Hi Mymlan! Congratulations on 20 years as the restaurateur behind Surfers. How will you be celebrating?
Thank you! We’ve already begun the first part of the celebration by giving ourselves the gift of inviting Fuchsia Dunlop, who has been a huge inspiration to us ever since the very beginning of Surfers on Gotland. Her first book, Sichuan Cookery, was the book that made us understand that Chinese food wasn’t just incredibly delicious, but that there was an enormously rich history behind the food and its techniques. It laid the foundation for many of the ways we work today, not only in the kitchen but also in the dining room. So now, 20 years later, we have the opportunity to give ourselves the gift of working together with her, and to give our guests the gift of experiencing her in person. Our guests will be able to take part in this collaboration at Surfers Stockholm on March 22–23. After that, the celebrations will of course continue throughout the year, including plans for a huge party on the “mothership” at Surfers Visby.
How did it all start?
The year was 2005, and my dad, who is also a restaurateur, had begun to focus on Gotland after he and his partners had run a countryside restaurant for a few summers. The premises that are now Surfers Visby came up for sale. My dad, together with the Gotlander Per Bergström, who had surfed his way around the world, wanted to create a real surf bar on Gotland, in what they called their “Limestone Hawaii.” So they named the restaurant Surfers.
At the time I was 22 and working at Erik Videgård’s restaurant Halv Trappa Plus Gård, a chef and restaurant known for working with Sichuan cuisine. That summer I went down to Gotland to work at Surfers as a waitress for the season, and Jonatan Bergström was working there as well. He later became my business partner when we founded Surfers, so that’s where and when we got to know each other. It was a fun summer, but fairly quickly my dad and the others realized that they didn’t really have the time to run a restaurant on Gotland. I said that I could run the place while they figured things out, but that we had to change direction from burgers and coleslaw. At that point Erik Videgård closed his restaurant, and the chef Johan Johansson and Emma Andersson from Halv Trappa wanted to join in and came down to Gotland. That’s when we moved into the changing room at Surfers Visby.
A changing room?
Yes, we lived there. The restaurant kitchen was our kitchen, the room itself was our living room, and so on. We slept and lived in that changing room for two years.
What was that like?
Well, I liked it in a way. It was a bit lawless. You’d wake up to the Carlsberg truck reversing and beeping loudly, just throw some clothes on and start carrying in beer. I don’t think there are many people in Sweden who have actually truly lived at their restaurant. A lot of people claim they “live there,” but we really did.
That’s when we started making small Chinese dishes. At Halv Trappa we had done similar dishes, but they were part of set menus. We wanted them to be available individually and to be shared. We also wanted to offer all of our small dishes at 55 kronor each. This was before the culture of small dishes had really taken hold in Sweden, so that way of eating wasn’t established at all. Now everyone is tired of it, but back then it was completely new.
The idea was also to give people variety. Those who wanted could eat just one dish and have plenty of rice. It was important to us that there was something for everyone, regardless of the size of their wallet. We were very warmly welcomed. We liked being on Gotland, and Gotland liked us. Living together in a changing room did put some strain on relationships, though, so by New Year’s we were a bit tired of each other. In the winter we would go to the mainland, and then in the summer we’d come “home” to Surfers again, for three seasons. After that, Jonatan and I decided to buy the restaurant, and once we did, it felt strange to change the name. We had such a clear place on the island and the concept was so established, so we chose to keep the name. That’s why it’s called Surfers.
What does Fuchsia Dunlop mean to you?
She means a great deal to me. I think that if it hadn’t been for her, I probably wouldn’t have continued to find it so fun to work in restaurants. When you work in a Chinese restaurant with small plates, you carry a lot of small dishes, but when you’re also carrying a story behind those plates, the work becomes much more enjoyable. Fuchsia is, above all, an incredible storyteller, but she’s also a very skilled cook, as I’ve come to understand. In that way, she’s absolutely crucial to the fact that I work with Chinese food.
What will the dinner be like?
It will be based on her latest book, Invitation to a Banquet. It’s a book that follows Chinese food culture from its beginnings, from when we cooked over open fires, up to today, and explores which elements have been directly decisive in shaping Chinese culinary culture into what it is today. Among other things, it touches on the importance of different cooking techniques such as the wok, knife skills, and also food as medicine. The idea with the guest appearance is to invite her as a storyteller and expert. We want, in some way, to give people the keys to understanding Chinese food culture.
If a guest has never read Dunlop, how would you describe her books and her career?
For someone who reads a lot of cookbooks, her books are very different. The recipes aren’t really the main thing. You can actually read her without cooking any of her recipes, though you really should, because they’re “utterly delicious,” as she would say. I find her writing beautiful and fun to read. She’s incredibly talented at taking you to places through her text.
What’s next for Surfers, and for Mymlan?
For both Surfers and me, much of the focus this spring will be on Surfers Market, our small shop where we sell sauces and spice blends made by our chefs at the restaurant. So far, sales have only been available at the restaurant, but starting this spring we’ll also be available in several stores, and there will be an option to order online as well. This feels incredibly exciting!
Thank you, Mymlan!
