Farang -Stockholm-

Couple weeks ago, i took my fiancee to eat in this new restaurant in Stockholm Sweden, called Farang. It's a cosy restaurant where you can taste flavours from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, all mixed together. I knew this restaurant already earlier, since i am originally from Helsinki, Finland and the first Farang was opened there in 2011. The co-owners of Farang Stockholm are Tomi Björk, Matti Wikberg and Kim Öhman. Tomi and Matti are also the Co-owners of the Farang Helsinki. Tomi is also famous in Finland of being the head judge in Master -and Junior Masterchef Finland. He also has his own Tv cooking-show called "Tomin keittiössä". Well there was a little backround to you about the place, you can read more from their webpage www.farang.se. 

We booked a table and were lucky to even get one, since this place is newly opened, so it was fully booked. The atmosphere was really open and spacy. I liked that you could actually see in the kitchen and see the chefs working there. I was happy to see also Tomi Björk in the kitchen preparing meals.

In Helsinki i had already tried out the "Vegetarian Tasting Menu", which is served at least for two persons, but mostly for the whole table. I can say that, that was probably the best food experience i had ever had, when i ate that in Helsinki, so i was really exited to taste another tasting menu here in Stockholm.

We tooked the first menu which was 690kr /person that included vegetarian/fish and meat dishes, but since i don't eat meat i asked them to change mine to fish or vegetarian versions and they were happy to do that. We started up with a drink called "Ladyboy". It was a coctail mixure of : Beefeater Gin, ginger, mint, lime, lychee & ginger beer. Tasty & good kick start for the meal. The first tasting dish came really quick after the ordering. The first dish was "Cha  Plu Leaf with smoked salmon, roasted peanuts & trout roe". It was a perfect little piece of delicious flavours. I might think it was the best thing actually in the whole menu. I could have eaten just those! So fresh, full of flavours that it felt you had a party in your mouth. Seriously. SO DAMN good!








The next dish was "Pike Perch Sashimi, Vietnamise style" with asian herbs& black vinegar dressing. OH MY GOD! This was yet again 10/10 points. The fish just melted in my mouth and the flavours were so good. People often say, that why spend so much money on fancy food when you get so little on the plate? I mostly also agree with them, but i have to say, that this whole menu was really worth of every penny.  And it was plenty of food, i was so full in the end i could not eat even a little bite more.

The next dish was "Softshell Crab with green mango, mint, pomelo, green nahm jim and peanuts". I must say that i was really waiting to get this dish, since i just LOVE crab meat. But i must say, that the crab was not the star of this dish. It was actually the green mango salad. The salad was so delicious, kick of mint and acid, it would just have been perfect like that, without the crab. The crab was a bit dry and little over salty, but whatta heck, It still was good! If i have to give critic a bit, so there it came. I would have served that salad with fresh crab meat rather than the fried one. Anyway the pace of dish after dish was perfect, you really didn't have to wait to get the next little dish.





The next dish was called "Crispy pork with palmsugar caramel" so it contained: crispy fried braised pork, rice vinegar, roasted onion. My boyfriend Modde, ate that, but since i do not eat meat, i got my own dish with Fried fish and somekind of sweetsour sauce. And of course they served rice with all the dishes.

Modde said, that the pork was good, but he would actually prefered vegetarian or fish dish. He felt that the meat dish was too heavy after having so light and fresh start. I myself enjoyed once again my dish. It was crispy white fish, i forgot what fish was it, or there was a bit translation error, since the waiter spoke swedish and i do not understand everything in swedish. Anyway the fish was good, but nothing really that special, what the dishes before had been. But i'll give them a big credit for creating a dish just for me, that was not one the menu in the first place.

At this point we started to get quite full already, but there was still couple dishes and the dessert to go. The next two dishes came at the same time. Other one was "Thai Roti bred with Mussaman Curry"and the other one was called "Morning Glory, ‘Salt & Pepper’ Tofu" contained: watercress, bok choy& crispy fried silken tofu. The Curry was again, really tasty, but i just wanted to jump to the Tofu dish, that i had been waiting for the whole night. First mouthfull of that heavenly dish, oh, i just could have died. If i would have, i would have died happy! It really was the best dish with the two first dishes, of the whole menu. The watercress, Bok choy, crispy tofu and the broth all together were so damn delicious. Again party in my mouth. Modde, who by the way is an old vegetarian, but eats meat nowdays, thought this was the best dish of the night.

We were really full allready, but there was one more dish left before the dessert. I actually had tried to change all the meat dishes away to a fish or vegetarian dishes, when we ordered the whole menu, but i guess there was a missunderstanding with my crappy swedish and with the waiter, so that's why they just changed my dish. But it was ok, since Modde eats meat anyway. Modde got dish called: "Veal Cheek ‘Serembam" which was slow braised veal cheeks, aromatic chili broth & mint-sprout salad. I got the same, but without veal and with salmon. I have never in my life even eaten veal and i think it's horrible to eaven eat that, a little baby cow. Buhuu. Modde said that it tasted good, but the texture was really weird. It was so soft, he said. He tasted my salmon and said that weirdly the salmon felt like same kind of texture, so i guess it was the point of me also having it with salmon then. My salmon was perfectly cooked, soft and the min-sprout salad  and the broth was delicious. I think anyways the salads were exellend on all dishes. So overall both dishes were good.

We were so happy and satisfied of the menu already so, i think we were kinda high off the food, if you know what i mean. Hah! At this point the waiter asked if we wanted to wait for a bit to "let the food go down", before we get the desserts, so we said yes. It was nice to take a little break, since we were so full. So we had time to chat a bit and i was compering the experience in Helsinki Farang to this one. I actually like the Stockholm restaurant as a place a bit more. It's a bit bigger than the Helsinki Farang, but overall i think the food is as good as it is in Helsinki. The staff was really friendly and they came right away to the table to serve you. Really nice experience and we will defenetly go back again...as soon as we get more money hah!

Last but not least, the dessert. It was called: ‘HOLA HOLA 5’ and it contained: thai style marinated fruits, sweet peas, lime, vanilla coconut stock & guava watermelon sorbet. DE-to-LICIOUS. The coconut stock was so soft and creamy, fruits were delicious and the flavours were great. Only thing that i did not get in the dish was the sweet peas. But  F* that, it was still good!

So i can definetly recommed this restaurant for all food lovers all around the world. If you want to taste a little piece of Asia, in the middle of Stockholm, Farang is the place to go. It's not the place, where you eat quickly or cheaply, but it is all worth it. So take time, sit down with your friends and have a great experience of flavours and food. Overall an exellent service, Exellent food and Great experience. Thank you Farang!

Stir fried Tofu Wok with Sesame sauce

As most of my Blog readers have allready probably notised, i really like Asian food. Just because they are full of  great and delicious flavours and actually quite simple to make. This dish i made couple weeks ago, just from some stuff i had in the fridge. Turned out to be really delicious dish! This dish is completely vegan, if you use the vegan oyster sauce. You can also make this ofcourse without the oyster sauce. Here is a recipe how to make this dish:

You need:

• 1 package of firm Tofu
• Half Zuccini
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Leek
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• About 3 Garlic cloves
• Sesame seeds
• Sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• Oyster sauce
• Chili oiil
• Sunflower oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Jasmin Rice

First put the rice on boiling. I have a Rice cooker, which is really handy, since you can just let the cooker cook the rice and you don't have to stir or watch after the rice. But if you don't have a cooker, just prepare the rice fist, since the rest of the dish comes ready really fast. 

Then chop the Tofu on cubes. I like little smaller cubes, but it's up to you what size you prefer. Prepare the rest of the vegetables. For this dish i chopped the cabbage and carrot as a thin slices. After you have chopped the veggies, heat up the pan. Pour some Sunflower, Sesame- & Chili oil on the pan. Add the Tofu and Garlic. Add some salt, pepper and soy sauce. Let it fry for like 5-10 minutes, depending how crispy you want the tofu to be. Add then all the vegetables. Add some oyster sauce, soy sauce and more sesame oil.  Mix well and stir fry about 5-7 minutes until veggies get more softer. In the end sprinkle some seseme seeds on top and serve with Jasmin rice. Enjoy!

Warm Quinoa salad with fried Tofu

This is a salad i made a while ago. Really refreshing, filling, tasty and healthy dish. People who say, they hate salads, have propably always eaten tomato-lettuce-cucumber salad with some crappy dressing or without anything.. and that's all. I have heard so many times from peoples mouth, SALADS are BORING. Honestly, i just think people are ignorant and not willing to try out stuff. I really believe in the saying "Better food, Better mind" and i think people should really start thinking what they put in their mouth. Not eat the same crap all the time like most people do. Try out something new, live out a bit! You could be suprised how much you actually might enjoy things more!

Well back in business, here is how to make this delicious, fast and easy salad!

• 1 packet of Firm Tofu
• 1-2 dl Quinoa 
• Celery (fresh not the root)
• Cucumber
• Chickpeas ( i used the ready canned ones)
• Some mixed salad ( I used salad mix with lettuce, carrot, cabbage etc.)
• Sunflower seeds or seed mix. Pine nuts are exelled too!
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil
• Herbsalt ( I use Herbamare)
• Salt & Pepper
• For dressing i used some Fig balsamic vinegar dressing which goes really well with this

First cut the tofu on cubes. Heat up pan and add olive oil & sesame oil on the pan and the tofu cubes.
Add some pepper & salt ( or mixed up spices if you want to spice up the tofu some more). When the tofu is fried nice and crispy, put it a side to cool down a bit. Prepare the salad. Wash salad mix, cut the celery and cucumber on small pieces. Put them on a bowl. Add some chickpeas, sunflower seeds or pine nuts. Mix well and add some herbsalt and pepper. Boil some water and add the quinoa in the boiling water. Let it boil about 5 minutes until the quinoa is soft. Stir all the time while boiling. Pour the water out from the pot. Add the warm quinoa and the fried tofu in the salad. Mix well and serve. Add some Fig balsamic vinegar dressing and enjoy!

Vegetarian Noodle soup with Tofu

I have made this type of dishes a lot lately, just because i love noodle soups. Especially here in Sweden, there is lot's of Thai/Vietnamise restaurants that have exellent noodle soups on their menus. So i have got my inspiration of these from those restaurants. This is quite basic soup, lot's of differet veggies and tofu stir fried in oyster sauce and served with rice noodles and vegetarian broth. Here is a recipe how to make this delicious dish:

You need lot's of vegetables, you can choose what you want to use,  but here is a list what i used:

• Zuccini
• Carrots
• Fennel
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Fresh champions/shiitake mushrooms
• Leek
• Cabbage
• Garlic
• Bamboo shoots
• Fresh Coriander
• Chili
• Mixed salad ( i used mixed salad bag with fresh spinach, lettuce, etc)

You also need: 

• Rice noodles 
• Tofu ( i used the ready fried one)
• Oyster sauce
• Salt & Pepper
• Vegetable broth
• About 1/2-1 liter of water
• Ginger 
• Olive oil
• Sesame oil

First prepare all the vegetables, wash well and chop to pieces. Boil some hot water on a tea boiler and also measure about half or one liter water on a pot on a stove. Add vegetable broth in it, some fresh chili, garlic and graded ginger. Add Some pepper and salt. Taste that has enough taste. Let it come to boil and after that put a side to wait. Same time that you are making the broth,  the tea boiler is also ready, so add the rice noodles in a big bowl with a lit. Pour the water in so that it covers the rice noodles. Add lit and let it stand there about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile start preparing the stir fry. Add some olive oil, sesame oil, fresh chili and garlic on a pan, heat up and add tofu. Fry it like a minute or so. Then add carrots, cauliflower and broccoli.  Add some salt, pepper and oyster sauce. Mix well and cover with lit for 1-2 minutes. After that add rest of the chopped vegetables (not the salad and coriander). Pour some more oyster sauce in, add oil if needed. Add again some pepper and salt. Mix well and cover with lit like for 3 minutes. Then mix again. Keep the heat enough down, that the vegetables don't go too soft. They need to be still a bit crispy.

Then pour the water out from the ricenoodles. Add some noodles on a deep plate.First add some salad on top, then some stir fried vegetables on and  last pour some broth in. Sprinkle some coriander  and little bit oyster sauce on top and enjoy. So "Helvetin Hyvää" as we say in Finnish ( which means so "F*king good, haha)