chicken and minced meat, made in a similar fashion. I wasn’t a particularly happy about all of that, but hey, I didn’t know it will come either. Still, next time I would choose to opt out of this course and instead add a few more bowls of hummus or have more cauliflower.

The bill ended up being somewhere around 310 SEK per person, so all in all very affordable for a large variety of good Middle Eastern food. Professional service on top and this really feels like a place you can show your loved ones. It was a good evening.

Silvis delivers. The hummus is fluffy as clouds look like, the right balance of acidity and earthy taste is found and the whole menu assortment is a beautiful evening. Only downside are the vegan alternatives to meat (Oomph instead of chicken and vegan mince instead of minced meat) as they just fall flat and don’t have the same vibe. My advice: just don’t take them and instead get more cauliflower or falafel or whatever you desire.

Definitely worth visiting and...

Being another sad example of a takeaway that tries itself as a restaurant, this place has managed to insult all of our senses in less than one hour - and this even includes our sense of humor! In hindsight, already the first impression should have been a warning: this is basically a smaller three-room apartment turned into a greasy spoon with is brummagem all over the place and the tables so densely packed that people can barely move to their seat without hitting somebodys head with their elbow. Anyway, after sitting down, the first thing we had to order was a new plate, as one of those placed there was badly cleaned and still showed remnants of previous patron's meal. A gleam of hoped seemed the menu which listed a variety of Palestinian specialities. But we were soon about to be disabused of the idea that this place might be a hidden gem after all. When our choice fell on an offer to have a selection of 9 different dishes the staff informed us that this will be "chef's choice" only, and it would not be up to us to choose any of the dishes. Furthermore, as we were quite hungry and in the mood for a savoury meal, we ended up having to opt for a selection of at least 11 dishes, as ordering fewer that that would only be an assortment of appetisers that does not even include a single meat dish at all. When they served our meal we were beyond crestfallen, rarely before had we seen such a spiritlessly and half-heartedly prepared repast! The meat was overcooked, the pastry was dry as dust and there was not a single dish that could have been called condimental or flavoursome. As a final disappointment, we had to discover that the "selection of Palestinian specialities" included, each of which counted as a full dish, nota bene, a bowl of bland tzatziki, an unimaginative 'pickled vegetables pot-pourri' of the same kind you can find in any supermarket, and, to add insult to injury, a bowl of insipidly saggy fries. Needless to say, after such a doleful experience we had dessert at a...

Vi får ett bord inne i lokalen jämte det öppna köket som finns i restaurangen. Magiskt var det när man ser chef tillagat mat a la minuten.

Vi får matmenyn och allt ser gott ut, så jag säger till köksmästaren att vi vill ha sallad och kött med olika såser och röror, vi ville inte krångla eftersom restaurang var full och personalen var så snälla att fixa ett bord till oss.

Jag fixar det svarar han och kommer fram och serverade oss vin. Riktig bra libanesisk vin!

Stämningen i lokalen var magisk, alla pratade med varandra och jag hörde hur gästerna njöt med maten vilket gjorde oss mer nyfikna och hungriga. Köksmästaren frågade om vi gillade lamm, långkok lamm. Självklart svarar jag, jag äter allt som är bra och han tittar på mig och ler.

Vi sitter där njuter av vinet och miljön. Tio, femton minuter senare kommer servitriser fram med små tallrikar och olika såser. Jag tänkte så mycket har vi inte beställd undrar om vi kommer att orka äta upp allt det här och här börjar en av mina bästa gastronomiska upplevelser som jag har upplevt hemma i Sverige på ett restaurang besök.

Vi fick en sallad som heter Taoubule. Persilja sallad med bulgur, tomater och mynta med citron på toppen. En otroligt fräsch mix av smaker, soft och rund i munnen men ändå fullt med spännande smaker. Mycket hackad persilja tillsammans med mynta är verkligen gott och exotiskt.

Kikärts röra med sesampasta och vitlök. En mjuk röra vacker tillagt på tallriken med en bra smakbalans. Riktig bra tillsammans med taoubule och det färska, varma bröd vi fick.

Vi fick stekt haloumi ost med mynta och kryddiga korva som bara smälte i munnen. Det serverades också en talrik med ljummen potatis sallad, mjuka och goda. Här saknade jag lite olivolja och flinksalt till potatis, men det var gott ändå. Och sen kom köttet. Vi kunde inte tro det så gott allt smakade men köttet var så perfekt tillagat att det gjorde succé till hela middagen. Stora lamm bitar som har varit ångkokta och köttet konsistensen var perfekt med ett lätt tuggstånd som bara smälte i munnen. Köttet var enkelt kryddat så att man verkligen kunde njuta till maximal köttet smaker. Det var exotisk, oerhört gott och påminner mig lite åt osobuco håller (nötkött av prima kvalitet) men ändå långkok lamm med eget personlighet. Fantastisk.

Vi fick också andra små rätter som bara överraskade oss mycket positiv hela tiden. Vi var mätta men vi kunde inte sluta äta, varje tugg var underbar och kändes godare och godare hela tiden. Sanningen var att vi kunde äta hela köttet portion eftersom det verkligen var generösa portioner och så gött och allt som serverades komplimenterades så väl till varandra så var verkligen en dröm till smakerna. Utan att överdriva, vårt oplanerade besöka hos Silvis restaurang var verkligen en av det bästa gastronomiska upplevelse som jag har varit med under alla mina år i restaurang branschen därför bestämde jag mig att skriva om mitt besök och rekommenderar varm att ni upptäcker en spännande, vacker och framförallt gott kök som Silvis restaurang bjuder till sina gäster.

Här räcker inte säga eller skriva att maten lagas med kärlek! Här lagas maten med mycket kärlek och korrekta gastronomiska kunskaper som kommer ifrån an anrika kultur.

Jag tackar Silvis restaurang med personalen och själva ägaren Bassam Totari för en felfritt utmärkt service och framförallt för en amazing mat vi fick smaka.

Jag kommer definitiv tillbaka för mer god mat och njuta av spännande libanesiska viner.

Cheers / Christian...