Fine dining in the North East was a bit of a pipe dream not so long ago. The area has a long-standing industrial heritage and a working class image that goes with that, and why would coal miners, factory workers and shipbuilders want to eat fancy food? It’s an outdated stereotype, of course – one that has been and gone in other parts of the country with similar industrial backgrounds, but for some reason still lingers in this beautiful part of England.
The smog is lifting, though, and a new generation of chefs are rooting down in the North East and thrusting it into the culinary limelight. James Close – of the two-Michelin-starred Raby Hunt near Darlington – and Kenny Atkinson at House of Tides in Newcastle are probably the names that come to mind first, but there are plenty of others flying the flag – John Williams, Gareth Ward, Tom Anglesea, Nick Grieves, Shaun Hurrell and Anna Hedworth are all born and bred Northumbrians doing their bit to push the culinary envelope around the country.
As you might gather from the name, Alex Nietosvuori wasn’t born in these parts; the Swedish chef hails from Landskrona, just north of Malmö, but despite the 600-odd miles between his old home and his new one, the two aren’t so different. The name of his restaurant – ‘Hjem’ – references a word that means ‘home' in both Swedish and Northumbrian dialect, and he skilfully blends Scandinavian culinary techniques with the best of Northumberland produce at the restaurant, which is turning more than a few heads.
Alex travelled the world working as a chef before moving to Wall with his partner Ally Thompson (herself a Northumberland native), but as a youngster there was no sign that food would be his future. He wanted to be a huntsman initially – hunting is very popular in Sweden, but doing it professionally requires a significant amount of study for a license. That dream didn’t materialise, so he started cooking in Landskrona instead. ‘I had nothing else to do, to be honest’ he says. ‘I worked in a café on my days off from school, making pies.’ It was just a job, but it was enough to give Alex the impetus to make a ninety minute journey over to Skåne-Tranås – a picturesque village further to the east. On the surface, this tiny 300-strong village doesn’t seem like the place to advance your culinary career (although it's near Ystad – the coastal town where detective Kurt Wallander famously gazed out across the Baltic Sea). However, Skåne-Tranås is also home to Daniel Berlin Krog – a two-Michelin-starred restaurant that is widely recognised as one of the best in the world. And it was, relatively speaking, right in Alex’s back yard.