In early August, the Vienna café Anno 1904 closed its doors for good, with the promise that a new venture would take over in the same premises shortly. Now it is clear what is to come; Pas d’Art. An inviting restaurant with a cosmopolitan atmosphere and a menu that breathes bistronomy - high ambition for a conscious wallet. Opening hours are planned to be generous, and as a guest you will be able to enjoy breakfast, café gourmand, lunch and dinner, or join your friends for a drink at the cocktail bar. After a complete renovation, the new interior design has been signed by Martin Brudnizki, the man behind the renowned Annabel's and The Ivy Chelsea Garden in London.
The menu is set by Pas d'Art's Michelin award-winning chef Michael Spiridon. We meet him early one morning in a kitchen, where a test baking is in full swing.
"Right now, we're test baking bread," says Michael. "Partly food bread that we make for our restaurant menu, such as brioche, shaped bread, shaped French bread and our own puff pastry. Then there are pastries like croissants and cinnamon buns. We will not buy bread from any supplier, we make everything ourselves in the kitchen."
In addition to Michael himself, the test team consists of chef Juva Issadi, sous chef David Wåhlin and Sandra Vidal, who is responsible for the bakery. They are all hand-picked from the Brasserie Group's network and first-class kitchens around the world.
"All dishes should be tasted, that's always the case. You have a basic idea and a concept - French food culture with Swedish ingredients - but then the food has to be tasted before you set the menu. At the moment, it's a systematic rather than a gastronomic job. We handpick ingredients, visit farms to ensure quality and sample dishes and set the flavours. A pretty crazy but fun and long refining process. It's organised chaos, but we know what we're doing!"
"Making a menu is like writing a composition; there are very many and different instruments playing at the same time, but together they create a nice symphony. That's exactly how it is with the menu, everything has to fit together well."
The focus will be on creative cuisine from the French kitchen, interpreted in Swedish ingredients. Vegetables and conscious use of meat permeate the restaurant, and there will be something for everyone - lots of meat if the guest wants it, less meat otherwise and lots of exciting vegetables.
"We will cook a lot with seasonal ingredients, which is an important part of the concept. In the opening season, we will work mainly with root vegetables, dried mushrooms and free-range vegetables from Italy."
On 29 November, the restaurant opens its doors, a familiar dark time in our country.
"I'll be honest, it's a challenge to open in November/December, when the produce is not in season in Scandinavia! Next year, before autumn and winter, we will have more time to milk and put in vegetables, berries, fruits and mushrooms."
"We will launch one way, and then just push forward! The test batches will continue every month and the level will rise all the time. I'm striving for perfection. The restaurant is a process, a gastronomic journey, and I hope guests will want to be part of it and have a really great experience! Together we will create new traditions and new signature dishes."
Finally, we dream ourselves about two months ahead in time, when the doors of Pas d'Art are open to all. How is the atmosphere in the restaurant?
"We want to create a warm meeting place in the city centre, not only in terms of food and wine, but also in terms of atmosphere. We, the staff, set the tone for the atmosphere, which is then created in harmony with the guests. I see a full and lovely restaurant in front of me."
Michel Spiridon lists Pas d'Art's five different signums:
1. Vegetables
Vegetables are very important to us! We're very proud of the meat we have, but Pas d’Art is not a meat restaurant - it's all about the vegetables.
We focus on free-range vegetables and avoid greenhouse-grown produce. A climate-smart and environmentally friendly choice. At the moment we are focusing on free-range vegetables from Italy, then when spring comes we will bring in Swedish primroses such as nettles, asparagus, strawberries and chives.
2. Bouillabaisse
A signature that will always be there and that I have taken with me to all the restaurants I have worked with, half-French as I am. I see it as one of the ultimate fish dishes, enormously rich with seafood.
Pas d'Art's bouillabaisse comes in two versions; an extravagant evening serving with enormous amounts of grilled seafood and a simpler, lunch-based one with potatoes and mussels.
3. Roar riff
Raw beef from Swedish free-range animals is an important culture and another signature right. We consciously work with local suppliers and buy selected cows. If you eat meat from us, you can be sure that it is good meat and that we have already made the hard selection. The customer should just be able to sit back and not worry about the climate impact and the life the animal has lived.
4. Artisanal pasta
We are currently developing a new version of a ravioli, a speciality from Nice. I don't want to say too much, but I can reveal that we are developing a very exciting recipe!
5. Charcuterie
I love charcuterie, hams, sausages and pâtés! Once again, it is important that they are from organic, Swedish farms. We work with a local charcuterie maker who runs Korvhantverk Stockholm, one of the first producers of organic charcuterie. All charcuterie is nitrite-free, KRAV-labelled and additive-free.
