World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Stockholm  - Food and Drink
Food and Drink

Stockholm has always been a city for eating out. The Old Town alone had some 700 eating houses and inns in the eighteenth century, and Sweden's modern wealth has poured into the pockets of Stockholm restauranteurs. Stockholm's citizens now have about 1500 establishments to choose between. International cuisine is offered alongside the traditional Swedish specialities of salmon, crispbreads, meatballs, herring, reindeer and, of course, smörgåsbord. The ultimate cold buffet, a smörgåsbord will almost invariably contain herring, salmon, and other fish and seafood, along with a range of hams and preserved meats, cheeses, and other dishes; purists down a chilled aquavit with their herring. More rustic peasant fare includes pea soup with pork, stuffed cabbage rolls (imported by King Charles XII after his sojourn in a Turkish prison) and crayfish. Great coffee drinkers, Swedes rank near the top of the world per capita consumption league. Traditional Swedish cooking puts the emphasis on simplicity and health, and modern Swedish chefs have adapted with ease to the new worldwide emphasis on fresh natural flavours. Note that lunch for Swedes may start as early as 1100, and dinner as early as 1500. Diners pay about SKr500 for a gastronomic three-course meal; SKr250 for a moderately priced restaurant and SKr100 for a budget meal.

Restaurants
: Bon Lloc, Bergsgatan 33 (tel: (08) 650 5082), is an intimate Michelin-starred favourite, offering Mediterranean-style cuisine with plenty of fish. Its owner Mathias Dahlgren won the Bocuse d'Or. Gourmets should expect to pay about SKr450. The Veranda at the Grand Hôtel, Södra Blasieholmshamnen 8 (tel: (08) 679 3500), has a seasonal smörgåsbord ranging from shellfish to smoked eel and homemade meat balls and priced at SKr245. A three-course dinner costs SKr310; prices include the fabulous balcony view. Sturehof, Stureplan 2 (tel: (08) 440 5730), is a totally modernised classic serving traditional Swedish and French cuisine: try gravlax with mustard sauce at SKr65 followed by Sturehof's fish and shellfish ragout at SKr160. Mårten Trotzig, Västerlånggatan 79 (tel: (08) 240 231), regarded as one of the best restaurants in the Old Town, is a stylish contrast to its setting, with cuisine as modern as its decor. A slap-up meal will cost SKr450. Clas på Hörnet, Surbrunnsgatan 20 (tel: (08) 165 130), is a hotel a little north of the centre but worth the haul; wise travellers will have booked in to this delightful eighteenth-century inn just for the sake of the Lake Vätter char, hen pheasants, veal with cep mushrooms and other delicacies. The daily menu has as much character as the à la carte and is well-priced at SKr400 for a three-course meal.

Folksy Swedish cooking with a modern twist thrives at Folkhemmet, Renstiernasgata 30 (tel: (08) 640 5595); try the baked pike-perch fillets with seafood risotto. East, Stureplan 13 (tel: (08) 611 4959), is not remotely Swedish, but its whistle-stop tour of Asian cuisine ensures that Stureplan's nightclubbers can pamper their stomachs as well as punish their feet. The experience will cost SKr250 for two courses.

Just over the water in Södermalm, Pelikan, Blekingegatan 40 (tel: (08) 743 0695), open since 1905, is about as authentically downhome Stockholm as it gets, with dishes like the traditional meat and potato hash pyttipanna, and authentically low prices: less than SKr100 for almost every item on the menu. Its bar is equally worth exploring.

Cafés
: Stockholm's cafés offer atmospheres that range from quintessentially Swedish to distinctly French or unashamedly American. Classic café, Wienerkonditoriet, at Biblioteksgatan 6-8, is a perennial favourite, while the Diplomat Tea House, Strandvägen 7c, in Östermalm, is all old-world gentility. Stortorgets Kaffestuga, Stortorget 22, is an excellent traditional café in the Old Town. The pâtisserie Sturekatten, Riddargatan 4, is practically an antique, furnished as a plush private house from the last century. Café David Bagare, David Bagares gata 18, has an unaffected French-style ambience on a hilltop site. Coffee Cup, Birger Jarlsgatan 9, is more American, but serves equally fine coffee. Roberts Coffee, Kungshallen, Kungsgatan 44, devotes itself to serious coffee connoisseurship, with special roasting techniques and rare varieties.



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