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Sweden - Pontus Frithiof

Bailliage of Sweden
Stockholm, February 22, 2021

Nothing is impossible!
" focus on the guests and always a twinkle in the eye "

À la carte, street food, medium rare and extra everything! This is what you get when visiting the restaurant group of Maître Rôtisseur Pontus Frithiof.

Pontus grew up in a family with food loving parents who took him to restaurants at an early age. In high school all his classmates wanted to be laywers. Instead, Pontus sought out legendary chef Erik Lallerstedt in The Green House, a restaurant in Stockholm’s Old Town, to ask if he could work there. He was accepted. And there his love of cooking started. After culinary school Erik became his mentor and gave Pontus opportunity to work at Michelin starred restaurants abroad.

Returning home, Leif Mannerström, another legendary chef in Sweden, became Pontus’ new mentor. The Green House became “Pontus in The Green House” with luxurious home cooked dishes - enormously expensive but worth every penny. The restaurant was chosen as the best in Sweden. Pontus became ‘Chef of the Year’ being awarded a gold medal by Swedish Gastronomic Academy.

He opened “Pontus Matsal” (Pontus’ Dining room) in the city. Elegant and pleasant it attracted the cream of the city’s gastronomes. Pontus then added the more easy-going “Pocket” concept which continues to be successful. Eventually the fine dining era came to a standstill.

As a result, Pontus’ entrepreneurial competence learned from financier Jan Stenbeck came to very good use.

His restaurant group now extends to locations in a museum, an airport, staff restaurants and a gastronomic top floor restaurant. He offers exclusive catering and has a food truck in the city. Just one thing is missing at the moment. “I want to create a new fine dining restaurant”, he says, “I have an idea”. He always has.

“We receive at least ten enquiries a month about cooperation and ideas. Some crazy, but others can be really interesting. Sometimes we say yes but we can also afford to say no”, Pontus enthused. During the short time we wrote this there were two press releases about new business assignments in the group.

Award-winning “Pontus in the Air” at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport exclusively for American Express Centurion- and Platinum-members, is a feather in his cap.

At the now closed Atelier 23, “All-inclusive by Pontus Frithiof” was an unforgettable dinner experience with magnificent views. Pontus participated in the kitchen there with great passion, “I could look up and feel the atmosphere”, he said. [Ed. see the “Stop Press” announcement at the end of this article for news relating to the reincarnation of Atelier 23]

Pop-up restaurant “Dinner Club” offered young Chefs the opportunity to become Chef of the Day with their own menu and cooking. This is typical of Pontus. He supports and coaches them to make a career for themselves. Pontus always has at least one young chef participating in the Swedish finals in Jeunes Chefs competition. Young chefs of the year Andreas 2011, Jimmi 2013 and Philip 2015 all came from Pontus. Many chefs refer to their work at Pontus in the Green House. Many life-long friendships started there.

Pontus does not use an office, although his administration does. He prefers to perch on a bar stool at Pocket Café with his computer. At home he is the one doing the cooking. “I like the whole thing: to plan, shop, cook and eat”. Pontus is an uncomplicated omnivore with a love of Swedish cuisine.

His recently-published reference book “Husmanskost - svenska smaker” (traditional home cooking - Swedish tastes) with a couple of hundred recipes is no coincidence. Impossibly large this book does not belong by the stove with pots and pans. Pontus promises that the recipes will be available digitally. Not a surprise it was a winner in the Gourmand Awards.

“We continue with the same core values we started with 20 years ago, well-cooked food with the best ingredients, focus on the guests and always a twinkle in the eye. We love to do what others do not. Nothing is impossible!” he declared.

Catarina Offe
Conseiller Culinaire

Stop press (February 25, 2021)
Pontus Group is to open a new fine dining business on the 23rd floor of Rålambsvägen 17 on the island of Kungsholmen in Stockholm, in the summer of 2021. Pontus announced, “As usual when we do something, we go our own way and this business we are going to start will be a “private power-dining” concept where the quality ambition is very high for the food and wine.

Translation into English by Margareta Henry, Chargée de Missions Honoraire

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