Weâre continuing our tour of the Nordics with 2 countries weâve never traveled to as a family (B had visited Sweden eons ago, backpacking as a shiny new college graduate). We transited through Copenhagen to Stockholm on Friday. First couple of days are all about taking it easy. Our first meal was at a terrible pub near our place (tables were so sticky, when we put our drinking glasses down, they were a little hard to separate from the table surface). Our second meal wasâŠat IKEA City. LOL. Some of you may remember that weâve eaten at IKEA Reykjavik because itâs a cheap, dependable meal (plus, Spring Onion loves the food). Iâm only writing about it because of an amazing (to us) story. We got our meatballs (both meat and plant-based) and managed to find a table (very crowded). A young guy sits down next to us some time later and when I look at him, I am amazed. He was on our flight from CPH! I noticed him because I always notice non-white people when weâre traveling (I find out that he is Chinese). Itâs an unbelievable coincidence. I wish I were a mathematician (@fooddabbler might be?) so I could try to calculate the probability of this happening. He lives in Stockholm, was traveling for work back from CPH, and decided to eat at IKEAâŠand happened to sit down right next to us. We seem to always have 1 crazy coincidence happen to us on nearly every trip - the world is smaller than we think!
We left IKEA to find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of Kultur Festivalen, an annual free celebration of the arts. The weather is glorious and the whole city seems to be outside. We enjoyed some open-air wine and beer. Spring Onion relaxed at the Aperol mobile bar.
It is now Sunday. We had a fun day yesterday - Stockholm is beautiful. We had a late breakfast out at Princess Bakery near our place outside of city center. The guys loved their salmon quiche and crepes (managed to snap a photo just before SO snagged one) while I had a serviceable veggie and cheese sandwich on very good bread.
I find out that there is a popular dressing here, called âRhode Island,â the origin of which is not clear. As a native Rhode Islander, I was quite amused.
Checked out more attractions at the culture festival. Then we took a ferry to Nya Carnegie Bryggeriet which collaborates with Brooklyn Brewery. Nice setting, but B was disappointed in the 2 beers he tried (Neon IPA [East Coast-style] and the Jack IPA). The guys split a cheeseburger, I had the delightful tomato carpaccio, which wasnât going to be enough food, but nothing else really appealed to me.
ABBA Museum (which was great funâŠthey are SOâs new favorite band). More wandering and then hunger pangs strike. Weâre in a random, affluent-looking part of town and SO announces that heâd like salmon sushi for dinner. We find Saya Sushi. It is a simple TINY placeâŠSO loves it. He settles into a cozy corner. Very pleasant service, good miso soup to start. We share a family platter of 30 pieces of salmon, ebi, avocado. Not earth-shattering, but fills our bellies (SO devours the nigiri). It does a brisk takeout business.
Good sourdough bread for breakfast this morning along with street market strawberries.
Heading out on yet another beautiful day.
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Great trip report! And what a coincidence meeting the guy from your flight! 
i notice you are choosing vegetarian food, is there lots of choice there? Scandinavia is becoming more popular as a summer destination for us Europeans because of climate change, ie hotter temps in Spain and Italy. The temperatures in Scandinavia are more comfortable usually.
Enjoy your trip!
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Great report, and your pic of the sourdough really makes me miss German bread here.
Iâve bumped into a former university classmate at a tour of Knossos one summer, and a dear friend from here at a random food festival near the Eye in London. What timing! Love those coincidences.
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Itâs so cool that SO loves sushi!
Sounds like Rhode Island dressing in Sweden is similar to Thousand Island dressing. I googled and came up with this:
" Similar preparations
âRhode Island dressing (Rhode islandsĂ„s), introduced by the Swedish restaurateur Tore Wretman,[21][22] is similar to Thousand Island and very popular in Sweden. Its name is confusing, especially for foreigners, and its origin unclear, since the dressing has no relationship to Rhode Island and the name is not used for preparations outside Swedenâ
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Love your trip reports and looking forward to more!
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Rhode Island is very similar to Thousand Island. I lived in Stockholm for two years and that and Pizza Hawaii (pizza with pineapple and ham) were two things that were everywhere that I really didnât care for.
If you happen to be on DjurgÄrden (the island with the ABBA Museum) again around lunch time when the weather is nice, I really like eating at Rosendals TrÀdgÄrdskafe. This is a cafe with homemade baked goods and lots of organic salads and sandwiches set in an apple orchard. It is very Swedish. The page is in Swedish, but you can get an idea of their food just by looking at the pictures.
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Glad you are having a fun trip! That sushi looked pretty tasty. Keep reporting please!
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I am pescatarian. At every place that have visited here thus far, there have always been at least a couple of veggie (and sometimes vegan) choices. In fact, Iâm hoping to convince the guys to check out Hermanâs vegan lunch buffet today in conjunction with visits to Fotografiska and the Nobel Prize Museum today.
Speaking of weather, itâs going to be the best weather yet today, sunny and 73F/23C. We definitely enjoy the Nordic weather (well, maybe not Icelandâs horizontal rain). We are also visiting Bergen, Norway, which is known as the âcity of rain,â on this trip so we are soaking up the sun now while we can. In our younger pre-kid years, B and I traveled to Southeast Asia every year, but not sure how well we would fare nowadays (I love heat and humidity, B and Spring Onion not so much).
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I saw your recommendation for this place when I searched for any Sweden/Norway data here on HO. Between that and the David Leibowitz piece that you linked, I know itâs a place weâd love but the timing just didnât work for us. Next time (weâre already fairly certain we will come back)!
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Actually, I find the heat and humidity in South East Asia more comfortable than in Europe. Here, our infrastructure is just not equiped to handle heat. Buses, shops and restaurants without aircon and so on. Whereas in SE Asia if I want to escape the heat I just take a grab taxi and go to some place with airco!
Here in the Netherlands we have had a âdisappointingâ summer so far, lots of days with temps between 19-23 degrees, but I kinda like it like that for normal life (going to work and so on)âŠ
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Excellent report. You do live well-- on whom are you exacting revenge?
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Catching-up.
Itâs Thursday and we left Stockholm yesterday, headed for Göteborg (Swedenâs 2nd largest city). Weâve had a great time in Stockholm and suspect we may visit again.
Had a fun meal at Omnipollo Hatt of good pizza (pepperoni and a white pie with potato/anchovies/parmesan) and really good beer (the namesake hazy IPA is excellent). We situated SO at an outdoor table, and as B and I were inside ordering, there was a hubbub outside. When we return to the table, SO informs us that a woman who was walking by passed out in the street and was helped to a seat at a table. B, of course, checks on her. The number of medical situations that have come up recently is astounding, considering we had not encountered any in many years of traveling (we had 2 on one recent trip to Iceland). Anyway, she is fine and we love the skateboarder-types who are running the joint and showing genuine concern for her well-being.
We visited the excellent Vasa Museum (followed by the neighboring and equally excellent Vrak Museum); at Vasa, we took a late snack break for SO at the civilized museum restaurant. Meatballs (the guys say they are good), a simple cheese and veggie sandwich for me. Wine and beer are always welcome.
One day, we took the ferry out to one of the archipelago islands, FjÀderholmarna, which is touristy but fun nonetheless. We have a meh lunch at the very chill Fjaderholmarnas Brewery. My choice, some sort of veggie salad, is out of stock so I settled on onion rings. Hot dog for SO, burger for B.
That evening, SO again wants sushi so we get forgettable takeout from a local place. SO is happy though.
A visit to the Nobel Prize Museum was great. A patient of Bâs was a joint winner of a 2023 prize so it was fun learning about his contributions. We wanted to check out Fotografiska (Shep Fairey exhibit was fun, but otherwise, a disappointing visit) in the same general part of town but we needed lunch first. We decided on the touristy Meatballs for the People. We waited far too long ( it there was nothing in the vicinity that SO wanted to eat) so we stuck it out. We paid far too much but B and SO said their pork and beef, respectively, were good. My vegan balls and spaghetti were fine (I honestly think IKEAâs are better). It was like a party inside, so at least it was fun.
I think DNA is beautiful:
Spotted in the neighborhood:
Not much else to report in Stockholm. We had a night cap on our last night at Omnipollos Kyrka , sister to the pizza place. Cool spot in an old church. Excellent hazy IPA and DIPA and I got a neat t-shirt from their vending machine.
First meal in Göteborg was an unremarkable burger joint near the train station while we waited for our check-in time. SO loved his smash cheeseburger, so thereâs that. My vegan burger was actually pretty goodâeven B concurred.
Dinner last night out of desperation after visiting the excellent World Culture Museum was at a pub where no one was eating at 8:30 pm. But the Arctic char for the guys was better than expected. My Skagen toast was way too creamy for my liking, so I shared liberally with B. Forgot to take photos.
Two more days in Göteborg and then off to Oslo. Typically rainy weather today and tomorrow (but not driving rain, so thatâs good; in any case, we came prepared).
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Been there some 9 years ago, we were there in May, still pretty chilly, no queues. The food was decent and the price seemed to be ok then. I still remember the place was in a residential area, small shops around, nothing fancy, the restaurant had a canteen feeling. You need to fetch your food and drinks.
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As we strolled around town yesterday, SO got hungry so we stopped at Crave food truck for a hot dog/fries/delightful strawberry juice. He loved his little meal, stating it was âalmost as good as an Icelandic hot dogâ (B took a bite and reported that the dog was indeed snappy and good). We had a delicious meal at the famous âFish Churchâ (Feskekorka), which is not an actual church, but a temple to all things seafood. There are a handful of restaurants with fish counters lining the ground floor. Itâs beautiful inside (we read that there were recent extensive renovations). We chose Lilla Astols Rokeri. We both got the âbig seafood soup,â which had the most wonderful broth but we both wished it was a bit bigger.
Dinner was pizza again, at Brewers Beer Bar, which I thought was better than Omnipollos in Stockholm. The sourdough crust was so good, SO even ate the cornicioni (which he usually leaves for one of us to eat). Buffalo mozzarella for me and him, the sour cream and onion one for B. He removed the ham and gave me a couple of hisâthe pickled and crispy onions really made that pizza. Cool and fun party vibe. Good beers on tap.
One fascinating aspect of Swedish life for me has been the concept of the âlatte dads,â due to mandatory paternal leave for year 2 of a babyâs life so that moms can go back to work after spending the first year at home with baby. The number of dads pushing strollers in both Stockholm and Goteborg has been remarkable and so refreshing to see (I noticed it immediately upon landing). Nothing short of amazing and sad that we donât have anything close to similar in the US.
That brings us to Friday, our last full day in Göteborg. The guys are at Liseberg, which is one of the largest amusement parks in Europe. As is our experience, the food offerings look much better than what is available in similar places in the US. I had meetings and will join them shortly.
Earlier, we had a lunch chosen out of desperation as usual and this time, we chose a a non-touristy place that was more refined than we expected. I told B that the interior reminded me of the murals inside Cafe Carlyle in NYC. We feasted on REALLY GOOD meatballs, gravlax, and mushroom risotto. We apologized to the host for bringing down the quality of the clientele and she laughed us off. We never felt uncomfortable/out of place. So happy to have 1 last fancy-ish meal (at least for us) in Sweden because (1) we are probably going to have dinner inside Liseburg amusement park tonight, and (2) this is our last proper meal in Sweden before heading to Norway tomorrow (BTW, we are traveling exclusively by train/mass transit except for 1 small stretch and itâs been great).
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We are now in Oslo. We had a great first full day. We arrived on Saturday, around 4 pm, got to our place and by then, we thought an early dinner was in order, particularly because we didnât have a proper lunch on the train. We chose BrewDog because it was close and promised good beer; we had spied the location in Stockholm but little did we know that itâs a worldwide chain. Oh well, the bartender told us the Oslo location is considered the âundergroundâ one. In any case, it was fun and funny to see dogs coming for full-on 3-course meals. Burgers for the guys, vegan chicken burger for me. Good beer.
Yesterday, we wandered the beautiful waterfront and ended up at Vippa food hall for lunch. It was overpriced but the food was quite good. Shwarma wrap for B, excellent hand-made noodles in a slightly spicy and restrained (in a good way) broth that I could eat everyday. Burmese chicken wings for SO (his first time trying wings and this version had tamarind and fish sauceâŠhe liked them). I love that they use real dinnerware and cutlery, a trend we will see at other casual places where weâd normally see plastic everywhere.
Dinner was at The Salmon, which is basically a marketing vehicle for the farmed salmon industry, complete with a small exhibition area where the virtues of farmed fish are extolled, but the guys wanted to go. Again, overpriced. Bâs roasted salmon was fine, nothing great. My salmon soup was also fine, not refined like the soup we had at the Fish Church in Göteborg. The halibut nigiri with shiso and citrus were tasty bites, and SO ate all 4 salmon nigiri and nearly all of his salmon maki. No dig on the kitchen - theyâre cooking for tourists, after all - but none of the food was artfully made/plated.
Weâre really enjoying Oslo thus far. For a big city, it feels relaxed, laid-back, and funky (e.g., SALT art/performance space/restaurant), which we didnât expect. Lots of music outside, people dancing, sculptures everywhere, stunning spaces (e.g., Deichman Library, Museum of Modern Art) and a beautiful waterfront which is great for strolling.
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Never been to Oslo!! I am missing something it seemsâŠ
Just saw this âadâ on instagramâŠ
Enjoy!!
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We had a very late lunch at Sabi Sushi Vika, which a colleague of mine recommended (she and her husband come to Norway every few months so he can pursue his research with colleagues at U of Oslo). It looks to be a chain, but she told me that this location gets the same fish as the fancy shmancy Michelin 1 star omakase right next door. SO is obviously on a sushi tear, so who are we to stamp that out. The guys canât get enough salmon, farmed or otherwise, so nigiri/maki for SO, the salmon for 1 person for B. I supplemented with tuna (!)/kimchee, which was really good. Everything was absolutely better than our meal at The Salmon last night.
I cooked dinner at âhomeâ for the first time on this trip. Oven roasted salmon with broccolini/noodles with ramen packet+lemon+garlic/Mutti pasta sauce for SO. IT was pretty good if I say so myself. As with all the Nordic countries, alcohol sales are restricted to government-regulated shops (Vinbudin in Iceland, Systembolaget in Sweden, and Vinmonopolet in Norway). We have one near our interesting neighborhood in GrĂŒnerlĂžkka so we stock up on wine and IPAs. We need to cook more at home and have some downtime.
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Not to derail it but BrewDog is a very controversial company with many controversies including transphobia, asshole CEO etc
That sushi looks tasty!
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