The Hamnkrogen restaurant in Helsingborg in Christmas "dress"

Hamnkrogen, a popular Helsingborg restaurant is "dressed" for the Christmas season:



The Hamnkrogen restaurant. (On the left the Knutpunkten ferry terminal.)

The Cliff House Restaurant in San Francisco in the early 1890s

This picture of the famous Cliff House restaurant in the San Francisco Bay area is included in the book "Jorden Rundt" (Around the world), published by the Swedish publishing company Bonnier in 1898:



The Cliff House in the early 1890s, before it was destroyed on Christmas night 1894.

The Cliff House has had five "incarnations" since the first one was built in 1858. The one on the picture must be the second one, built in 1863 and destroyed  on Christmas night 1894 due to a defective flue.

In 1896, the owner Adolph Sutro built a new Cliff House, a seven story Victorian Chateau, which burned to the ground on the evening of September 7, 1907, after existing for only 11 years:

The Cliff House Chateau, which burned down in 1907.
(image by wiki)

The present Cliff House is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, operated by the National Park Service.

A nice summer restaurant in Helsingborg

This nice looking summer restaurant in the garden of the Church of St. Mary in Helsingborg will probably soon have many more customers than when this picture was taken two days ago:

PS
I added a related image of a beach cafeteria, also waiting for customers in Domsten:

My favorite Stockholm restaurants (in the 1980's)

Here are some of my favorite Stockholm restaurants from the 1980's

There are now six Michelin star restaurants in Stockholm, including two with two stars. I am sure they are all very good and deserve their stars. However, it was possible to eat well in Stockholm already in the early 80's, when I lived there - even without Michelin stars. Many of my favorite restaurants from that time have closed for various reasons, but fortunately some - like the classic Operakällaren, Stallmästargården, Teatergrillen and the Konstnärsbaren (KB) still exist. 

The bar at the Operakällaren looked very much like this in the 80's. The  picture  is  from 1905.

The grand old man of Swedish Cuisine, the legendary chef and restaurateur Tore Wretman - who at some stage operated the three first of the above mentioned restaurants - had already left active restaurant cooking, but he was still involved in many activities and his legacy was very much alive in the kitchen of the Operakällaren. Wretman would most certainly have deserved two stars, but at that time Michelin did not cover restaurants in Sweden. 

As far as I can remember, Erik's (named after the chef and owner Erik Lallerstedt) at Strandvägskajen was the first restaurant in Stockholm that received a Michelin star, in 1984.

If you, in addition to good food, are interested also in beautiful restaurant interiors, then a visit to Operakällaren is a must while in Stockholm, but I also recommend lunch or dinner at the Teatergrillen, which has one of the most exciting and intimate restaurant interiors in Scandinavia. 

Memories of La Tante Claire

The name Pierre Koffmann has been synonymous with the finest French
food in England for the past 35 years.
Nick Lander/FT 2007

Like a legendary rock star going back on the road for one last triumphant tour, Koffmann has returned to his roots, while playing all the big hits.
Tracey MacLeod, The Independent Magazine

Eating in Michelin star restaurants is not something I do very often. This is mostly due to the fact that these restaurants are nowadays so outrageously expensive that you have to be either affluent or in possession of a large expense account in order to frequent them.

Fortunately, it was not always so.

Back in the late 80´s and early 90´s, while living in London, I had the privilege – and it was really a privilege –  to be one of the regular customers at Pierre Koffmann´s now legendary “La Tante Claire” in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea. Mind you, it was not cheap, but e.g. lunches were not more expensive than in many other nearby restaurants. “La Tante Claire” was probably the closest to a perfect restaurant that I will ever experience. The food was out of this world – who could forget Koffman´s stuffed pig´s trotter with morels! - the service always friendly and highly professional and the interior beuatifully decorated in Art Deco style. No wonder that “La Tante Clair” was to become one of the few British restaurants with three Michelin stars.

The great news is that Koffmann last July returned to the London restaurant scene with his new “Koffmann´s” at the Berkeley Hotel. Next time you visit London, try out “Koffmann´s” for refined country cooking à la Gascogne – I know I will. Koffmann has according to a newspaper interview moved away from “Michelin food”, which also means that the prices are more affordable. But his signature dish, 
pig’s trotter with chicken mousseline, sweetbreads and morels is back on the menu!

Here is Koffman´s "self portrait" which he once drew for me as a memory of a good meal:

PS (7.1.2011)

I just found the recipe to one of Koffmann´s finest specialities, Souffle aux pistaches.
Check it out here.

If you are interested in more of Pierre Koffman´s recipes, his book "La Tante Claire, Recipes of a Masterchef" is a treasure trove. In the book Koffmann also offers interesting glimpses into his childhood in France and his way to the Michelin top stardom. Unfortunately the books seems to be out of print, but if you are lucky, you can find used copies.