Mjolner Eathouse Takes Diners Back To Viking Times And The Fare Follows

by Heather Cassell

The group of women at the table next to me were having a good time. They were holding their miniature wine glasses filled with honey mead cheering, “Skol!” and tossed back their heads as they swallowed their initiation shot of the sweet syrupy aperitif.

The Vikings are an era that should be far, far away from bustling modern-day Sydney, Australia. Not here in the Redfern suburb, where Mjolner Eathouse is located. Sydneysiders, what locals call themselves, were getting a taste of 800 AD Thor style.

The women followed their shot filling their horns with beer and cheering again.

The restaurant’s name embodies Thor’s Asgardian enchanted war-hammer from the Norse mythology about the god who was associated with thunder.

Vikings or Thor was the thing for the patrons that packed the basement of the year-old restaurant located behind an unmarked door to the left of the address provided where my taxi dropped me off. Confused, by a non-restaurant business that was closed for the night and no other signage signifying where the restaurant was, I only found it when I saw a gentleman parting ways with a friend open a door and step inside.

I caught up with the man hesitantly, asking, “Is this a restaurant?”

Conversations from diners and guests sitting at the bar trailed up the stairs out into the open air and a small business license above the door confirmed his response, “Yes.”

I followed the man down the stairs into the dark room decorated like a tavern from the Viking Age. I was greeted by a bearded burly man with tattoos and piercings who led me to my table where I had a view of the kitchen. Another large burly man with a full beard, black gauge stretched lobe piercings in both ears, and a full sleeve of tattoos capped off by leather cuffs dressed in a leather apron monitored the plates coming from the kitchen.

Throughout my meal it became a theater of modern patrons being taught about Viking dining and drinking as leather corseted women and more burley and some not-so-burley waiters attended to guests.

The women were also tattooed, pierced, and their busts burst from their chest from the leather corsets maneuvered through the tables serving guests modernized medieval Norse fare. The dinners’ chatter was occasionally punctured by cheers, “Skol!”

Soon after taking my seat, I was greeted by my waiter. He wasn’t burly like the others, but it was his first night in this modern rendition of ancient Viking times. It’s only a matter of time.

He poured my shot of the honey mead, an aperitif made and enjoyed by the Vikings, he explained. Then he instructed me to say, “Skol!” the traditional Viking salute roughly translated to “cheers” or “good health” among friends and knock the whole drink back like the girls at the table next to me did. I failed. I could only take small sips, sipping three times quickly as the sticky sweet liquid ran down my throat. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t my favorite either. Honey mead is an acquired taste.

My palate was cleansed. I moved on to review the wine list and menu.

Ordering and being served was a long wait each time, even for ordering and getting my wine. The restaurant also didn’t have my first selection of wine available, the Tin Shed OMG 2012 Mataro, Grenache from the Barossa Valley, one of Australia’s premier wine regions located in south, so I went with my second choice, the Rolf Binder Bulls Blood 2013, a red blend of Mataro and Shiraz from the same region.

I dined on the Beast, a short rib with jerusalem artichoke and juniper, “From the Carvery.” I ordered a side of the baby potatoes flavored with horseradish and soft herbs to go along with it. A typical meat and potatoes meal.

When my meal was finally served, the meat was a healthy portion. I cut into it with the knife that I chose from the variety of steak knives offered to select from, it fell off the bone. This was a good sign, but it was deceiving. The sweetness of the meat was cut by the savory flavor of the dollop of jerusalem artichoke and juniper on my plate, but no amount of the artichoke and juniper could take away the slightly dry meat that made it difficult to cut. I was disappointed. It took work to cut it and eventually, I was full enough that I simply wasn’t inspired to keep working at it. It shouldn’t have been that difficult to cut the meat into bite-size pieces, but it was. I also wasn’t that impressed with the pureed jerusalem artichoke that functioned like a mustard or horseradish to dip the meat into. The flavor, which is difficult to describe, wasn’t appetizing.

I finally gave up on the meat and went vegetarian for the rest of the evening enjoying the potatoes. The potatoes were flavorful and cooked perfectly, slightly crisp on the outside and creamy soft on the inside.

I sipped my second choice in wine, which was amazing. It was full-bodied and bold with a silky-smooth slightly dry finish. If only I could live on wine. The wine list was a highlight, presenting a blend of Australian and European wines: no Napa and Sonoma wines were offered.

The wine was the most sophisticated thing about Mjolner. Much like the image that Mjolner portrays, Redfern is rough along Cleveland Street. The street is lined with many rundown storefronts, hole in the wall restaurants, and dive bars punctuated by newer trendy restaurants, bars, and shops signaling the trendsetters were claiming a stake in the suburb and transforming it.

Mjolner is an experience but I wouldn’t necessarily consider the cuisine high-end. It is aspiring to be more than it currently is, which is average cuisine dressed up to mimic 800 AD fare with above average presentation.

Average is fine, but I want my average to excel at being status quo in order for me to be enticed back or tell my friends, “Hey, there’s this really cool restaurant that’s Viking-inspired and different from anywhere else you’ve ever eaten. The food is really good.” Sadly, Mjolner was a note short on the food. The atmosphere was fun and perfectly tuned.

THE DIRTY DISH

Mjolner Eathouse, 267 Cleveland Street, Redfern, Sydney, New South Wales 2016, Australia. +61-422-263-226. . mjolner.com.au/sydney. 

Mjolner Eathouse, Ground Floor, 106 Hardware Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 011 61 (03) 8393-9367. . mjolner.com.au/melbourne.

TYPE OF RESTAURANT: Independently-owned, Themed 

RATING: 3 = Aqua

(0 inedible – 5 simply scrumptious)

AMBIANCE: Go back in time to 800 AD to the Viking age, entertaining and lively. The restaurant is attempting to be upscale fine dining with a twist, but it’s more trendy and casual.

SCENE: Living in a theater and the show is from the Viking era. Lively, fun, and entertaining. It attracts mostly a young crowd under 35.

SERVICE: The service attempts to be upscale but it is average. While it has a decent wine list, the servers aren’t properly trained to how to serve wine. For being busy, the time it took to order from the menu after I sat down to the time my food was delivered to my table was very slow. However, the server checked in on my table at the appropriate amount of times.

NOISE LEVEL: The restaurant was lively, but not so much so that you couldn’t hold a conversation at your own table without raising your voice. 

RECOMMENDED DISHES: The potatoes, which was a side dish.

SIP: The wine list is worth stopping by the bar for a drink. I really enjoyed the complexity of the Rolf Binder Bulls Blood 2013.

CHECK, PLEASE: $$$$ = Over $60

(price of dinner/lunch/breakfast/brunch for an individual meal not including tip) 

THE EAT: The restaurant was entertaining with a good wine list, but the quality of the food didn’t match the wine list or the pocketbook. It was too expensive for the quality of the food. 

WORTH THE NIGHT OUT?: Had a good time, but I’ve eaten better

Book your next Australian adventure with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .

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