Bjorn Frantzen's new (Nov 2022) and casual London venture

Studio Frantzen is one of a growing number of brasseries within Asia, Stockholm and now London, headed by Bjorn Frantzen whose flagship restaurants are the 3 Michelin starred Frantzen in Stockholm and 3 Michelin starred Zen in Singapore. This is the more casual concept and the latest branch opening on the 5th floor of Harrods in Nov 2022. As a summary, the lunch was definitely enjoyable in terms of dishes, delivered in an alluring and absolutely swish, new setting, with Harrods prices at the same time as the only caveat. The lunch was £105 per person without alcohol, which is not outrageous, but when one sees a glass of Ruinart blanc de blanc is £39 on the opening page of the wine list for example (one of the largest mark ups I have ever seen anywhere), it was probably a good idea to come here during a ‘dry January’, other wise the lunch bill would be considerably more. Overall a good lunch though with plenty to offer.

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The meal started with oysters poached in a butter sauce with Kalix roe along with a very nicely done laminated milk bread a la croissant (almost like a mix between brioche and croissant in texture and flavour) served with blond miso butter & borage honey. My dining companion and I tried different dishes to see as many as possible and the starters were Tartare of tuna & red deer with Kalix vendace roe, white kombu, wasabi- infused cultured cream, fermented mirabelle plum and warm ginger butter (fresh and light) and veal steak tartare served with truffle aioli, shiitake, pickled white onions, aged Parmesan, toasted almonds, cress & champignons. The latter was especially good with good judgement on intensity and quantity of the aioli and cheese to compliment the good quality veal.

The first main that had to be tried was the turbot not only as it is the ‘King of the sea’, but also a signature dish on the menu: steamed turbot Jansson’s temptation & Koshihtkart rice (Chef’s signature’ butter sauce a la Sandefiord flavoured with preserved-anchovy juice and three kinds of caviar, caramelised onions & chives). At first I was quite surprised that the turbot was reportedly from a 1.3kg fish as the cut seems a lot thicker, but thankfully there was a good sized portion on the plate to merit the £53 price tag along with a very well done butter sauce to accompany as per the description. This was different and pleasing and I especially enjoyed the sweetness from the stewed onions beneath the turbot that complimented the dish perfectly as did the surprisingly rice that was beautifully flavoured with vinegar and topped off with crunchy shallot rings. This was a very good dish.

The second main was whole quail, butterflied and grilled served with a black pepper and vanilla sauce. A nicely done dish and as nice as grilled quail on its own can be, supplemented by another original choice of sauce. The side of butter and sake braised greens with shallots was a decent side to have and was another indication of the calibre of the restaurant for the effort placed in this and the bread.

The first sweet tried was a yuzu sorbet with fennel marmalade, pomelo, sansho-pepper meringue & fennel pollen which I found quite tart, but nevertheless enjoyable and good for cleansing the fat from the savouries tried and also reminded me of Zen’s yuzu and matchstick-meringue dessert as a pleasing reminder of that visit and the group. Also tried were the traditional madeleines, but with the untraditional (and pleasing) hint of the beurre noisette and miso they were made with. Coffee was declined as one can tell instinctively that this would have been at least another (relatively) high increment on the bill which would only have service charge on top of that, for something not really needed even though I’m sure the Harrods own brand of roasted-on-site coffee would have been fine.

Overall I did enjoy this dishes here and I can imagine their terraced bar (which does serve small snacks) will be very popular in the warmer months as well.

Food Grade: 74%