In Jämtland, northwestern Sweden, about 6 hours north of Sweden's capital, the land is isolated, sparse and frozen half the year. It is this isolated landscape that Chef Magnus Nilsson has transformed a ski resort farmhouse into what some say is one of the best restaurants in the world, with a several months long wait list. Guests at the 12-seat Fäviken Magasinet restaurant are treated to a multi-course, inventive, perfectly timed, and choreographed meal prepared by Nilsson and his small kitchen staff. The menu boasts seasonal ingredients that honor the landscape of the region as well as championing the traditions and past of its people.
Chef Magnus Nilsson moved abroad to France after cooking school, working with such greats as Pascal Barbot at L'Astrance and was inspired by Frances expansive culinary culture. Years later after returning home to Sweden, Nilsson nearly gave up cooking altogether due to limitations on quality of Swedens produce and ingredients. Magnus turned to wine and decided to pursue a career as a sommelier, eventually assembling a wine cellar for the owner of the Fäviken estate in Järpen Sweden.
Drawn back to food, he eventually became the head chef at Fäviken, and since has made it a point to work with the confines of the seasons of Northern Sweden, whether it be fishing and hunting nearby or harvesting and preserving produce. Naturally, this creates a unique and ever-changing menu indicative of the Scandinavian terroir.
Magnus has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and the Guardian, and his cookbook Fäviken was released by Phaidon in 2012. His restaurant was just recently ranked 19th on the The Worlds Best 50 Restaurants List. Magnus will be featured on the upcoming season of the Emmy-Award winning series THE MIND OF A CHEF on PBS in 2014.
