Restaurang Fab by E Street

Cafeteria-style lunch is a genre I have a lot of respect for. Nobody writes poems about it, but a plate of sauce, potatoes and something crispy on top does more for an ordinary weekday than most tasting menus. Restaurang Fab by E Street in Sundsvall is a place for exactly that kind of lunch.

The setup is simple. You order and pay at a terminal, get a receipt and show it to the kitchen, a bit like a ticket into lunch. Then the food is in front of you right away. The lunch includes a large salad buffet, and afterwards there's coffee and dessert.

I had the herb-baked whiting fillet with red wine sauce, potato purée, crispy fried bacon and wax beans. The plate looked good the moment it left the kitchen, and it tasted at least as good. Whiting is a mild fish that needs a little company, and here it gets help from two directions: the bacon brings salt and crunch, the red wine sauce brings weight. Red wine sauce with white fish may sound a bit odd on paper, but together with the bacon the dish gets a solid backbone, and the wax beans cut through the soft purée. It's classic tray lunch that doesn't try to be anything else. The salad buffet was large and fresh, so there was plenty of greenery to load up on alongside.

The staff were friendly. When the order is already paid for, the exchange at the pick-up counter is short but kind, which suits the lunch pace. If you have half an hour, it goes on eating, not waiting.

Take your time and do the whole round if you go: start at the salad buffet, take the dish of the day, and save room for the coffee and dessert that are included. You don't come here to be surprised, but to eat properly in the middle of the day. It's worth checking the lunch menu on their website beforehand, so you know what awaits you at the terminal.