When Freja’s Cafe opened in Wilston a few years ago, it didn’t take long before locals and most of Brisbane alike flocked to this north-side location to taste their delicious menu. Unique and artfully plated offerings like the Brisket Croissant not only had diners salivating, but every foodie wanted something for the ‘gram. Fast forward to 2020, and the team behind Freja’s (Nathan and Freja), have decided to write the next chapter in their food journey by re-inventing Freja’s Cafe into an intimate 12 seat Restaurant, Elska. Elska is an old Nordic translation for love; their love for food, connection and family. Ahead of the opening on the 6th February 2020, get to know Freja and Nathan, as Discover Brisbane unveils the team behind Elska.

For those who are not too familiar with Freja’s Cafe, tell us a little about your story, and how it all came about, what you did before the cafe, and who the team behind Frejas (and soon to be Elska) is:

Freja's Cafe was the result of our combined love for food, coffee and people. We found ourselves looking for more interesting and creative foods when we were going out for breakfast, something a bit different and outside the normal. We, one day had the conversation of starting our own cafe and focus on doing what we loved and how we could envoke our visions and idealisations into a cafe.

Nathan was working at Stokehouse at the time when we started the ball rolling on this idea, while Freja was finishing her pastry chef degree and working part-time (as pastry chef) and specialty barista. With Nathan's food background and Freja's pastry and barista background we set out to use our knowledge and passion to create Frejas Cafe.

Over the past two years at Freja's we have had such amazing support from not only our customers but from our talented staff, who we have been so grateful and appreciative to have worked with. This made the evolution of Freja's in to Elska that bit harder, but a move we have found necessary.

Elska will be a small 12 seat intimate degustation restaurant situated in Wilston village. The kitchen will be run by Nathan and the front will be run by none other than Freja. We have decided to keep it nice and small to allow us the ability to connect with our customers at a deeper level and attempt to enhance the experience they receive.

You both may have had different backgrounds but in terms of food and cooking, who is your inspiration and what is your philosophy?

Freja: Growing up in Europe there are so many unique coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants. Every morning we would walk down to our local bakery (lagkagehuset) and pick up the most beautiful pastries and fresh bread which has in-bedded some deep and personal memories that I hold very dear to me. I believe this must be what has inspired me so much to become a pastry chef and has captured my interest in all the beauty and deliciousness pastry has to offer.

By heart I am a big believer of balance. Finding that balance between work and spending time with our loved ones and family has been a crucial learning-curb for myself and Nathan, as we work best when we are in harmony, content and happy. It has been a long road and still is, in finding the balance for family, for my passion, for work and for my day to day living but it is a road I believe in and I will continue to follow.

Nathan: There are so many amazing chefs showing up everyday, each one of them offering something different and unique. I find it nearly impossible to narrow my inspiration down to one. From and early age my grandmother and mother heavily influenced my passion for food. As I grew I learnt more and tried to improve, researching more and trying new things I opened my mind to the endless creativity food and cooking has to offer. If I can encapsulate anything I believe in or idealize in one word, it is progression. I take this philosophy into every aspect of my life; how can I progress my food and my skills, how can I progress as a father and husband and how can I progress as a better human. All of these beliefs help drive me to improve each day and keep growing and expanding myself as a person.

With Frejas Cafe firmly established, becoming not only a local favourite in Wilston, but a Brisbane favourite; it would have been easy to rest on your success and continue with what you already have. Tell us, when did the idea for Elska come about and why change a successful business? (Will you do away with Breakfast/Brunch altogether at Elska?)

We are forever humbled by the success that Freja's Cafe has achieved, but we felt we had become complacent with the success of Freja's and Nathan was wanting to push his creativeness to another level, and creating a degustation restaurant had always been his dream. We found in our situation that progress was impossible without change, so we needed to change and mix things up. So birthed the idea of evolving Freja's Cafe into Elska. We still want to celebrate our past so we will be opening for brunches on the weekends as a way to remain connected with regulars and push creative breakfast boundaries.

Image Supplied. @elskarestaurant Instagram.

What will your approach to Elska be in terms of food, type of cuisine, and what can diners expect?

Elska will be extremely seasonal focused with menus changing frequently, normally consisting of between 7 to 9 courses taking guests on a journey, focusing on beautiful Australian produce along side Nordic cooking techniques tying in Frejas Scandinavian heritage and Nathan's Australian background.

When will Elska Open?

Elska will be officially launching February 6th and booking has already commenced (please head to our website for bookings www.elska.com.au)

What is your all-time favourite dish/food? And if you could live on only one cuisine forever, what cuisine would it be? (Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese etc?)

Freja: My all time favourite food is potatoes. Any kind of potato, cooked any way. Being from Denmark potatoes is a stable in the kitchen and is something we eat daily, and I haven't lost that tradition as of yet.

Italian would have to be my favourite choice of cuisine. Growing up in Europe and visiting Italy twice a year I grew the love for good handmade Italian food early on. I could easily live off potatoes and a bucket loads of pasta.

Nathan: My all time favorite food is legitimately mayonnaise. It's one of those weird chef things, I have it with absolutely everything. Italian would have to be the cuisine of choice to live off. Very versatile, always tasty and well balanced, can be heavy or light and a multitude of choice.

Where is your favourite place in Brisbane for Pastries?

There are so many beautiful patisseries in Brisbane and each place does something truly magical. Being a pastry chef you know how much work there goes into making a croissant and how hard they work behind the scene to please my croissant loving belly, so I have so much respect for each and one of them. But I tend to split my time between Chouquette (which is a beautiful french pastry shop) and Flour and Chocolate (who does not only make beautiful pastries but also the yummiest brownies) .