“I almost had tears”: Chef Tommy Myllymäki on what it’s like to cook for the Nobel Prize Banquet, plus all the details about this year’s menu

Yesterday evening, the Swedish Royal Family, diplomats, politicians and the Swedish House Mafia sat down to dinner at Stockholm’s Stadshuset for the Nobel Prize Banquet. The menu? A three-course modern Nordic feast prepared by chefs Tommy Myllymäki and Pi Le and pastry chef Frida Bäcke. “It was quite overwhelming, actually. I almost had tears,” says Myllymäki of the experience. “For me, as I get older, it’s funny to see how life brings you to some things or some places you dreamt about when you were a child, or watched on TV. Suddenly I’m there, doing it.”

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Myllymäki got the gig back in March, but was sworn to secrecy until the big announcement was made earlier this week. Keeping the news under wraps became increasingly difficult as the banquet grew ever nearer, particularly when Myllymäki and Le began to actively prepare in the kitchen of their two Michelin-starred restaurant Aira. “We were trying stuff and doing cook ups and staff were asking, ‘What’s that for?’,” says Myllymäki. Most of the preparation was done on Sundays and Mondays, whilst the restaurant is closed, under a clever smokescreen. “We said we were doing a big thing for Volvo and they have to try all the food,” says Myllymäki.

As for the menu itself, Myllymäki and Le stayed more or less in their comfort zone. “From the beginning, we wanted to do something that we do at Aira that we feel comfortable with,” says Myllymäki. The meal began with a “bread and soup” starter, similar to an Aira dish but with an “elegant twist” of truffle butter and crisp bread dusted with porcini powder. The soup itself was also porcini. “We wanted to involve the bread, which is normally forgotten in the dinner, in the starter,” says Myllymäki, noting that he liked the idea of doing something “basic yet elegant” at this “fancy dinner”.

“It was ballsy to serve a soup, for sure,” says food journalist, critic and Vogue Scandinavia contributor Anna Norström. “Back in the early Nobel days the menu always started with a consommé but that stopped in the '50s.” According to Norström, the role of a Nobel chef is to “reinvent the idea of what a Nobel dish can be” (she cites the controversial Nobel porridge served by Jesse Sommarström last year).

To that end, the starter did mark a first for the Nobel Banquet: the introduction of butter knives. It was a necessary add-on to the stunning table settings, as butter isn’t traditionally served. As a personal touch, the knives themselves were crafted by Le’s brother.

Then came the main. It was the Nobel Committee that decided the dish would centre around turbot, which Myllymäki and Le stuffed with scallops. The sauce, made of nutmeg, fermented quince, apples, nutmeg and a bit of truffle (“We didn’t use that much truffle yesterday,” notes Myllymäki) is based on a beloved sauce on the menu at Aira. Also on the plate: cabbage, leeks and mushrooms.

Norström notes that the biggest difference between this year’s dinner and last year’s was the way the produce itself was sourced. “Aside from salt and pepper, Jessie Sommarström’s dinner was 100 per cent sourced in Sweden,” she says. "This year we saw truffle from Spain, fish from Norway and mushrooms from various countries.”

No meal is complete without dessert. Crafted by Bäcke, last night’s final course was centred around a sorbet of Swedish blackthorn berries (also known as sloeberries), served with baked cream of fresh cheese with bourbon vanilla and a browned butter sponge. “The dessert this year is created with a lot of heart and with inspiration from the Scandinavian forest, with hand-picked berries as the theme,” says Bäcke. “As a child, I was out in the woods a lot with my grandparents, picking wild raspberries. This dessert means a lot to me, as I chose to dedicate it to them.” Not only is Bäcke inspired by the love shown between her grandparents, but also their sustainable approach to life: preserving produce in their cellar and “repairing what was broken rather than buying new”.

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Overall, Nörstrom describes this year’s menu as “elegant and timeless”. “Think of this year's menu more like Burberry or Svenskt Tenn rather than Balenciaga,” she says.

Meanwhile, Myllymäki, miraculously, wasn’t stressed. In fact, he was able to enjoy the moment. It reminded him of something he saw in London few months ago. “It’s a little bit like Liam Gallagher on stage this summer,” he says, referencing the Oasis reunion tour. “He was taking it in. It was nice. I really tried to take it in.”