Båsenberga Hotell & Konferens

Båsenberga is a conference hotel. Nevertheless, for a traveler without any conferences in sight, it's just fine for a small retreat. Located out in the fields by a small lake, the many buildings aren't fancy in any way. It's no castle. It's not even a mansion when you judge by the exterior. Nothing pompous. Rural. Calm. It is well maintained and once your'e inside you find a consistent coolish northern style with a typical white to gray scaled decor. It's simple, yet elegant. Nice, bright lounge with large windows and quality furnishing aside the entrance and reception. Family driven there's a limited number of staff at the weekends. But everything works fine with a tangible care for the guests. A personal, yet professional approach. Half a stair up there's a parlor with a billiard and seating area. Further in a small bar and adjacent dining room. Same style here as in the rest of the interior design: "scandinavian". The bar serves a selection of beverages. Only remark here is there is room for improvement of the bartender's skills - good if you know how to mix a cocktail that you have on the menu... We had a quite large room with pitched roof and a canapé couch. Excellent double bed - very, very comfortable. All amenities including water bottle, some nuts and coffee maker/kettle. No mini bar though. But that's good - much nicer to have a drink in the bar downstairs. And more environmental friendly. Bathrobes are at hand - maybe most useful if you plan to visit the relax/spa (a walk across the yard), which we did not do on this occasion. To be noted: no AC (but a fan) in the room. One can probably expect rather high temperatures up there under the roof in the summertime... Breakfast is served in the restaurant. Although sufficient enough, it has a relatively small number of choices. Fine for us, but don't expect an overwhelming selection. There are however newly scrambled (and cooked) eggs, bacon and a few charcuteries etc at hand and you can also make your own waffles on a waffle iron. Now for what makes this place stand out: The restaurant! Clear and obvious skill in the kitchen. Only a few dishes on the menu. Always a good sign of a conscious chef who knows how to handle quality before quantity. Many modern chefs always base their dishes on vegetables and add meat or fish as a "secondary" ingredient. Likewise with the Båsenberga chef. The menu built up around a base ingredient. On the plate appears the base ingredient in a lovely variety of cooking/preparation, building a fine, balanced, palette of flavours. Two starters: "Parsnip" and "Root beets" turned out to be delicious renderings of a variety of these ingredients. The protein accompanying the parsnips was air-dried ham and the root beets were presented with small pieces of black pudding (!) with truffles. Refined. Two mains: "Carrot" and "Celeriac". Carrots in various forms served with locally hunted venison and the celeriac appeared together with fresh pike-perch from the