The verdict on Elska, Brisbane’s new 12-seat, degustation-only restaurant

Once the hugely popular cafe Freja’s, this inner Brisbane eatery has been transformed into Elska, a degustation only dinner restaurant. But has the change paid off?

To take a successful cafe – one with queues out the door, a loyal clientele and online reviews glowing with praise – and completely up-end it, transforming it into Elska, a 12-seat, degustation-only dinner restaurant seems, well, a little foolhardy.

But not if you’re husband and wife team Nathan and Freja Dunnell. After owning and running the hugely popular Freja’s in Wilston, in Brisbane’s inner north, for the past two years, Nathan decided he needed a bigger outlet for his culinary creativity.

With a fine dining background, including Stokehouse Q, the chef wanted to get back to his roots.

Deciding personal fulfilment is more important than any monetary gains, the couple set about converting the Wilston Village casual space into a little slice of Scandi chic, reflecting Freja’s family heritage.

Degustation-only restaurant Elska at Wilston Picture: Richard Gosling

The cafe’s side courtyard has been converted into a long dining room anchored by a large timber artwork and hidden behind a linen curtain for a touch of whimsy.

Timber chairs with backs that curve like reindeer antlers and a cushion-lined wooden banquette tuck into oak-hued tables, while touches of greenery and cloth napkins bring softness to the white space.

The Tasmanian Bennett's wallaby with fermented grape, leek and white onion. Picture: Richard Gosling

And what they’re serving is a Scandi-meets-Australia multi-course offering ($110 per person for up to 10 dishes) described as hyper-seasonal, which means it’s dictated by the best produce at the time and can change day to day, week to week, depending on what’s available.

There’s elegance and care behind each dish as well as technique – lots of technique – some of it obvious, most of it subtle, disguised by simple presentation.

Take a brilliant fish croquette where the goldband snapper is salted for two days before being soaked in milk and then turned into the little breadcrumbed bundle topped with a herbaceous aioli and slivers of desert lime.

Or perhaps a single cube of skewered emu, which has been marinated in beetroot juice before hitting the hibachi grill rendering it butter soft, complemented by a sweet-tart quandong ketchup and powder.

Zucchini and nectarine salad with macadamia, shiso and yuzo. Picture: Richard Gosling

Even a simple salad delicately layering crescents of nectarine and zucchini across the plate is tricked up with a macadamia emulsion and perfectly tart yuzu gel.

A knife worthy of Paul Hogan is brought out for a main course of wallaby.

The native Australian animal is cooked until just pink, its subtle gaminess offset by fermented grapes and a silken onion emulsion.

Morningside institution Curryville has put itself firmly on the culinary map

Inside the restaurant equivalent of a Rainbow Paddle Pop

$200 steaks, Moreton Bay bug mash, is SK Steak and Oyster Brisbane’s most lavish steakhouse?

A pre-dessert actually outshines the main event, with the penultimate course of white chocolate mousse, fennel and bee pollen ice cream, ribbons of sour apple and a dusting of lemon myrtle cleansing, fresh and aromatic with delicate menthol notes.

A wine pairing is available for the respectable price of $60, or select from a tight but popular collection of quality vino.

Local beer and cider are also available, while a trio of cocktails use boutique Aussie spirits (also available by the glass) and are exceptionally keenly priced.

Elska is an old Nordic word for love and from the warmth of service to the passion in the food, there couldn’t be a more befitting nomenclature for this family-run restaurant.

ELSKA

3/1 MacGregor Street Wilston; 0414 319 958; elska.com.au

Thur-Sun 6pm-late

Must try white chocolate and fennel pre-dessert

Food 3.5 stars

Ambience 4 stars

Service 4.5 stars

Value 4.5 stars

OVERALL 4 stars