I'd been to Marg og
Bein (Bergen, Norway) one time before with my wife and David, and though we'd all
enjoyed the food and their reasonable prices, we were in no rush to
return. We saw potential in the place, but it seemed too slack on
those little things that differentiate good from great restaurants.
It is clearly a food-driven business. In particular, their barren
wine list and having our food served on cold plates (all but assuring
our food was lukewarm within a minute) turned us off.
I had been giving
thought lately of a return visit (the food was some of the best in
town, with cheap prices) and when I learned that they were planning a
collaborative Beer Maker's Dinner with South Britain's Wild Beer, it
was clear this was my chance. Also, the only other Bergenite in my
beer sommelier course worked for the restaurant, so I figured he'd
had a hand in it.
We sat down on one
of two long tables (these events are usually set up like this to
encourage discussion.) and the first thing I noticed was that the
forks and knives were set on the wrong sides. I immediately became
worried that this would be another flawed experience.
We were served as
an aperitif, Sourdough, a barrel-fermented sour beer, brewed from a
60-year old sourdough culture from a bakery close to Wild Beer's
farm. It was hazy yellow and had an intense, funky, highly sulfuric
aroma. It wasn't welcoming, but thankfully, the beer tasted much
better than it smelled. It was medium-bodied and refreshing, with a
striking tartness up front, but remained balanced, supported by a
touch of sweetness and woodiness in the finish.
I was getting
hungry and when the first starter finally arrived, I had to force
myself to not devour it immediately. It was hot-smoked eel served
atop apple remoulade with picked beets. It was well composed; the
remoulade offering just the right amount of creaminess and acidity to
smooth out the fishiness of the eel. It was paired with Zintuki, a
blend of their famous Ninkasi saison and a sour beer fermented from
apple skin yeasts. It was hazy, light-gold and had a lovely aroma of
barn, apples, and some fruit esters. It was a round-feeling beer
with a rich mouthfeel. It was dry, but balanced, with a hint of
acidity and a champagne-like spritziness. It was a great pairing.
The beer was lifted from being merely good to fantastic. The salty
smoked flavor of the eel brought out the fruitier characteristics of
the beer, while the beer's acidity cut through the remoulade's
creaminess. Not to mention the harmonization of the apple flavors in
both. The pickled beets were the only misstep, as they overpowered
the beer a bit.
With the next
course, we were served Winter Blend 2015, which was a crazy mix of
24 different barrel-aged beers. It was served ice-cold, which was a
major killer of what could have been an aromatic bomb. Still, a
whiff of lactobacillus yogurt smells, some forest berries, and funky,
barn-like brett came through in this dirty, mud-like beer. It
was sour in every imaginable level, having the acer-bacteria
influenced vinegar-flavors of a Flemish sour, the bright tartness of
a Berliner weiss, and the intense, mouth-imploding sourness of a
lambic. It was a punch in the face, both bright and deep. It felt
dry, even on the front of the tongue, but opened to reveal a good
dose of malt to hold it all up. I'm not sure if I liked it, but I'll
still buy a bottle to cellar for a couple years, see how the brett
will develop in it.
Such a intense beer
seemed an odd choice for a second course pairing, especially beside
the dish, which was deer tartar with pickled shallot, horseradish,
marinated oysters, and instead of the classic egg yolk, bright yellow
roe of a small, fresh-water fish (called
løyrom in Norwegian).
It was delicious. The roe gave the right
type of saltiness to brighten the otherwise deep, rich flavors of the
deer. The shallot provided the needed acidity.
The
pairing was acceptable, yet somehow the food balanced the acidity of
the beer too much, killing the more interesting nuances. And when
mixed with the shallots, it brought out a strong, lingering
aftertaste of sulfur.
As
good as the starters were, we had our sights on the main: confit pork
cheek with gravet bacon, baked leek, a slightly sweet parsnip puree,
all swimming in a knee-weakening pork jous. It was so delicious, I
forgot all about the beer, which is one of my favorites. Ninkasi is
a saison, brewed with apple juice, wild yeasts, and bottle
conditioned with champagne-yeast. It has a hazy, bright-orange
color. The apples are clear in the nose, as well some
bubble-gum-like esters and some biscuit-like malts. It is a very
yeast-driven beer with very little hop aroma. It tastes rich and
complex. Spicy and dry with just the right level of bitterness and
acidity. It is a smooth beer with a perfect balance. The pairing
seemed to work, but I was in the throes of food-ecstasy, so it was
all a bit hazy.
When
I emerged from my daze, I looked at the menu and got even more
excited. Stilton cheese with barley wine. Stilton is a winner with
beer, though it needs the right pairing to stand up to its intense
flavor. Usually barley wines do the trick. The blue cheese was
creamed into a mush and smeared on a plate with flax seeds, sunflower
seeds, and poached pears. I would have been happier with just a
piece of stilton. It tasted fine, though the poached pears had all
their pear-i-ness poached out of them, so they provided neither
acidity or sweetness. The beer, III, brewed with pomegranate
molasses and caramelized orange peel, sounded “wild” but tasted
very subdued, especially with the cheese. Again, it was served
too-cold, so very little aroma was decipherable, but I did get some
hits of vanilla and dates. It was bitter and acidic, clearly from
the orange peel. It had a creamy body with lots of malt, but it will
stand as the blandest barley wine I've tasted. Though this may have
suffered from following such a strong act, I'd say that this course
was ultimately unsuccessful.
To
finish, Marg og Bein made the dessert beer into an ice cream with a
salty peanut butter. It was a nice salt and sweet combo and the beer
made a fine base for an ice cream. The beer itself was worthy of
being a dessert alone. It was a milk stout, called Millionaire. It
was dark brown with a rich roasted aroma and a touch of yeast
fruitiness. It had a sweet flavor with lots of caramel. The
addition of salt helped control the sweetness, kept it from being
undrinkable. It finished with a pleasant, cleansing roastiness. It
wasn't overly complex, but it was delicious. Sadly, it became thin
in concert with the food. It finished like a cup of gas station
coffee on the side, which isn't a bad thing, but it was a shame to
have such a tasty beer watered out on the palate.
I
was satisfied with the evening. It was great to see such an exciting
chef and brewer working together. Yet again though, it was another
imperfect experience from the restaurant. The server seemed
knowledgeable about beer (my classmate, was unfortunately too busy to
work this night), yet three of the beers were far too cold.
Thankfully, the beer was served in tapered glasses, so we could
appreciate what we could of the aroma. Too many fine restaurants like to serve beer
in open-topped shaker glasses that give no impression beer fragrance.
The pairings were done theoretically, and everything worked on
paper, but it could have benefited from a test-run to see if they
were winners in reality. In these types of dinners, the dishes
often need to take a flavor hit, letting the beer create the missing
link in the flavor composition. Here, they went all out, which
created some stunning dishes, but less-than-perfect pairings.
Marg
og Bein's chef Mark McCarthy seemed inspired by the beers, though, and
plans to keep Wild Beer on tap. He voiced plans to have small dishes
that pair with the brews, in an attempt to be a brewpub in addition
to a fine restaurant. I'm excited for this development and will
surely return to Marg og Bein. Despite its flaws, it has some of the
best food in town and their prices can't be beat.
Marg og Bein is located on Fosswinckels gate 18 in Bergen Norway
http://www.wildbeerco.com/
http://marg-bein.no/
Tags: Wild Beer Marg og Bein Beer Maker's Dinners Beer and Food Pairing Food porn
