High above Gothenburg, the grill takes centre stage. At Johanna, ingredients from Sweden’s west coast meet international influences and a style of cooking where fire and flavour define the experience.
Now, Johanna and Alexander Stärnerz have been featured in SvD Perfect Guide. Under the headline “Smaker från väst” – Flavours from the West, the publication highlights three of Stärnerz’s summer dishes from the grill.
It begins with something as closely associated with Gothenburg as the sea itself – the classic shrimp sandwich. At Johanna, however, it arrives in a smaller and more playful form.
Gothenburg’s smallest shrimp sandwich is Alexander Stärnerz’s interpretation of a true west coast classic.
Crisp, butter-fried bread forms the base, topped with egg yolk cream flavoured with browned butter, pickled pointed cabbage, hand-peeled shrimp and vendace roe. Fresh dill and black pepper add the finishing touches.
The flavours are familiar, but the presentation is distinctly Johanna – a small dish that captures the meeting between Gothenburg’s culinary traditions and the restaurant’s own approach to cooking.
The grill is a recurring theme throughout the feature. In the second dish, blue mussels and clams meet the heat together with garlic, shallots, white wine, nduja and sobrasada.
Here, fire becomes more than simply a source of heat. A glowing piece of charcoal is placed directly into the pot before the lid goes on, adding another dimension to the cooking process. The mussels are then served in their sauce alongside freshly grilled sourdough bread and grilled lemon.
The result brings together the salinity of the sea, the heat of the sausage and the smokiness of the grill – flavours that reflect Johanna’s identity as a grill-focused restaurant in Gothenburg.
For the third dish featured in SvD Perfect Guide, the focus turns to grilled presa iberico bellota, served with romesco, green asparagus and new potatoes.
The accompaniments are given just as much attention as the meat. The asparagus is quickly grilled over high heat to retain its bite, while the potatoes are cooked on the grill with butter to develop both texture and smoky flavour.
The romesco brings everything together with grilled peppers, tomato, garlic, roasted almonds, sherry vinegar and smoked paprika.
The presa iberico is grilled to an internal temperature of 58°C before being rested and sliced for serving.
The three dishes featured in Flavours from the West show different expressions of the same philosophy. Shrimp and vendace roe meet browned butter, shellfish is paired with the heat of nduja and sobrasada, and presa iberico is accompanied by flavours shaped by the grill.
At Johanna, the grill is the common thread – whether meat, fish or shellfish is on the menu.
Perhaps that is where Johanna finds its character: in the meeting between Gothenburg and the world, the west coast and the grill, the familiar and the unexpected.
High above the city, Johanna continues to let carefully selected ingredients, fire and the view over Gothenburg set the tone for the experience.