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Sweden - Danyel Couet

Bailliage of Sweden
Stockholm, June 4, 2021

Maître Rôtisseur with a lot on his plate
" Thumbs up for Danyel, his Swedish French food, sauces, his young chefs, leadership "

Maître Rôtisseur Danyel Couet became well known as part of a famous chef duo at restaurant Fredsgatan 12 in Stockholm. He started as a trainee. Head Chef Melker liked his ambitions. Danyel was asked to stay on. Together they successfully developed the fine dining restaurant to gain a Michelin star then expanded their empire with several restaurants.

Danyel says “ There really was no plan”. Everything went well. The restaurants flourished. One day they felt their head office was like a company selling car parts. “ Soulless and without a feeling of food”. Enough is enough.

When Fredsgatan 12 celebrated its 20th anniversary only Melker and Danyel knew it was a farewell party. Danyel started exercising and learning about healthiness. Wanting to return to good food he opened his dream French restaurant in Stockholm named after his grandmother Allegrine which means joy. In her Paris kitchen Danyel’s lifelong love for straight, simple, French food began.

Danyel describes Allegrine as a French restaurant where a Frenchman does not recognise himself. The best quality produce is sought: Swedish duck, Linderöd’s fantastic pigs, Normandy beef. His kitchen hangs its meat, dries, salts and confits. Danyel picks spring onions and figs, grows tasty Marinda tomatoes, loves lemon! At “the kitchen table” for 12 Danyel and his partner Sebastian serve self-hunted game. Through food the chefs have become dedicated hunters. Follow them on YouTube channel ”Shots & Pots”.

Having campaigned that the street where Allegrine is located be pedestrian-only Danyel looks forward to it becoming like a Parisian square. Crowds of people, guests coming and going and waiters darting back and forth with trays and plates between Allegrine and Bar Étable. The majority of guests are from the neighbourhood and Danyel asserts “are the best ambassadors”.

During the pandemic Danyel turned disaster into opportunity moving the entire staff - the dream team - to Gotland and opened a new restaurant. His approach is a “democracy with slightly anarchist elements and no hierarchy at all”. It works.

He has launched seven ready-made sauces being sold in grocery stores. Landing a dream job as the TV host of The Youngest Masterchef in Sweden, Danyel says, “If I tell them the gravy is a little bit too salty and thin but the presentation is beautiful they will only remember the latter”. Their conclusion is “ I think I might win” which is a great attitude for anyone to have.

Thumbs up for Danyel, his Swedish French food, sauces, his young chefs, leadership and saving his staff from unemployment.

Catarina Offe
Conseiller Culinaire

Translation into English by Margareta Henry, Chargée de Missions Honoraire

Photography by Wolfgang Kleinschmidt and Allegrine

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