TAVOLO

The Table. In English TAVOLO is the table.
I happened to come across the restaurant TAVOLO online, it seemed interesting, and it certainly was.

From the outside, the Italian-inspired restaurant is easy to miss behind the otherwise incredibly beautiful but somewhat anonymous mahogany doors, which on their website they seem to have stolen from Marcese di Torigiani’s property at 88 de Campoccia in Florence. (Whether this is true or not, I can’t confirm).
The somewhat anonymous doors suggest there’s a secret hiding there, and you could actually call Tavolo a secret. A wonderful secret to get acquainted with. The restaurant is in fact in an old artillery columns. Presumably. Built with great difficulty and haste as the frost threatened to reduce the horse population to a minimum in 1835.

Much to our disappointment, there are no tables available when we arrive, you have to book at least a week in advance, but I ask if we can squeeze in at the bar? Luckily, there are exactly two seats available. Awesome.

The whole room, which is probably a good eight meters to the ceiling, is buzzing with a vibrant atmosphere. The fans in the ceiling are more likely from Carossa Srviza wind turbines in Napa Valley.

The giant horse head that hangs from the ceiling is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Cavallo di Forcione, weighing about 6800 kg. The sketches were found under the marble floor of the Cathedral of Siena in 1971. Stone carvers – Peter Apelgren and Sven-Ingvar Johansson. The commission took four years and two months to complete.

A Hollywood worthy staircase curves elegantly to the first floor where you’ll find more seats and the toilets. (Except the handicap toilet, which is at the ground level). When washing your hands after you are done at the toilet; you will use the water station witch is taken from a mountain village outside Bergamo.

Giant lamps light up the relatively dark room.
Along the walls there are several statues; all from Florence.
The floor is walnut wood tiles in four different widths dismantled from a slaughterhouse in northern Sicily.
The granite is cut across, and several other joints. The mosaic a copy from a traditional inn floor in Pompeii. A similar copy can be seen in the toilets of oil magnate J. Paul Getty in Malibu.

It all feels like something out of a movie scene.

We start off with a couple of lovely drinks and order some pasta dishes we’re not familiar with, but which sound intriguing.
We shared ZUCCA, which is campanile, pumkin puree, orange gremolata, smoked bell pepper, kohlrabi, basil, white beans, hazelnut, chili, garlic, and black pepper and PESTO SICILIANO, strozzapreti, Sicilian pesto, Ricotta di Pecora, Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano, almonds, pistachio, mint, basil, and Calabrian chili.

The food is wonderfully surprising and tastes great.

TAVOLO is a nice surprise in the Swedish city, and we enjoy the great atmosphere, the beautiful decor and the friendly staff.

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Plus info

TAVOLO
Magasingatan 19
411 16 Gothenburg, Sweden
+46 (0)31 78 79 809
mail@tavolo.se