One of the must-dos while you're in Sweden (especially during the summer months) is to take a boat ride out to the archipelago - there are hundreds of tiny islands within a few short hours from Stockholm. Apparently this is where most Swedes spend their summer time, it's like their version of the Hudson Valley or something like that.
We decided to check out the more populated island of Sandhamn - it's the furtherest island to the east and is about 2 hours away. I envisioned adorable small red farm houses, local bakeries, lots of greenery but with a twist of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo edge. Unfortunately, the day we went it was pretty cold and rainy, so it made for kind of a bummer of a trip but it did have cute small houses, local bakeries and a scary empty forrest.
By the time we got off the boat, we were starving. You dock basically at the most populated part of the island and there are maybe 4 restaurants tops on the entire island. We went for the one that most people seem headed to and that had a nice outdoor view even though it was drizzling.
This cute restaurant is attached to a small hotel if you want to stay there overnight. The menu is very traditional Swedish food - shrimp sandwiches, herring, fish stew, etc. I opted to get a small shrimp sandwich as well as the fried herring dish. They both felt like very traditional dishes I had to get while in Sweden. The shrimp sandwich was delightful. It was an open face sandwich with small peeled shrimp, egg, dill, thinly sliced cucumbers, lettuce and some micro greens. I knew after tasting 1 bite that I should have gotten the large one instead. But I still had a full plate of herring with mashed potatoes and lingonberries coming up. While I love fish, I don't love fish bones even though I have no problems pulling them out while I eat. Unfortunately these bones were so small, it was impossible to pull out and every time I swallowed one, I just felt gross. The flip side is that the mashed potatoes and lingonberries were delicious. Even though I didn't love the fish, it's herring and you can't come to Sweden without trying it. Now I can cross it off my list.
Even though we left the island pretty quickly, it was still worth a visit. Just cross your fingers for sun when you're there. Total bill: $48/pp with tax and tip
Surfers Regeringsgatan 8, 111 39 Stockholm, Sweden 3.5 Forks
After over 2 weeks in Europe, I was craving some Asian food. Not that the food I had been having in Amsterdam and Stockholm were bad, but I was in need of flavor. Surfers is a hipster Asian food chain and that was packed with people when we got there but we were willing to wait it out. It's not really in a real brick and mortar space but more like an open pop-up tent which was kind of weird. I wonder what they do in the winter time?
They have some pretty tasty cocktails to sip on while you wait which is nice since it ended up being quite a wait. We finally sit down and our waiter is ridiculously attractive - he could have been another Hemsworth brother. Obviously everyone in Sweden is gorgeous, so it should have come as no surprise when everywhere you turn, you are surrounded by beautiful people.
The menu is kind of like a "best of" Asian food, small plate style where everything is 98 SEK ($10 USD). We got the eggplant with cumin, dan dan noodles, fried tofu and I got the bang bang chicken. Let's be honest, it's Asian food in Sweden, so it wasn't authentic or traditional but it got the job done for the most part. The dan dan noodles were drenched in red chili oil which was a bit of a turn off. We left room for dessert and got the mango mouse dessert which was actually pretty tasty and a nice palate cleanser to the oil and spice of the food. We also got these small cute chocolate truffles which paired well with the mango.
It was a nice reprieve to finally eat something with spice and flavor to it. The vibe was pretty cool - full of young, hip, locals - so for that reason I would say it's a fun place to go. But it's not a major culinary destination if you're looking for a foodie restaurant. Total bill: $94 for 2 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
Rutabaga
Södra Blasieholmshamnen 6
111 48 Stockholm,
Sweden 3 Forks
Rutabaga was our one fancy pants meal of the trip. It's by famed Swedish chef
Mathias Dahlgren who has won the Bocuse D'Or and has several Michelin stars to his name. So we were obviously very excited for our meal.
You can tell when you walk in that it'll be a very elevated dining experience. The one "catch" to eating here is that it's 100% vegetarian. It was shockingly easy for Lav to get around Sweden food wise but we hadn't yet been to a place that was 100% veggie friendly.
The menu here is broken down into 2 pre-fixe options: small or large. The small is $55 USD with 4 dishes and a small snack while the large is $89 USD with 6 dishes, also with a small snack. We figured we came all the way here, might as well go big. They don't really have an extensive wine (the wine pairing was an additional $70-$129 USD) and their virgin drinks were $12 USD, so we didn't really have the full-on experience of a food and wine here.
The "snacks" were plentiful and could have easily been a full meal on its own - we got yummy bread with yogurt, steamed cucumbers, fried beans wrapped in a thin pancake, and tomato consume. This was all before the actual meal which was carrots, tartar of beefsteak tomatoes, truffle pizza, 63 degree egg in yuzu broth, cherry sorbet and rhubarb with vanilla ice cream. Despite the fact that everything was vegetarian, I didn't really miss meat. But the whole meal did kind of taste like it was forged out of a Scandinavian forrest in this very hipster manner. While I appreciated the artistry of everything and it was very clean tasting, it felt like it was missing some heat or flavor to it. I felt like this was something Goop would recommend but not Anthony Bourdain (RIP). In any case, it's a beautiful setting and a very thoughtful meal but I wasn't fell a bit short to me. Plus I didn't think the value was really there - spending over $100 but with only 1 glass of wine. Total price: $112/pp with tax and tip
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