Greetings from Charlotte

Welcome to April and the beginning of spring. It has been long underway but finally the trees, bushes and flowers are blooming again. Spring is always a bit behind in Scandinavia because it is - just a bit - colder, so it feels great to be here this time of year. Unfortunately, spring has also meant saying goodbye to our first Head Chef - René Madsen. René has decided to return to Denmark and his family, and we have therefore been busy finding a new Head Chef. Rest assured, René has been involved in this process. Our new Swedish Head Chef is Andre Friberg from Gothenburg. As Andre's second in command, Christian, is Danish they make a very strong Scandinavian kitchen team. You can read more about Andre's previous experience below.

Over Easter, we offered a traditional buffet on Easter Sunday and it was good to see so many Swedes and Danes (particularly) enjoying good Nordic food. Next month we will be focusing on Norwegian food as it is time for the May 17 celebrations. We have also been busy creating a menu for the great Rise Beer Tasting next week. It is really an event not to be missed, as they come over from Denmark to tell us all about the beers, the processes and differences of the various types of beer.

We hope to see you next week for great beer and food,

Charlotte

Rise Brewery Beer Tasting

THURSDAY APRIL 22 & FRIDAY 23 AT 6.30PM

On Thursday and Friday next week, we have the pleasure of inviting you to an exclusive beer tasting with Mr Nils Ørum-Nielsen. Nils runs Rise Brewery where our very popular Ærø beers come from. On these two special evenings we will be serving a four-course menu that matches each beer with a Nordic dish. The beers that we have included in the tasting are: India Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Walnut Beer and King Arthur Stout. Between the courses Nils will be telling us how they produce the beers, the difference between them and good stories from the brewery.
You will have the opportunity to meet Nils and ask him all your most curious beer questions during the evening.

The evening starts at 6.30pm where you can meet Nils and have a drink. Dinner is served at 7pm.

Beer Tasting Menu

Starter
Marstal’s India Pale Ale
Onion pickled herring on a bed of creamy curry potatoes,
herb oil and rye bread flakes

Main Course
Ærøskøbing's Dark Ale
Slow roasted pork loin on parsnip purée
topped with bacon, mushroom and asparagus ragout

Cheese
Walnut beer
Rum marinated Swedish Präst cheese
served with roasted sultanas and Peter’s yard crisp bread

Dessert
Søby stout, King Arthur
Baked caramel crème made with stout
topped with anis marinated pear and vanilla ice cream

A vegetarian menu is avaible if you let us know in advance
Price per person : £ 39.50
Please book by phone (020 7225 2772) or online

André Friberg - New Head Chef at Madsen

André Friberg - The new head chef at Madsen is André who comes from Gothenburg in Sweden. André is 25 years old and he has now been with us for two weeks. André has previously worked in England as he did part of his chef training as an apprentice with Laurent Malnuit at L'Auberge in Guildford in 2004. Since then he has worked at the traditional Swedish restaurant Skojarbacken as chef and most recently as Head Chef at Elite Park Avenue Hotel in Gothenburg. At the Park Avenue Hotel he was in charge of two kitchens that cooked both Swedish and modern European cooking. We are excited about welcoming André to the team and working on a good all round Nordic balance of dishes on the menu. One of André's first challenges is to create a Norwegian menu for May 17 - luckily his mother is a Norwegian with strong recipes.

Also, in the kitchen we have Christian Jørgensen who is chef and 23 years old. Christian is from Falster in Denmark and trained at Hotel Nørrevang in Falster. Christian is the master of our Danish frikadeller and the much loved flæskesteg. Finally, our kitchen assistant is Elin Modén who is from Malmö in the south of Sweden.

Sadly, this means we have to say goodbye to René Madsen who has been crucial in setting up the restaurant. René joined the team in September 2008 - just a month prior to opening. René had just a few weeks to come up with our first menu, set up the kitchen and train his new team. René has been with Madsen for 19 months and he has been instrumental in developing the business to the restaurant is today. However, René feels it is time to return home to Denmark where his family and friends are (well apart from us guys of course) and he has taken on a chef role in a new project near his home town in Jutland. We cannot wait to see him back in London one day.

Madsen in the Observer Food Monthly

One of the last tasks René undertook as head chef was act as judge for the Observer Food Monthly magazine. Next weekend, April 17-18, the magazine will feature a 16-page special on the Nordic cuisine and diet. We are delighted to be involved and to offer some guidance in where to get good Nordic products. René was asked to judge various Scandinavian food products from UK supermarkets and retailers on a scale from 1-5. It involved a lot of meatballs, smoked salmon, Jarlsberg cheese, crisp bread, rye bread and even pickled cucumber.

Being sincerely interested in Scandinavian food they also asked for a video on how to make our lunch time special: Smushi - small open sandwiches. René expertly turned into a TV chef and demonstrated on camera how to make three different kinds. You can find more details on the magazine here.

Peter's Yard : Swedish crispbread

As you can read below Madsen will be in the Observer food magazine next weekend. We were asked to give our opinion on Scandinavian products in the UK and we are not afraid to reveal that one of the categories was "crisp bread". And we were all the more relieved when we realised they had included the excellent crisp bread from Peter's Yard, an artisan bakery in Edinburgh. We cannot reveal the score - but is good!

That also explains why we have been using Peter's Yard crisp bread in the restaurant since summer last year. We first learned about Peter's Yard on Twitter where Signe from Scandilicious put us in contact with Wendy from Peter's Yard. Wendy runs Peter's Yard with Peter Ljungquist and Ian. They very kindly came in with samples for us and the rest is history.

The story behind Peter's Yard actually takes us back to Sweden where Peter as a baker learned about the Nordic traditions of bread making. He states that he learned to make "bread and crisp bread using healthy, traditional methods and sourdough starters with no compromises". Peter’s Yard crisp breads are hand made to a traditional Swedish recipe using sourdough and all natural, healthy ingredients. They won gold in the 2008 Great Taste Awards for biscuits with cheese and they are equally delicious with a wide variety of sweet and savoury toppings.
Originally, Peter set up a bakery in Sweden with Jan Hedh that became a great success. However, in 2007 he longed for city life and opened Peter's Yard cafe in Edinburgh. Next to the cafe they have now started selling the crisp bread to food halls and high quality independent retailers in the UK. In Madsen we serve their crisp bread with our cheese dishes.

You can find out more about Peter's Yard and order their crisp bread here.

Seasonal menu & new wine list

True to our sustainable beliefs we changed menu two weeks ago to stay in season. On the new menu you find Jerusalem artichoke soup, line caught cod "Marstal style", seared Scottish langoustines, Swedish Wallenbergare with lingonberry jam, pan-fried grey mullet, vegetarian "pytt-i-panna", "kærnemælksfromage"/Danish buttermilk mousse and the much loved rhubarb trifle.

We have also been updating our wine list as some wines were discontinued and in general we felt new introductions would be good. We now offer a pink sparkling wine (Cremant) from France at just £31.00 - great for the terrace on a warm day. In line with this we have added a "Les Nuages" Rosé to our rosés - this is a fruit-filled wine with hints of strawberry. It blew us away at the great Bibendum tasting earlier this year. Under the white wines we have added another Pinot Grigio. It is called Via Fordulo and should suit any budget at just £18.00 per bottle. One of our favourites is the Spanish Castillo de Clavijo Rioja - it has an almost creamy taste with cashew and hazelnut aromas and it is great for starters, cold meat and cheese. Definitely worth a try. Under the red wines there have been quite a few additions - Pinot noir Closerie Des Lys from Pays D'Oc, Syrah Val Colombe also from Pays D'Oc, Erial Tinto from Spain made from Tempranillo with a Corvina Amarone Di Valpolicella from Italy to top the list. All wines are from Europe as we do not see the need to fly wines across the globe, when so much is on offer on our door step. You can find the full wine list here.

and finally...our new bookcase

We are proud to introduce our new bookcases in the alcoves in the restaurant. We have painted the back of the walls a burgundy red and inserted five shelves in each alcove. They are now stuffed with books - some for sale, some for browsing. It has been great to see guests taking down books to look through. Below are some pictures of the works involved in getting the shelves made.

A big thank you to Cecilie and Matilda, who usually act as your waitress, but for one day turned into skilled painters.

Recipe of the month

Caramel crème with stout

In anticipation of our forthcoming beer tasting we are letting you in on one of our most successful desserts - the caramel crème made with stout. We use the Rise brewery stout but you can use other versions of stout as well. The result is amazing with a rich crème that tastes of caramel and an aftertaste of coffee - and it is so simple to make. This recipe serves 6.

Ingredients: 250g whipping cream, 50g milk, 2 dl stout, 80g pasteurised egg yolk, 70g sugar and 1/2 cinnamon stick

Bring the stout with the cinnamon stick to the boil and reduce to half the amount. Then add the sugar, milk and cream and bring to the boil again. Take the mixture off the heat and leave to cool to under 60 degrees Celsius and whisk it into the egg yolk. Leave the mixture for 24 hours in the fridge. Then take off the skin and pour into the "dish" that you would like to serve it in (we use our coffee cups in the restaurant). Finally, place the cups in a tray with water and bake the caramel crème in the oven at 100 degrees Celsius until it has a firm consistency. The mixture must not start to rise (soufflé) so you have to keep an eye on the oven.

The caramel crème is great served with either pear sorbet or vanilla ice cream.

Swedish pre-election debate

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the first ever Swedish Pre-Election Debate aimed at Swedes living in the UK - one of Sweden's largest foreign communities. According to several sources, London is one of Sweden's larger cities and has as such become increasingly important for national politicians in the upcoming national elections in September 2010. Judging by opinion polls, the election will be a thriller. All political parties currently represented in the Parliament have been invited and the following parties and panelists are already confirmed:

Centerpartiet - Anders Flanking, partisekreterare
Folkpartiet Liberalerna - Johan Pehrson, gruppledare, medlem i riksdagens justitieutskott
Kristdemokraterna - Maria Larsson, vice ordförande, äldre- och folkhälsominister
Miljöpartiet - Agneta Börjesson, partisekreterare
Moderaterna - Per Schlingmann, partisekreterare
Socialdemokraterna - Urban Ahlin, talesman i utrikesfrågor och vice ordförande i riksdagens utrikesutskott
Vänsterpartiet - Alice Åström, vice ordförande, gruppledare i riksdagen

Please note that this event will be in Swedish. You can sign up to the event with the Swedish Chamber here. You do not have to be a member of the Swedish Chamber to participate.

Venue: Alströmersalen, Embassy of Sweden, 5 Upper Montagu Street, London W1H 2AG
Time: 17.00 for 17.30 - 20.00

What's on in the area

Natural History Museum
The Wildlife Garden (April 1 - October 31): Escape the city and wander through the tranquil habitats of the Wildlife Garden, including woodland, meadow & pond and more. The garden is a haven for 1000s of British plants and animals and demonstrates wildlife conservation in the inner city. Find our more here.

V & A Museum
Quilts 1700-2010 (March 20 - July 4): This exhibition showcases the V&A's collection of patchwork and quilted covers. It brings together over 300 years of British quilting history, from the spectacular bed hangings and silk coverlets of the 18th century, to the creative reinvention of the quilt by contemporary artists. You can find out more here.

Science Museum
Astronomy (Until December 30): Explore how astronomy has changed the way we see our universe - and ourselves - through this object-rich exhibition. Find our more here.

Royal Albert Hall
St George's Day Gala (April 25, 3pm): Celebrate England's National Day with John Sergeant. Find out more here.

Cadogan Hall, Chelsea
Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (April 14, 7.30pm): Cadogan Hall presents the latest instalment of the Zurich International Concert Series 2009/10 - featuring very special guests the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, with Emmanuel Krivine conducting. Find out more here.

Christie's, South Kensington
Jewels auction (April 14): Lots of Cartier, Boucheron and Tiffany's - any girl's dream.... Find out more here.

OPENING HOURS

Monday Midday - 10.30pm
Tuesday - Thursday Midday - 11pm
Friday & Saturday Midday - 11.45pm

Sunday Midday - 5pm
kitchen closes an hour prior to closing time

020 7225 2772
reservations@madsenrestaurant.com