Smaka, Aldgate, restaurant review: ‘cream the leitmotif’

Pickled Mackerel and Beetroot salad at Smaka

Scandinavia, with its apparently superior quality of life and relative imperviousness to Brexit, is popular at the moment – with its furniture, food and detective noir series.

Books devoted to the concept of hygge – roughly, Danish cosiness – have been prominently featured in Christmas displays everywhere. Hackney has several Scandi ventures, such as furniture shop Chase and Sorenson, the ever popular Kenton pub and Cooper and Wolf, a cafe at the bottom of Chatsworth Road. So when Smaka, a Swedish café that has been running for over a year in Aldgate, told me it had launched a dinner service, I was interested in what it had to offer.

Smaka, which is Swedish for taste, felt refined and quiet after the bustle and constant construction of Aldgate. Upon closer inspection, however, the space conveyed café more than restaurant. A self-service drinks cooler stood against the wall, and the waiting staff, who were new, stood slightly awkwardly behind a glass deli counter, popping out every so often to take orders.

We started with a creamy and frothy Jerusalem artichoke soup which shone through in its simplicity. I wish this underrated ingredient were on more menus and in more shops.

We also had a grated potato pancake, covered in sour cream and fish roe – pretty good, but I could have done with more roe.

In pursuit of authenticity, I decided not to order the most obvious Swedish culinary export, meatballs and mash, but subsequently watched plate after plate of the stuff come out to a large party of Swedes.

However, my duck breast with cardamom and coffee sauce was tender, pleasing and creamy (despite the healthy cuisine label, cream was the leitmotif at Smaka).

My dining companion had the lamb shank, a cut of meat of which I am not overly fond, but the meat was proficiently cooked, and accompanied by a delicate chanterelle risotto – also creamy.

As mushroom risotto is often the last recourse for the vegetarian in various meal settings, at least this was not the dreaded stodge dished up in pubs, and what it lacked for in imagination it made up for in flavour.

We finished off with some rice pudding and waffles, both traditional Swedish desserts, and tottered home warmed and sleepy. While I thought the chef, also the owner, showed some talent and flair when it came to the food, Smaka still needs to find its feet with a better wine list and an evening atmosphere to help overcome the feeling of being in an upscale café with a booze licence.

Smaka
77 Alie Street, E1 8NH
smaka.co.uk