For three years, Jim Löfdahl has imported rare Nordic ingredients and used traditional recipes to bring his regional cuisine to Hong Kong
By way of Hong Kong’s proximity to the ocean and adoration of seafood, Jim Löfdahl finds his Nordic restaurant Embla relatable to the local palate. It is, for many, a first introduction to the flavours of Northern Europe.
Born and raised in Sweden, Jim’s Hong Kong venture was his first international experience cooking beyond his home nation, having begun in fine-dining only at 25 years old, a mature age for his career path.
At a young age, the chef had two things on his mind: muffins and badminton. “My childhood was full of baking, making muffins and bread for my friends in school. And from seven years old, my whole life became badminton,” Jim recalls.
When he wasn’t on the courts seven days a week after school, Jim was cooking for truck drivers on the outskirts of Stockholm, serving hearty dishes like pea soup, burgers, and fries.
When badminton didn’t offer a straightforward path to a career, Jim enrolled in hospitality school and entered kitchens in the capital studying a continent’s worth of cuisine. He cooked French food at a golf club, pan-fried cheese and schnitzel at a Czech restaurant, and pastas at an Italian joint.
By 25, his big break arrived at Frantzén/Lindeberg, currently Sweden’s sole three Michelin star restaurant opened by Björn Frantzén and Daniel Lindeberg. Joining the two head chefs, “I would begin at seven in the morning and finish at 2AM the next day, learning about molecular cuisine.” They served international flavours with a touch of Nordic ingredients.
As three chefs from Stockholm who have never travelled outside their country for work, earning a second Michelin star in the second year of operating and a World’s 50 Best ranking in the third was transformative, yet destructive. “I got to the stage of being burnt out. I was tired of fine-dining.”
The level of perfection required at Sweden’s top restaurant, clinical plating, long-working hours, precise attention to detail, forced Jim to reconsider a path towards the casual side of dining and away from Stockholm. Hong Kong came calling.
“Björn called and offered me a space in Hong Kong to join his project Frantzén’s Kitchen. Here, we imported the dishes from Frantzén/Lindeberg, simplified them, and served à-la-carte menus.”
“Sweden is 70% covered by forest and lakes, located within the Atlantic Ocean. We farm and cook with good quality fish that Hong Kongers can relate to.”
Frantzén’s Kitchen was one of Hong Kong’s first spaces to offer Nordic dining, modernised and adapted for the Asian palate. With a focus on seafood and seasonal Swedish produce, similar to the Embla mission, Hong Kong adored the restaurant.
“In the first year, we were turning seats three times a night and had lines of 60 to 70 guests snaking around the corner.”
When the restaurant shuttered in early 2022, Embla came to fruition, this time with Jim taking charge as auteur of his creation. Again, his focus drew on the entirety of the Nords, rather than a microscope on Swedish fare.
“People in Hong Kong like fusion food, but I don’t want to follow the same pattern of having French and Japanese influences. I want to showcase the [Nordic] region and the ingredients we have.”
Jim claims Embla to be the only restaurant in the world to exclusively import specific ingredients into Hong Kong, “Swedes do not like doing paperwork,” he laughs. In the kitchen, one can find ransom berries, elderflower capers, fresh spruce, anshu, cod, and venison.
“Swedish cooking is all about salt, sour, and sugar,” Jim states. Most importantly, his menus at Embla focus on umami. “ Umami is a great thing and you can find it in many things. Here, we use sugar kelp and seaweed from the Nordic region to add a lingering flavour to each dish, putting pressure on all your senses.”
With an ingredients-focussed approach, Embla’s tasting menu is crafted like a maestro. “When building a menu, I want it to be like a rock concert. You can’t have every single song a hit, you want to bridge the songs together, following smoothly to the next.
“The snacks introduce the theme, followed by the starters, before the main course to fulfill your experience. With the umami as a foundation, the flavours will always come back.”
Their spring menu starter, a lobster roll, features umami-strong smoked trout roe, followed by a bouncy sour milk bread with Nordic seeds. Salty Sanderfjord sauce, a popular Norwegian butter sauce, is draped over the North Atlantic Cod, which can be exchanged for the beef tenderloin with cinnamon and coffee jus.
Like any good Nordic meal, all that salt and umami has to be washed away with a Fika-inspired dessert.
In a shaky global economy, as Hong Kong finds itself returning to its former Asia’s World City title, Jim is thankful for steady business, but reserved to expand Embla or open new concepts. His Shanghai-based restaurant Promise By Jim Löfdahl closed in late 2024 after a year of business.
Three years after opening Embla, is Jim chasing a Michelin star? “I am not chasing it. I have been working on a platform in my career where I already have had three Michelin stars. I know what I am doing and talking about. It is up to them to decide if we have what it takes!”
Dive deep into the Nordic region with Embla’s tasting menus in Sheung Wan
