Ekte Nordic Kitchen - Bloomberg Arcade, London

Cuisine: Nordic
Style Points: 3/5
Location: City of London
Price: ££
Overall: 4/5

With January comes a healthy eating drive and, as a result, more and more diners look for clean eating options. Ekte caters to this growing market very well, with the promise of offering the ‘Taste of the North’ to all curious Londoners.

Set up by Danish-born restaurateur Soren Jessen and launched in April 2018, Ekte means ‘genuine’ or ‘real’ in Norwegian, and that’s what they aim to offer. The restaurant, cafe and deli is open daily throughout the day, for both eat-in or take away, with changing menus from breakfast through lunch and dinner.

Food?

When I arrived for dinner at Ekte I was intrigued by the menu and ready to try a variety of Nordic dishes.

We ordered a range of small and large plates to eat on a sharing basis, starting with sautéed wild mushroom on sourdough toast, with Vasterbotten cheese and walnuts paste, tarragon. I also enjoyed the pigeon breast, Jerusalem artichoke purée, fermented blackberries and pine oil.

The stand out dish for me was the Chef’s selection of herring, which arrived as a smørrebrød (open-faced sandwiches on rye bread) style dish. The herring was served curried, fried and pickled, and Senapssill herring. The dish has a lot of strong flavours, but they each complimented the other very well.

I was really looking forward to dessert and wasn’t disappointed when it arrived. We opted for Kladdkaka (sticky chocolate cake) served with whipped cream, pistachio praline. We also tried the poached pear with buttermilk ice cream and candied walnuts. Both desserts didn’t taste overly sweet and as a result were easy to devour!

The drinks at Ekte are also exemplary, with a European wine list comprising of 30 wines, as well asas Scandinavian-inspired cocktails, craft beers, and schnapps too!

Price?

The prices at Ekte are reasonable, with starters at £6 - £9, and main course between £16 and £25.50 for the Aged Striploin steak with roasted root vegetables. Our desserts were £6.50 each.

Overall?

Ekte is the ideal restaurant to try genuine Nordic food in London. Many of the dishes on the menu hark back to the traditional food in the North, overseen by Swedish-born Executive Chef Robin Freeman.

Open all through the day, Ekte is worth a try whether it’s for a cinnamon bun filled breakfast, Smørrebrød lunch, or a full Nordic dinner.