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I had an unusually vivid dream early this morning. I was sitting down, in a pub, for dinner with my entire extended family, a lot of whom are no longer with us outside of the sleeping hours. I had been late in arriving and had to sit a long way from the ‘top table’. I then had to find somewhere to buy beer. I walked down a narrow street which was crowded with the overflow from the pub. I don’t remember anything else, and have no idea whether I found beer or not.
Then, tonight, I went for dinner with Nicoline to Punschkällaren.
In between, we were stuck inside as the rain fell, almost continuously, all day. Sometimes torrential but mostly just wet and gloomy. So, I’m going to ignore the weather and talk about the restaurant instead.
It’s the first time I’ve been since the new management took over, redecorating and changing the menu. And, I’m happy to report that I finally had a steak sandwich. It’s only taken almost a month. I am also happy to report that the whole experience was lovely. And I didn’t share a dessert with Nicoline, unlike my wife.
In the process of enjoying our meal and chat, we also met one of the three new managers. He’s an English chap who has lived in Trosa for a while. He was telling us how they were soon going to brew their own beer, upstairs. This, obviously, made me very happy.
He then said that he knows an Australian brewer, living in Trosa, called Brad, who will be helping in the ale enterprise.
This surprised me. I explained that I had stopped to chat to a fellow last weekend who had an aunt with an Australian boyfriend called Brad. I also said I knew another Australian called Colin from SFI, who also mentioned a Brad who was a brewer.
The small town reality is all around me, it seems. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll even meet Brad.
Anyway, aside from all of that, we both enjoyed our night at Punschkällaren. I particularly enjoyed the odd sauce tasting menu.
The restaurant specialises in sauces made with various alcohols. Principally they are whiskey and pepper, rum and molasses, gin and juniper and schnapps mustard. When you order the tasting, you are presented with four little pots of different coloured sauces and a basket of fries for dipping.
It was an unusual and interesting way to start a meal. It was a bit surprising at first but I quickly got over the shock and enjoyed them all. Even the gin one. Nicoline, I don’t think, was as enamoured as I was.
Actually, the only thing lacking was enough horseradish but Nicoline sorted this by asking for more. The waitress was more than happy to bring us little pot full.
It was a splendid night with good food and an excellent dining companion.
And I had 306 views today. It’s going up. Mirinda’s Painted Hall post received four of them.
