Rok Smokehouse, restaurant review: Ollie Dabbous protégé Matt Young brings taste of Scandinavia to London

From what I know about them, the English middle classes tend to have quite limited horizons when it comes to weekends away in Europe. It's all Tuscan villas and châteaux halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Not for them the searing heat and unbeatable beer of Bavaria, where I melted in 35C this summer in a suit for which I was a stone overweight. Nor, generally, the chilly but beautiful consolations of Scandinavia.

One reason must be the weather; another, the dark; and another still the price of fish, literally. Yet in Stockholm a decade ago, and in Bergen a month ago, I found so much beauty, so much outstanding food and drink, and so few people, all within just over an hour's flight, that I can't believe this will last. A kind of inverse Viking tourism may be inevitable, whereby a new generation of middle-class Englishmen and women realise they haven't a hope in hell of giving their children a bucolic getaway in Provence, and decide to buy a barn next to a fjord somewhere that's freezing for 11 months of the year. I rather fancy it, and for one reason above all: the cuisine.

But don't worry, this is not another feature about "the Scandi moment"; this is a review of Rok Smokehouse in Shoreditch, east London. "Rok" is Swedish for smoke, and in a dimly lit restaurant with room for 40, decorated with jars full of pickling vegetables and filled with slightly uncomfortable wooden stools, you get some of the purest Scandinavian tastes this side of Oslo – even if the meat is British and comes from Cobble Lane in Islington. There's a custom-built charcoal barbecue right in the centre of the kitchen, which is presided over by Matt Young, who, having worked with the great Ollie Dabbous at Barnyard, has had a fine apprenticeship.

I can't see a scallop on a menu without willing it into my belly, and the butter-soaked, 'nduja-accompanied morsel, delivered here in its shell for £5, is luxuriant in terms of both money and taste. It's very dear for a single bite – or two, if you want to look elegant; but the salty, fatty coating to the hot white flesh, followed by the heat of spicy sausage, is just sublime. The thread of samphire over the top adds colour, texture and taste superbly. That 'nduja is clearly a favourite, as it also pops up on an excellent quail's egg with Dijon mayo, which is a snip at £3.50.

A charcuterie selection includes a chorizo whose fatty globules are a little too large for me, but at £6, served with toasted sourdough (too thickly cut, and underdone) and pickles, it is still pretty good. Probably the best of the starters is a duck pâté with knackerbröd and blackcurrant jam (£3.50). That's a posh Ryvita, basically. Or, as it was described to us, a Swedish wholemeal crispbread. It's beautifully served, with a circular heap of pungent pâté and a dollop of very sweet and slightly acidic jam. One diner near us could be heard commenting on the unfortunate resemblance of those brown pâté swirls to human excrement, but that thought hadn't crossed our minds.

There are four meat dishes, the most expensive being beef with birch syrup for £20. This is sensational: a pink, sweet, juicy rib-eye with lashings of succulent birch flavour on top. Even better is the duck with lingonberry jam (£16). Fashionable as an alleged "superfood", this berry is a vital part of the Scandi diet. The habit of serving these tart cousins of the cranberry to accompany red meat – common further south, too, in Mitteleuropa – is one that I have to recommend.

Various accompanying salads – burned sweet potato with horseradish crème fraîche (£4); cauliflower cheese with beef dust and almonds (£5); charred broccoli with pumpkin seeds, toasted almonds, sesame seeds and quinoa (£5) – are very well executed, except for the needless and distracting presence of the quinoa in the latter. And I'm afraid the solitary dessert (not a tradition inherited from the Scandis, I can assure you) isn't up to much: a wood-roasted peach with crème fraîche, Laphroaig honey and almond. Marvellous if you like peach; pretty limiting if you don't.

Either way, with good cocktails and beers to match, this smokehouse could persuade a few of you to spend your summer break in the Scandinavian sun. I'll see you there.

7.5/10

Rok Smokehouse, 26 Curtain Road, London EC2, ​Tel: 020 7377 2152. £80 for two with wine

Four more foodie notes from the past week

Lamb pasanda

I keep coming back to my favourite curry. Bengal Lancer in north London's Kentish Town does the best I know.

Tamarind

Watch out for a major craze next year for the sour, unique taste of this fruit, a star of many Asian cuisines.

Yuzu

I've become obsessed with this Japanese citrus fruit: think lemon, orange and grapefruit combined. Great on salads.

Chocolate mousse

They do a brilliant version at the Horseshoe, a pub near the Heath in Hampstead that's good for brunch.