After a visit to the apple orchard we got hungry so we stopped for a lunch in a nearby town, Drammen.
Ask & Loke was recommended to us by the locals because of their use of local ingredients in a quite creative but not so very much imaginative way. They are still keeping it on the tracks since their audience is not very interested, I assume.
Nevertheless, the food was fantastically made and explained by the chef (thank you) but the service was utterly incompetent. They did offered us a glass of free drink on the occasion of the first birthday they celebrated and they suggested us to take different kind of appetizers, but they charged us non existing ones and they brought everything at the same time. Now, I know they may be some misunderstandings between guests and the servers, but it’s up for all to communicate if something is not clear as a clear blue sky or a thing like appetizers and a main course. Or, as Norwegians call it: forretter (before dishes) and hovedrett (main dish).
Anyway, after a slap in a face with total 10 meals at the table for us five to share, we dug in and we didn’t let the bad service disappoint us. At last, the dishes were delicious and fantastic!
I wouldn’t and couldn’t point any of the dishes as brilliant but they were well prepared and rather interesting in the details like crunchy tapioca balls or baked kale chips with the steak. Or maybe fresh asparagus with cheese sauce. Or beetroot that everybody thought it was dried plums. What a mistake to make…but would definitely like to make the same mistake again 🙂
ASK & LOKE
Nakon razgleda jabukovca i degustacije jabučnih tekućih proizvoda trebalo je kušati i nešto konkretno, pa smo produžili do Drammena na ručak.
Kulinarski tim restorana Ask & Loke fokusirao se na lokalne proizvode koje izvode vrlo kreativno, ali ne pretjerano maštovito. Ziherica je i dalje nešto na čemu inzistiraju u Norveškoj, barem u cjenovno prihvatljivim restoranima. Možda upravo zato? Ili im je ciljana publika nezainteresirana?
Uglavnom, koliko god su jela bila ukusna i dobro pripremljena, toliko je usluga bila ka-ta-stro-fa-lna! Usprkos polupraznom prostoru i činjenici da restoran slavi prvu godinu poslovanja oko naše grupe se nitko nije posebno trudio (nebitno), ali su posluživanje jela izvršili amaterski (vrlo bitno).
Nas petero odlučili se za pet predjela i potom pet glavnih jela jer smo htjeli sve probati. Nažalost, jela smo tako i dobili. SVE. NA STOL. ODJEDNOM.
Ključ svakog odnosa, bilo prijateljskog, bilo partnerskog, roditeljskog, pa tako i poslužiteljskog je u komunikaciji i ako ti nije jasno žele li gosti sva jela odjednom ili su možda htjeli prvo pojesti predjelo, pa glavno jelo – pitaj ih. A ne zbuksat sve odjednom i onda (vrhunac) pod izgovorom da će kuhar bolje objasniti jela, nestati. Naravno da će kuhar bolje objasniti što je napravio od namirnica, ali to nije njegov posao, to je posao poslužitelja.
Nakon prvotnog šoka, prepustili smo se degustaciji jela nedopuštajući da nam loša posluga pokvari ručak, koji je ispao sasvim solidan, na kraju 🙂
