On Thursday September 29, 2011 I decided to visit one of the newest food trucks on the Orlando food truck scene, SwedeDish. They were parked at Eat More Produce in Winter Park for lunch. SwedeDish debuted on September 21, 2011, and I felt lucky to be able to eat there within a very short time of their opening. Serving authentic Swedish cuisine, this new truck is a great addition to the variety of cuisines the food trucks in Orlando are serving. And this truck is really cool for several reason!First of all, the truck is my favorite color, a vibrant blue, with yellow and white accents. It screams Sweden! Secondly, the truck has a helmet with horns atop it's dash, which I just think is a neat nod to the history of that area. Thirdly, this truck used to be a NASA command center. The ingenuity of the owners to turn a part of the space program into a rolling culinary delight is amazing. Some other fun facts are that the owners are really Swedish, from actual Sweden, they are a husband and wife team, and the husband, Hakan actually did the renovations on the truck. The coolest part of the truck though??? The food!!!!
I am not very well-versed in Swedish cuisine. I had never had ligonberries before this adventure, even though I had heard they were delicious. I have had Swedish meatballs, and I love them, so I knew that's probably what I would order. But this truck also serves dishes like Kycklingpaj med sallad which is chicken curry in a cup, and a fresh green salad dressed with Swedish spices. From what I understand this is Viveca's (the wife) specialty. There is also a slider type sandwich called smorgas med krabbrora, which has fresh crab, mayo, and dill. They also serve a hot dog with mashed potatoes and a crab salad in a thin Swedish bread. It looked really cool, and I think my companion wished he had ordered it. Maybe next time. And they have a vegetarian dish, a cheese and onion pie that comes with their fresh Swedish spiced salad.
SwedeDish also has a dessert, a chokladbollar, a coconut covered chocolate ball. Since we were there for their limited lunch menu I didn't get to try it, but I definitely will next time I go. In addition to dessert, there are two Swedish drinks you can try, a lingonberry drink and also an elderflower beverage.
The truck had special, limited lunch menu on the day we went. My companion and I both ordered the Swedish meatballs, svenska kottbullar med potatismos, inlagd gurka och lingonsylt. The meatballs came in a cream sauce with mashed potatoes, pickled gherkins, and lingonberry jam. I LOVED it!!! The meatballs were soooo tender, moist, and flavorful. The cream sauce was perfect on top, and the lingonberry jam added a great contrast of sweet and tart to refresh the palate. The potatoes were homemade, and pretty much just how I like them. The pickled gherkins reminded me of a dish my mom used to make that had thinly sliced cucumbers in a vinegar and mayo sauce. Important to note though, there is no mayo in the gherkins, the flavor just reminded me of my mom's dish. There was sweet, tart, savory, sour, creamy, fresh, rich, and bright all enrobed into this one plate. In fact, it has inspired me to make my own Swedish meatballs (although I'm sure they won't be nearly as yummy!!!).
I will be back to the SweDish food truck. I hope that if you're in the area you will give them a try. You can find out more about their menu and history at http://swededishfoodtruck.wordpress.com/. You can also look at their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/SwedeDISHFoodTruck or follow them on Twitter @swedeDISHTruck.
No comments:
Post a Comment