Freyja can read like a cautionary tale, one where too many elements jostle for space. For starters there’s the presence of head chef Jae Bang, the Korean-born alumnus of Michelin-starred restaurants like Norway’s new-Scandi Re-naa, Spain’s nuevo-Basque Arzak and New York’s classic French Restaurant Daniel. Then there’s Bang’s ideas of transplanting Nordic ideas of hyper-local sourcing, waste minimisation and fermentation and pickling to a Melbourne context.
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There’s a lot of ideas, cultures and cuisines in the air and it could have gone terribly wrong, but for the fact that Bang is an excellent chef not interested in sacrificing deliciousness for cleverness. For the simplest example of his approach at Freyja please refer to exhibit A: a side dish of fermented and fried potatoes.
Like many of the dishes (on both à la carte and eight-course tasting menus), there’s more work here than meets the eye. These potatoes are par-cooked, then salt brined for around a week which kick-starts a fermentation process. It also pulls moisture out of the potato so after being partially smashed then deep fried, they emerge, dreamily crisp and simply, saltily flavoursome.
You’d pop in here for those alone if Freyja was not also offering a bunch of equally satisfying flavour combinations. Superb radishes, left whole with (edible) leaves intact, are teamed with a deep green umami-laden mussel and parsley puree. Equally prize-worthy asparagus spears are teamed with onions, mushroom broth, and topped with brightly flavoured sorrel leaves. Dry-aged koji-brined duck, slow-cooked above the wood grill, moves towards Melbourne’s Best territory. Signature Freyja waffles, made the old-fashioned way in a waffle iron over coal and accompanied by smoked sour cream, chives and trout roe check every box.
This all happens in a room with a pared-back, clean-lined, timber-forward Scandi appeal, that sidesteps sterility via textured elements like raw brick and marble, some borderline disturbing Matthew Gillett artwork and a slatted wood ceiling feature that echoes the Gothic-style arched front windows of the 1880s Olderfleet building that Freyja calls home. A seven-seat chef’s counter offers a view of what is one of Melbourne’s calmest and most ordered kitchens. Very satisfying.
Check out the cocktail list. There’s an appealingly dark and herbal lean to many of the combinations (Davidson plum and native amaro, for example) that’s more compelling than the serviceable but not particularly interesting (particularly in the context of the food) wine offer.
Barely sweet, beautifully textured apple and rhubarb desserts, raw kingfish teamed with a blackcurrant wood-infused oil; the ideas go on and on at Freyja. But they always bring the flavour with them.
