Once upon a time there was a great restaurant in Stavanger called Egget , with a great chef called Anthony Orjollet. We called it a hidden gem back then but when Anthony left Stavanger, Egget changed. We got a bit of hassle and ridicule when we pointed out that we felt that the quality of food and service were declining at Egget. In the end they went out of business unfortunately.
But this autumn, the great vegan restaurant Bellies announced that Anthony Orjollet would stop by Stavanger once again for a collaboration dinner and we signed up immediately. The first thing Anthony did was to stop by Brimse Gård and even at this time of the year (in November), there are things to be harvested there.
When we came to Bellies we were happy to see that they had upgraded the old furniture! I was a bit worried that the new wooden chairs would be hard to sit on as dinner at Bellies takes a few hours but they were actually very comfortable. This evening, we started with some champagne and had a chat with Øystein Ohna that runs Bellies and Clément Bertrand (previously seen at Renaa Matbaren, CinCin etc). Our dinner started with a fresh tomato and strawberry salad in fermented watermelon juice before we moved on to grilled spring onion, brussels sprouts in a delicious pomegranate syrup. This syrup was mouthwatering and there were also some amazing grill scents from the vegetables. Next up was fava beans with various greens in a Vin Jaune sauce.
We moved on to another grilled dish – Romanesco brutally charred to create those grill flavors and scents – and served with a tomato, ginger, chili sauce that complimented this vegetable in what seemed like a perfect symphony! We were served grilled fennel next with a green “pesto” sauce made with spinach and winter watercress. Again, combinations that worked perfectly well!
The Lion’s mane mushroom dish was served with a rich sauce. At this stage, we were conspiring to create distractions so we could sneak in some plate licking! We were not done and got a freshly made corn tortilla with a sprinkle of green vegetables with more of the tomato sauce from Romanesco dish! There is something amazing about the scent of corn when you get freshly made tortillas. To end the mains, we got grilled pumpkin on top of a corn mash with small flavor bombs in the form of sea buckthorn berries!
I’m always impressed with the desserts at Bellies and this time we started with citrus sorbet with verbena sauce and just a bit of chili - more savory than sweet. Followed by a small “ice cream”flavored with ginger, earl grey tea and topped with shredded chocolate.
Congratulations again, Bellies and thanks for sharing Anthony’s talent with Stavanger!
Pros
- inspirational and a delicious sensory experience
- lively atmosphere and great service
- the white wine pairings were noteworthy
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