I've never had Northern European-style food. Until now.

While we were in Philadelphia, we went to Noord for brunch. This restaurant features Dutch and Scandinavian cuisine in a cute little area with large, open windows that allowed the breeze to float in.

First off,  I knew BYOB was a big thing in Philadelphia restaurants, but I didn't realize how far they took it. Our waitress - I'm not sure how else to put this - was sloshed. She was stumbling around, dropping things, couldn't recite the specials because she forgot and we "didn't need to know them anyway." She slid her finger across my phone case and said she liked it and then giggled. Wut. I was trying to diagnose whether this behavior is acceptable or not, and as far as I could tell, this seemed to be the norm. Bizarre.

Fortunately, the food was incredible. We were first served a sliver of bread that was freshly baked, warm, moist and way flavorful. I was on board.

For my entree, I ordered the Smorrebrod (after not knowing the specials) because it featured house smoked fish and open-faced sandwiches. Sounds good, right? my GOD it was good.

Not only is this plate absolutely beautiful, it was entirely perfectly balanced. There are three separate pieces of toasted rye bread topped with a scallop and caviar, fish and prawns. And, all around are pickled red onions, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, greens and topped with a tartar/mustard cream sauce. I devoured this plate. Everything had a nice sour and sweet and crunchy and creamy flavor. Every bite was different and fun. It was delicious, and I might have to travel to Philadelphia again just for this dish.

Grade: A