SK Mat & Människor — Restaurant in Göteborgs Stad

Today we visited this restaurant. Our expectations for a one-Michelin-star restaurant were as follows: the food should create a wow effect, revealing complex layers of flavor step by step, evoking delight with each taste and combination.

The reality: The starter was good — I’d even say slightly above what you’d expect from a typical Michelin restaurant starter, which is usually intentionally restrained in flavor, preparing the palate for something special ahead. Unfortunately, everything that followed was disappointing.

The dishes were no better than what you’d find in an ordinary Scandinavian-style restaurant. The flavors were flat — lacking depth or a sense of gradual unfolding. The textures were questionable: a mix of soft and hard elements where the soft part hadn’t even melted in your mouth before you were already chewing something tough, losing the delicate sensation.

The main course — duck — was overall fine, but the sauce was very basic, and the dish’s potential remained unrealized. I’ve had far more impressive versions in regular Scandinavian restaurants.

However, special compliments go to the desserts. They ranged from very good to absolutely outstanding — with a multi-layered composition of flavors that revealed themselves in three to four stages. It was a true fireworks display of sensations.

Expectations for the wine pairing: it should have been a harmonious complement to the dishes, with a selection clearly superior to what one could assemble on their own.

Reality: a six-course set with six glasses of wine, all French, mostly young. I’m not a fan of French wines, and the first three glasses had a rather basic, flat taste with the characteristic tartness of young wines. That said, I’ve had much more interesting selections of young wines in other Michelin restaurants. The red wines were considerably better — more aromatic, deeper in flavor, and smoother to drink.

At the very end, we were served Swedish apple wine (7% alcohol). It had a deep, bright, fruity apple flavor — in my opinion, even too intense, especially for a final glass.

As for the service: nothing special, really — rather basic, with a minus sign. The restaurant was quite noisy; you could not clearly hear the staff talking, which broke the atmosphere. The service felt rushed. There was no sense of synchronization, care, or personal attention — though, to be fair, that’s somewhat typical for Scandinavian service standards.

There was no mention of who the head chef or sous-chef was, nor any storytelling or sense of culinary identity. The biggest downside: no one accompanied us to retrieve our coats from the wardrobe. For a restaurant where you’re spending a good amount of money — tips included — guests deserve a higher level...

4.5/5

Really great food.

Service was warm, yet extremely polished. Every action was deliberate, including how they set the cutlery. The way they spoke was very clearly polished, but there were human smiles, banter, and conversation that made the experience feel much warmer than say a Koka. Being able to see the chefs plate and work was also incredible, and being served by them and talking through some of the dishes was even better.

Each course at SK Mat was crafted with a concept in mind drawn from traditional Swedish cuisine, such as beef tartare (the sliced beef), or duck (game), or sorbet (blueberries). On top of this concept was built a foundation of the body components, which harmonized together, an earthy/herbal element that stood out as a foil, and a primary ingredient. The body components consisted of relatively standard components -- textural contrast (crunchy/smooth), a splash of acidity with salty/umami, heavy with light. The main ingredients included things like duck or cheese. The foil included things like pickled cabbage/kale or poached/soaked pears. All of these elements together created a symphony of flavors in my mouth at each bite.

Across courses, the story was a little bit less clear. The main themes across the entire meal were a focus on local, Swedish ingredients and cooking, as well as a consistency in colors and general that were brought up. Every single dish had some sort of a flavored oil that helped round out the dish, even the dessert. While it was not a study of super inventive novel types of cuisine, it was certainly a study of Swedish cooking reimagined in an incredibly...

I really love this restaurant. Since I only stayed in Gothenburg for one day, I wanted to try something special and local. It turned out that my choice was not wrong, it was worth it. I also tasted the only two types of cocktails in the restaurant, thank you very much to the bartender, I like both, they all taste amazing. The food is also delicious, each dish was introduced to me patiently and carefully, the service attitude was very considerate and professional. It was enough for a girl like me to eat a 4-course set meal, but I wanted to taste something else, so I added a beef tartare separately. The meat was very fresh. Of course, the appetizer halibut was also delicious, with vinegar as a seasoning, and it tasted very good and appetizing. The point is!! I think their pre-meal bread is especially delicious when it is hot, especially the whole grains. The nuts inside are very fragrant, so when I paid the bill, I asked if I could buy some to take away. 😂 As a result, the restaurant directly packed some for me for free! I was touched. I felt like home, and its made my day! I rarely write reviews seriously, but I must recommend this one. I hope I can come to this city and eat at this...