Stockholm, Sweden, is a most magnificent city for gastronomy – Bon Lloc, Cadier Baren, and Gondolen are must try restaurants.
Stockholm, Sweden, is a most magnificent city for gastronomy, and a real paradise for gourmands. During a recent trip to Stockholm, Edward F. Nesta and I had the opportunity to experience some of Stockholm’s best restaurants. Our only complaint was that there were so many incredible restaurants, and so few days to try them; which gives us something to look forward to on our next visit to Stockholm.
Bon Lloc, www.bonlloc.se Chef Mathias Dahlgren’s Relais & Chateaux restaurant, Regeringsgatan 111, won a Michelin star just 10 months after being open, and is a stylish work of art, with contemporary cuisine combined with impeccable tradition. There is an impressive wine list of 500 different wines, and Sommelier Andreas Larsson won the Trufe Ruinard, in the all-European championship in June 2004. There is a wine trolley where there are new wines to taste every week, and of course, we sampled many of them. We feasted on crab salad, terrine of foie gras, thyme fried monkfish and shellfish paella, cod with Jerusalem artichoke mousse with oxtail, and ended with a grand finale of a baked chocolate cake with sour-cream ice cream and a red raspberry gratinee with sour cream.
Cadier Baren, located in the Grande Dame of hotels, the Grand Hotel, www.grandhotel.se, Södra Blasieholmshamnen 8, was the perfect spot for enjoying lunch before taking one of the ferries located just across the street. Cadier Baren has direct water views, which came in handy, when we saw that the ferry to the island of Grinda was almost ready to depart. For lunch, Edward and I had the Swedish specialty bleak roe which was especially plentiful and was served with finely chopped onion, sour cream and toast points, and a shrimp sandwich which was delightful with an abundance of shrimp, radicchio, tomatoes, asparagus, yellow peppers, cucumbers and hard-boiled eggs on toast. The intimate bar has live piano music in the evenings from Wednesday through Saturday from 8:30 pm – 1:30 am, except for the month of July.
Gondolen, www.eriks.se Chef Erik Lallerstedt’s restaurant, at Stadsgården 6, opened in 1994, is situated 33 meters above the ground, where the birds-eye view offers spectacular city views and Chef Erik, one of Sweden’s most famous chefs, creates outstanding cuisine. The night that we were there in June, the days were getting longer, and it was still light at almost 10:00 pm before the sunset turned the sky into a spectacular display of orange, pink, blue and violet. Edward and I dined with friends and enjoyed bleak roe, oysters on the half-shell, lime-marinated salmon with crayfish mayonnaise and artichokes, and since it was asparagus season, we had to try the cream of asparagus soup with smoked salmon and trout roe, before moving on to grilled halibut with shrimp, dill and mustard sauce, herb-fried grey sole with shellfish risotto and bouillabaisse sauce, and corn chicken stuffed with sweetbreads, morels, and duck liver, served with a white coco bean sauce. For dessert, chocolate lovers that we are, we had to try Erik’s chocolate dessert, which was pure chocolate heaven.
For more articles on Sweden, please read our articles in Destinations – Kalmar and the Glass District and Stockholm, Hotels & Resorts, Restaurants, Chefs’ Recipes and Music Scene.
For more information on Stockholm and Sweden, please visit: www.stockholmtown.com and www.visit-sweden.com.
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