REVIEW: 2018 Thanksgiving Dinner at Kitchen & Table

As a Swede, the celebration of Thanksgiving isn’t one of my traditions. This year, however, I discovered that Kitchen & Table, an American restaurant in Stockholm, was celebrating Thanksgiving. As someone who’s grown up watching many American movies and series, I’ve always been a bit interested in the idea of Thanksgiving and the food experiences that come with it. 

The restaurant

Kitchen & Table is owned by Marcus Samuelsson, a well – known Swedish chef who is now based in New York. He does, however own a few restaurants in Sweden as well, whereas Kitchen & Table is one of them. There are actually over 20 Kitchen & Table restaurants spread across the Nordics, but so far, I’ve only been to this spot. I’m usually a bit sceptical to chains of this size, as I fear that they won’t be able to provide a unique experience. The particular Kitchen & Table I’ve been to (Kitchen & Table Norrmalm) has, however been pretty good at attracting me. I’ve been there once before for their American brunch (very good), and now for Thanksgiving. 

Our Thanksgiving experience

We were seated immediately at a good table for two, there was plenty of space around us, although the restaurant was quite full. I appreciate that they didn’t squeeze us into any small space, or even worse, a shared table with another group.  We got the menu (pictured below) and ordered drinks. I went for wine and my boyfriend for beer (both were really good). 

After this, the waiting began. We waited a really long time for water and bread (which doesn’t really require much work to prepare), and even longer for the appetizer, which was the Pumpkin soup. 

After about an hour into our visit, (once I’d given a few dirty looks), a server who walked past us with soup walked back and gave them to us instead. 

Foamed pumpkin soup with pumpkin cream, flavoured with vanilla, sprinkles of panko, fried rosemary, egg63, roasted pumpkin kernels, pickled chili, peeled rose pepper and roasted pumpkin.  

Finally, we were happy to receive the first dish of the evening. Pumpkin soup. It could, however have been warmer, it was a bit spicy with the chili that was in it, but I skipped the chili. Overall, the soup was good, but i would’ve been even better if it was warmer. Considering how long it had taken to get the soup, we didn’t wanna risk having to wait again for warmer soup, so we never said anything about it. It was, however a bit disappointing. 

We didn’t have to wait as long for the Turkey. We were guided through the different parts of the dish by by one of the waiters, who took good care of us for the remainder of our visit. 

Turkey, lemon and thyme gravy, Karl- Johan – mushroom cappucino, roasted root vegetables, sweet potato, carrot, cranberry jam, cabbage and fried green kale. 

From this moment on, the food was a lot better. I enjoyed every part of the main dish, and it was interesting to discover how all these flavours came together. It reminded me a lot of the typical Swedish steak with gravy, potatoes and lingonberry jam, although the flavours were a bit different. 

The Turkey wasn’t dry at all, it tasted very good and seemed well-prepared. It was my first time having turkey so I didn’t really know what to expect. The Sweet potato was good, although I still prefer regular potato. We got two kinds of gravy, they were pretty similar to each other and reminded me of the classic Swedish Brown sauce. The carrots, cabbage and green kale was really good too, I’m slowly but steadily becoming addicted to fried kale. The most exotic item of them was, however the cranberry jam. It might have looked like the Swedish lingonberry jam, but the taste is a lot more sour bitter, and you shouldn’t have too much of this in the same bite. It was really good once you had it along with all the other parts of the dish, but it was a bit sour on its own. 

Overall, I was really satisfied with the main dish, and I would be more than happy to have it again. 

For dessert, we had Apple Pie Burritos, dates, crumble of mixed nuts, apple chips and custard sauce. The dessert was really good. It tasted just like a mix between an Apple Pie and an Apfelstrudel. There could have been more apple chips, and some more of the apple cream on the inside. Overall, it was, however a good dessert that was of perfect size to top off this feast. 

Although our visit to Thanksgiving at Kitchen & Table had a bit of a rough start with late food, and lukewarm soup, i must say that it turned around once we’d gotten the main dish. The turkey was great and the dessert was good too. What I would’ve wanted for their next thanksgiving in 2019 is a more traditional Thanksgiving menu with pumpkin pie, corn bread, brussel sprouts, and  a traditional pie for dessert (either Apple pie or Pecan Pie). They should’ve dug deeper into the food traditions of this holiday. I feel like they only brushed on the surface of it, and that there’s a lot more to the discover and experience. 

I did, overall enjoy my experience, despite the few mishaps that I’ve previously mentioned, and I’d consider celebrating at Kitchen & Table again next year. I do, however think it’s pricey in relation to what we got (SEK 495 per person), mostly due to the poor service in the beginning. There isn’t however much of a choice when it comes to restaurants for Thanksgiving dinner in Stockholm. It’s basically Kitchen & Table Thanksgiving or  a Thanksgiving buffet at Hard Rock Cafe, which I’m a bit sceptical to.

RATING: 3,5 out of 5. It was good, but I can’t give them a better rating due to the mishaps at the beginning of our visit. 

Have you had any great thanksgiving experiences at any  restaurants around the world? Please let me know in that case, I love hearing about new restaurants and what they make of this holiday!