We kind of knew the moment we walked in that we were in for a treat. The place was bustling, almost…read moreevery table was full of happy folk eating, chatting and generally enjoying the place. I was worried that it was a reservations-only kind of place as Jessheim is a small town, but we were greeted and ushered-in in no time.
The server seated us with a smile and came with water and provided us with English menus. I usually prefer the local menu (translation is easy with Google!) but we had just arrived at the airport and the English menu looked adequately comprehensive.
A bit of a debate, but we ended up with 2 dishes to share between 2 very jet-lagged diners. The Monk Fish was fabulous but small. A small fillet of monk fish was on a bed of an unctuous, umami sauce of something I couldn't adequately identify. May be crab and lobster? Garnished with chunks of zucchini and mushrooms and a small sprinkling of little shrimp. A wedge of juicy lemon and a scoop of rice.
I first tried a bite of the fish naked, and it tasted just-caught fresh and perfectly cooked. The source and a little lemon elevated it to perfection. Encountering a new restaurant, I will go for the fish as one of my 'acid tests' and the chef at Mirabel sailed through with flying colors!
Even the rice was perfection. Not the way Chinese rice would have been cooked, but the perfect texture to soak in the source and combine as an accompaniment to all the elements of the dish.
The second dish we shared was the Bianchi Quattro Formaggii pizza. It looked perfect when it arrived, and I would say was the best pizza I've eaten in the past year (and I've eaten a lot of pizza!)
The cheeses were perfectly² blended and a drizzle of honey over the top before serving turned it into perfection. The salty, pungent cheese complemented by the sweet tang of honey.
With pizza, the crust matters, and there was barely enough crust left to mop up all the remnants of the monk fish sauce. What a perfect first meal in Norway!!
