Nicolai Tram

Nicolai Tram is a Danish chef who walked away from a conventional restaurant career to build one of the most unusual and admired restaurants in Scandinavia – Knystaforsen, a Michelin-starred destination deep in the Swedish forest, where nearly everything is cooked over open fire. His story is one of radical reinvention: from TV chef and Copenhagen bistro owner to a chef reconnecting food, people and nature in a former sawmill in the woods.

Tram’s cooking is elemental and deeply personal. Built on local, foraged and county-sourced ingredients and centred on fire, it treats the kitchen not as a factory but as a place of connection to the landscape – a philosophy that has struck a powerful chord and won some of the highest honours in the food world.

TL;DR

• Danish chef, who trained in Spain and ran the Copenhagen bistro Jacobsen
• Spent five years as a TV chef on Go’ Morgen Danmark
• In 2017 left the industry and moved with his family to rural Sweden
• Founded Knystaforsen, a fire-cooking restaurant in a former 1871 sawmill
• Won a Michelin star and a Green Star in 2022, two years after opening

Nicolai Tram key facts

From TV chef to a turning point

Before his dramatic change of direction, Nicolai Tram had a full career in Danish and international food. He worked in some of Spain’s most prestigious restaurants, ran his own Nordic bistro, Jacobsen, in Copenhagen, and spent five years as a TV chef on the popular morning show Go’ Morgen Danmark. By 2017, though, he and his wife Eva had come to feel that the restaurant industry was exhausting and unsustainable – and they made the bold decision to leave it behind entirely.

Into the Swedish woods

Nicolai and Eva sold everything and moved with their two children to Rydobruk, in Halland County, Sweden, settling around a former sawmill dating from 1871, set among rivers and forest. There they launched Knystaforsen, at first as a catering venture and then as a restaurant, built entirely around their new surroundings. It was a leap of faith – trading the security of the city for a remote life in the woods – but one that would soon be rewarded far beyond their expectations.

Fire, foraging and a Michelin star

At Knystaforsen, almost everything is cooked over open fire, which Tram sees as the essential link between humans, nature and food. Ingredients are either sourced from local county producers or foraged from the surrounding forest and rivers, and little is wasted. This uncompromising, deeply sustainable approach earned extraordinary recognition: in 2022, just two years after opening, Knystaforsen was awarded both a Michelin star and a Michelin Green Star, honouring its dedication to wild ingredients and upcycled local materials.

Signature style

Tram’s cooking is raw, honest and intensely connected to place. Fire is at its heart – not as a gimmick but as a way of cooking that ties every dish to the landscape and the seasons. His food is a celebration of the Swedish forest and its produce, made with skill honed in top kitchens but expressed through a very different, back-to-nature philosophy that has made Knystaforsen a destination for food lovers from around the world.

Nicolai Tram in context

Tram is part of a wave of Nordic chefs exploring fire, foraging and nature, sharing that outlook with chefs featured on Pickup Table 4 such as Mads Refslund and Nicolai Norregaard.

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Nicolai Tram FAQ

Who is Nicolai Tram?
A Danish chef and the founder of Knystaforsen, a Michelin-starred fire-cooking restaurant in Sweden.

What is Knystaforsen?
His restaurant in a former sawmill in the Swedish forest, where food is cooked over open fire.

What Michelin recognition does it have?
A Michelin star and a Green Star, both awarded in 2022.

What did he do before?
He cooked in Spain, ran the Copenhagen bistro Jacobsen and was a Danish TV chef.

What is his philosophy?
Cooking over fire with local and foraged ingredients, reconnecting food, people and nature.