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A miracle in
Nordanå
Greek-Scandinavian food shouldn’t be this thrilling but Mando Burström Billia’s
new restaurant is sensational, says Paul Connolly.
“Fusion” as a culinary term is hated
by chefs and customers alike. It’s so
late-1980s it conjures up images of
over-tanned men in pastel jackets
with sleeves rolled up, leaping over
the bonnets of cars as they chase a
villain. It stinks of shoulder pads and
David Hasselhoff’s oily cleavage in
Baywatch. It’s just wrong.
But it’s not just the term ‘fusion’
that’s wrong (it also makes me think
of the Hadron Collider and the end
of the world). The food was rubbish,
too. I remember wasabi mashed
potato and rhubarb tuna. Trust me,
I wish I didn’t. Fusion, as a concept,
was one thing - in reality it was rarely
anything other than a taste-clashing
disaster.
cuisine and a Scandinavian twist
to Greek food. That sort of pledge
would not normally be a very kind
one to make.
As with the promise, “I will eat
your liver with fava beans,” it would
elicit in me a mild thrill of curiosity
(‘would the texture of fava beans
really go with liver?’) but a thrill
that would soon be overwhelmed by
That’s why Diamanto “Mando”
Burström Billia’s new restaurant
Nordanå Gården in, er, Nordanå is
such a spectacular surprise. Mando,
who was born and raised in Athens,
has promised diners a Greek and
Mediterranean take on Scandinavian
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terror and the urge to run very fast in
the opposite direction.
Yet Mando’s promise is not a threat.
It’s a celebration. A wild, vivid jubilee
of what food can be. A vegetarian
moussaka with the textural
satisfaction and complex flavour of
a much more complicated dish. A
crispy hake dish, served with beetroot
puree, green pesto and smoked