Savant /sævˈɑːnt/ a person with a high level of knowledge or skill
Claim to fame: Bespoke flavors all day, from coffee in the morning to craft tipples ‘til late
Reason to go: The constantly changing wine list, featuring organic, biodynamic and natural wines
To look out for: The extreme commitment to quality, sustainability and happiness
Arriving pre-work, you might meet barista Fabian Ekbäck pouring the Skåne-based roaster Daniel Remheden's brand Love Coffee Roasters, or some guest roast, like Danish La Cabra from Århus. If you turn up for lunch, you’ll be awarded with hearty offerings such as vegetable-based soups with croutons and sourdough bread. Should you pop by in the afternoon, you’ll want to skip straight to the thirst-quenchers, this is when owner and sommelier Markus Welin starts serving an ever-changing array of natural wines, Nordic beers and unusual non-alcoholic beverages. Acquiring wines in small quantities is his thing, does he categorically only buy six bottles of each label? “No, sometimes I buy three,” is his answer to that. Well-known French, Austrian, Italian, German and Spanish producers make up most of the list; Pithon-Paille from the Loire Valley, Domaine Georges Vernay from the Rhône ditto, Rennersistas from Burgenland, Suertes del Marques from the Canary Islands and Lamoresca from Sicily.
Savant’s menu changes daily and is surprisingly substantial for a bar with such a small kitchen. The focus lays mainly, but not exclusively, on plant-based dishes, often vegan, made with ingredients from small, local producers. Snacks are fetched farther afield; big green olives, banderillas, Spanish cornichons, and Marcona almonds, they lead up to small dishes like hummus and oven-baked feta with pita, boquerones with toast and lemon, and a substantial bar sandwich with portabello- and oyster mushrooms, onion confit and fermented chili sauce. The mains include oven-baked cabbage with creamed corn, pickled onion and anchovy butter, as well as blackened parsley root with grated cheese, parsley mayonnaise and lemon oil. Also on the menu: an impressive and generous cheese selection, featuring hand-picked, exclusively Swedish, carefully matured delicacies of cow-, goat- or sheep’s milk from iconic cheese makers like Bredsjö, Almnäs Bruk, Järna Mejeri and Lillängen Gårdsmejeri.
If you’re not a cheese fiend, perhaps the house-made confections are more your speed; colorful chocolate pralines, marmalade candies, caramels and toffees are temptingly displayed on the bar, right in front of you.
Adding to the already ambitious sustainable ethos, Savant’s outspoken goal is to be a 100% plastic free restaurant by 2020, and free of all non-organic waste by 2022.
