Mando inside her restaurant, Nordanågarden. "It’s forever been a dream to have my own restaurant."
You’d think that one of the main issues you’d have to deal with when moving from Athens to Skellefteå would be the brutal winters. From an average of +12c to an average of -13c. That’s a 25c degree difference. The prospect of acclimatising to that would bother anyone.
But not Mando Burström Billia, the 40-year-old owner and head chef of the Nordanågården restaurant, one of the newest and shiniest jewels in the crown of the Skellefteå food scene.
– The winter? No, that didn’t bother me, she says.
– You just have to wear the right clothes. It’s also really beautiful here in the winter.
And then comes the twist.
– But the summer! The summer here is crazy. It doesn’t get dark. I couldn't sleep during the summer, she says.
– The first summer, I don’t think I got more than two hours’ sleep in any one night. And it took me three years to adapt to it - I had such problems with sleep. And my son, he was like, 'Mom, it’s not night, how can I sleep?'
Mando confounds expectations. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t think it’s a deliberate strategy. I think it’s just who Mando is. For example, she happily describes the amazing food in her restaurant as “fusion”. Most chefs hate the word. But Mando embraces it.
– I love Greek food, with all the herbs we use, but I also love Swedish food. I wanted to make a fusion of both culinary traditions.
To say the fusion works is an understatement - her food is often spectacular.
When I ask her why she moved to northern Sweden from Greece, I expect the usual answer - for love. And it was love she moved for, but not love for a boyfriend or girlfriend; it was for the love of her son.
– In 2016 Greece was in a bad place. It was falling apart economically. I was looking for a place with calmness, a good quality of life and somewhere that would be good for my son. I wanted him to get a good education and live in a safe place. All those things you want for your child. I’d heard good things about Sweden from people I’d met who’d been.
Then, in what Mando jokingly calls a “conspiracy of the universe”, she found out that Arbetsförmedlingen, the Swedish Public Employment Service, was looking for chefs from overseas. Initially they assumed she’d want to move to Stockholm, but Mando was in search of a quieter life.
– Life in the bustling city was chaotic. I didn’t want to live in another big city, and so I said ‘no’ to Stockholm. But when Skellefteå came up, I thought, yes, why not, let’s go!
Mando’s candid about how terrifying such a move was.
– Was it scary? Yes, of course, it was scary. It’s all such a shock to your system. You don’t know how this new country works, you don’t understand the language, everything is different.
Mando, in the kitchen. "A big part of running a restaurant is an impulse to express yourself, to indulge your creativity."
Even a place, the kitchen, that should have felt like home was different. @@- Where I worked in Athens was a very busy, very large kitchen in a five-star hotel, the Divani Caravel. There were separate departments that each looked after one particular thing, such as breakfast, or warm or cold kitchen. But here, in the kitchen, the chef has to know about and deal with all these things themselves. No departments. And the cooking style is different from the Greek style. So there was new equipment to learn about, new dishes, new pans, everything really.
After spells at establishments such as Scandic and Din Fest on Campus, Mando found herself yearning to start her own restaurant, and in 2022, she jumped straight in and relaunched Nordanågården.
- It's forever been a dream to have my own restaurant. A big part of running a restaurant is an impulse to express yourself, to indulge your creativity. That was important to me. But you also have to deal with the mental and physical demands of such a venture. It is really tough.
Mando says without the support of her husband, John, it would have been a lot harder. @@- He was amazing. I was worried about my poor Swedish. I worried about all the administration I would have to do. It would all be in Swedish and my Swedish wasn't so good. He just said, 'I will help you with all of that, but you must do this, I believe in you.' @@18 months later, Mando's restaurant does lunch and dinner and even offers the occasional wine-tasting evening. It's been an unqualified success. Earlier this year she was even named New Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 by Nyföretagarcentrum Skellefteå.
Yet anyone expecting a hard-nosed, tough-nut entrepreneur when they first meet Mando socially, or at her restaurant, will be in for a surprise. In another example of her expectations-defying character, Mando is gentle, softly-spoken and engaging company.
That’s just the way she is.