Unfortunately, we had a bit of a train snafu in Gothenburg, so we were sprinting to our dinner reservation at Fotografiska. Luckily, they still let us in at 9:45pm even we were 30 minutes late. Fotografiska is primarily a really cool photography museum that just happens to have an equally cool restaurant and cafe upstairs. You need to make a reservation in advance but it's totally worth it as the views and sunset are absolutely stunning - which was 11pm when we were there.
The menu is all plant focused - meaning the only meat is a side protein dish and it costs extra. The menu is a pre-fixe meal that's broken down into their "favorites" (4 dishes) for 540 SEK ($59 USD) and then you can add "cold" dishes (3 dishes) for 135 SEK ($15 USD) or "warm" dishes (4 dishes) also for 135 SEK. There's also "tonight's side" which is a animal protein for 145 SEK or $16 USD and a cheese plate option for 55 SEK or $6 USD. Since it was late, we opted to just get the favorites, which turned out to be more than enough food.
I want to first say the the food is simply stunning to look at. I don't know if it was the sunset that was skewing everything but the food all looked like it belonged in a straight out of food magazine or something. We started with amazing sugar snap peas that were incredibly fresh, super green in color and tasted like they just came from the farm. The restaurant is the epitome of farm to table - they have very close relationships with local farmers and growers and you can tell. Next were raw carrots ripped straight from the ground and served with onion dip and fried shallots. I usually hate raw carrots but there was something so compelling about these that I had to try them and they were pretty good - I still didn't love them but it was worth trying. Next came the potatoes done 3 ways - pickled, boiled and fried and served with smoked sour cream and fish roe. Amazing - who doesn't love potatoes?! Then coupled with the smoked sour cream and roe, it was really perfectly executed. Lastly we had baked onion with mushroom, truffle cream and artichoke chips. The sign of a great vegetarian meal is when you don't miss meat and all these dishes did that. We ended the meal with strawberries with flan which was delicious and a chocolate brownie, which was the only meh dish of the night.
By the time we were done, it was well past midnight. Originally we had wanted to walk around the museum but it was so late. The museum was actually still open - it was open until 2am, which if you can stay up that late, it's super cool and slightly creepy to walk around the museum at that hour. Our super nice waitress gave us a "tip" and said there was a different elevator that drops you off inside the museum and she wouldn't say anything. Wink wink. We got to see the entire museum and we weren't the only ones there late at night.
Even though our day started off with a super bummer, it ended in the best way. This was definitely a highlight for me and thanks to Lav for lovely birthday dinner!
Creperie and Logi Wallers Plats 3, 621 56 Visby, Sweden 3.5 Forks
We ended our Swedish adventures on a lovely island 1 hour away from Stockholm called Gotland - it's where the locals go for the summer...I guess it's sort of like their version of the Hamptons or Martha's Vineyard. It gets packed in July and August - so plan accordingly because I booked our hotel in Jan and had a really hard time finding anything and all the rental cars were already sold out. The main town is called Visby and if you can, rent a car as I heard that the really beautiful parts are on the other side of the island. But the town of Visby is an adorable medieval town with tons of bars and restaurants and open air churches. We were there during the World Cup and we got to watch the game with all the locals in the middle of town next to an open air church, it was pretty cool.
The weekend we were there was also their politicians weekend, which explained why it was so crowded. All the politicians come to the island and make speeches and campaign while Swedes come and listen to what they have to say. While most locals we talked to in Stockholm thought it would be a boring weekend, I found it to be a fascinating insight into their local ways of thinking.
But as a result of all of this, every restaurant was jammed packed. We had just arrived and were starving, so we ended up at this cute place that seemed to have the shortest line. While most people on the island speak perfectly fine English, it's not as common as Stockholm but it's still super easy to get around. The owner here kept saying my name was Johnnie and in the end I just gave up and said close enough.
The menu here is all forms of crepes - sweet and savory. I got the smoked salmon, horseradish cream, baby spinach and cheese. It came on a buckwheat crepe and it was pretty tasty. I honestly find crepes to be a totally fine but kind of boring in general and this one was no different. It did hit the spot because we were staving and they also have a nice line up of ciders that I recommend. I wouldn't necessarily say this is a must-go destination but it was a lovely enough establishment that if you find yourself on Gotland for the whole week, is definitely worth a try. Total bill: $34/pp with tax and tip
Italienaren Hästgatan 2, 621 56 Visby, Sweden 4 Forks
For such a tiny island, there are tons of restaurants in Gotland. There's a pretty decent variety of different types of cuisine which was refreshing. Despite all the pretty good food we had had so far, I was ready for something that wasn't super farm-to-table. We saw a place that looked like good 'ole fashion Italian food and I was down with that. Plus they had seating outside so that we could people watching which was fun.
The menu here is your usual run of Italian food - antipasti, pizzas, pastas and a few secondi dishes. I went with a bresaola carpaccio that came with blue cheese and arugula. It was a pretty good starter and it felt nice and light, despite it having blue cheese on there. For my main, I had linguine with clams - the pasta was cooked pretty well and there were a good number of clams to it. My only complaint was that it was a bit oily but overall I enjoyed the experience there. Sure, it's not authentic cuisine that you would find in Italy but hey, we are in Sweden after all.
The other fun fact about this place is that it's right next door to this pretty fun bar called Vinegar, which I also highly recommend. It's got this lively outdoor bar feel only it has a retractable roof to keep the noise in. The clientele is a bit bougie but it was fun people watching none the less. I believe they also have food there but it's more fun to sit at the bar and have cocktails instead. After hitting up these two spots, I can see why people come to this island to chill out and get away from the main city - luckily they don't have to give up on good food while they are here. Total bill: $60 USD with tax, tip and 2 drinks
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