Ever since I came back from Iceland and was so surprised by the excellent quality of their food, I've been on the hunt for good Scandinavian food in NYC. Unsurprisingly, there aren't a lot of options. So when I heard about Aska in the Kinfolk Studios (it used to house various pop-up restaurants such as Yuji Ramen) I jumped at the chance to try it out. They only offer a 7 course ($65) or 10 course ($110) meal and you must make a reservation. You can't just walk in and sit and order a la carte. For the moment I put in my reservation for the 7 course meal, the customer service was excellent. They follow up with you via email to confirm your reservation and ask if you have any food allergies or food restrictions. I thought that this was a nice touch considering that most prixe fixe places have an attitude of take it or leave it, no substitutions (I'm looking at you Feast).
Janet and I sat down and were immediately served a bunch of amuse bouche that I can't really remember off the top of my head, except for the pig's blood chip. Umm, yeah, I ate it but I can't say I would necessarily run back for that again. Before the main courses, we got a plate of freshly warm bread with homemade sweet whipped butter. There is really nothing better than freshly baked bread and soft delicious butter. I ate 2 whole rolls. I will say that the bits of anise on top of the bread weren't my favorite but it did add a nice hint of licorice taste to it. The first dish was an oyster with dandelion and rapeseed. The oyster was already shucked out of its shell and served in a foamy broth and the first bite was super smooth with a hint of fishiness from the oyster. If you don't like a strong taste of the sea, I wouldn't recommend this dish but Janet and I loved it. Next dish was the leek with butter and winter leaves. Although I'm not a huge leek fan, I loved the warm buttery taste and the leek was very soft. This was Janet's least favorite dish but I think it was because she had a hard time cutting it up and eating it (the key is to cut along the grain and not against it otherwise it'll be very difficult to cut). The 3rd dish was crispy pork trotter (pig's feet) with ramps. Ramps! Ramps are probably the most trendy vegetable possible (if vegetables can even be trendy). I loved this dish because the trotter was deliciously fatty and combined with the ramps made it even better. I was glad that the portions here are pretty small because if I ate more of this my cholesterol would have sky rocketed into the 300's. The next dish was also a top dish of the night although I can totally see how it's not for everyone. The whelk looked like a plate of sea shells and rocks that you pick up along the shore. But by using a toothpick you can dig into the shell and dig out what seems like the meat inside a conch. So it's a bit chewy and has a strong taste of the ocean but I personally enjoyed it because it reminded me of other kinds of shellfish that I like eating.
On to the 5th course which was pike fish with herbs and haymilk (I really have no idea what haymilk is). The light white fish was nicely done and served with a bunch of fermented vegetables. It was probably the most "normal" dish of the night and what you can find at another restaurant. The last entree dish of the night was a winner. It was pork with giant raw spinach and beets. One of the funniest comments of the night Janet made was that she originally thought that the beet juice that was spread across the dish was pigs blood and that kind of freaked her out. The pork was incredibly tender and was equal parts meaty and fatty. I wasn't a huge fan of the random raw piece of spinach, I would have preferred it cooked. The last course was dessert and honestly I wasn't expecting much since Scandinavia isn't really known for dessert. But it was amazing!! It was a arrack (it was like a thick ice cream) and served with rosehip, almond and a very strong rum based sauce. It was a great way to end the meal.
All in all, I'm not sure how Scandinavian the whole meal was but it was certainly very different and high end. It's not a casual meal (took over 2+ hours) and it was one of those types of places where the chef and sous chefs come to your table and explain the dish and pour each of the sacues/broths individually into your bowls. Total bill with tax and tip: $83/pp
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