I recently visited Mosebacke Etablissement, the restaurant of entertainment venue Södra Teatern, situated at Mosebacke Torg on (or more like on top of) Södermalm in Stockholm.

The restaurant has a new menu that I was invited to try (eg. the meal was paid for by the restaurant). The menu has a focus on ‘aware’ comfort food, according to themselves. Most of the dishes are meat and fish free. However you have the option to add a supplement of 100 grams of meat or fish to any dish. Mosebacke etablissement serve ‘medium sized dishes’, meaning you’ll meed about 3-4 to get full if you’re decently hungry like me. We ordered from the standard a la carte menu, and tried most dishes. Above is the tastiest dish, grilled endive with a smooth and smoky Jerusalem artichoke purée as well as artichoke crisps. Delicious with great contrasting textures.

A mini pizza, served in an equally mini pizza box. The pizza was served room temperatured with a Västerbottens cheese crème, whitefish roe and pickled red onion. Delicious.

The fried feta cheese salad sounded great, and tasted good, but was less impressive than I had hoped for. Good quality lightly fried feta cheese, baked tomatoes, basil foam and a tapenade-y ‘sauce’. Also a couple of dried olives that we found in a few of the other dishes.

Beanotto (bönotto), was a risotto flavoured bean ragout of sorts. Beans, parmesan, shiitake mushroom, and smoked onion. Creamy like a risotto with nice al dente beans. The recommended 100 grams of grilled steak worked well with the beanotto.

Benedict. Brioche, smoked mushroom and hollandaise sauce. Tasty like a benedict should be. Probably works better for brunch than as a dinner dish.

The vegetarian take on Swedish blodpudding or ‘blood pudding’, which is similar to the British black pudding was quite cool. They’ve managed to make a beetroot version that was relatively close to the real deal. Served with lingonberries, fried apple wedges and browned butter. Yum.

When it was time for dessers, we decided to try all of the menus three options, for the sake of research, of course. First up was the raspberry ice cream with a licorice band, lemon meringue and sorbet.

Next was a chocolate brownie with passion fruit ice cream, a passion fruit ‘band’ and granola.

Finally, and most creative was the popcorn ice cream that was served with an apple compote and cinnamon. I think I hinted some extra browned butter in this delicious dessert.

The verdict

All in all, it was a nice, tasty dinner at Mosebacke Etablissement. It’s not Michelin food, but for 90 sek a dish it’s still a quite good deal considering it is both tasty and pretty dishes that are served. Some of them better than others. Next time I’ll have a Västerbottens cheese and löjrom pizza with a glass of bubbly finished with the popcorn ice cream.

Price

€€

Website (with menu and online table reservation)

Finally paid a visit to semi-posh kebab joint “Meat on a Stick” in Stockholm. The place was founded by a kebab lover that’s been traveling the world eating lots of kebab trying to find the perfect one. That, generally positive reviews and my own love for kebab brought me there yesterday for an early dinner.

We arrived maybe five minutes past their opening time (on a Friday) 17 o’clock, and were immediately seated by a friendly waitress. When we left an hour later the place was almost full. The restaurant is pretty small, so it fills up quite quickly.

As for the food, I opted for the most “standard” choice according to me, with an “Ararat” featuring a mixture of lamb and veal meat, sliced döner-style from a rotating spit of meat. There was also a garlic creme, jalapeno sauce, a tomato based sauce, pickles, lettuce and onion. The kebab was generally very good. The meat had great taste, the pita-style bread withstood the meat’s juices almost all the way and started breaking only when I nearly had finished. The vegetables added a nice freshness, the pickles some acidity as well as crunch, the sauces heat, and, of course the to Swedes important sauciness. 🙂 The meat had a bit more bite to it than your regular street food kebab, but it was still quite tender.

My dinner companion tried a “Hanoi” which is a Vietnamese inspired chicken kebab with coriander, Sriracha mayo, radish, cucumber and carrots. Also a very nice if quite spicy kebab (the waitress warned us when ordering).

We also tried their fries with truffle dip which was a really nice addition to the kebabs. A glass of South African red worked really well with the above Ararat. A nice place for a tasty, fancy-yet-affordable kebab dinner.

Price

Price: 120 kr for an “Ararat”, a glass of red from 95 kr, fries with truffle dip 30 kr.

Kanelbullar or cinnamon buns is probably Sweden’s most famous contribution to the world of sweets. A buttery cinnamony creation that at its best can elevate the simplest fika to something great.

So, you wonder where to find the best version of the kanelbulle in Stockholm. Well, of course opinions will be divided, and I feel slightly bad for recommending a chain. But the kanelbulle at Fabrique (a Swedish bakery chain even available in London, UK) is in my mind among the best I’ve tried. Buttery, soft yet firm and just plain delicious. They make good coffee too, which is the classic drink paired with a kanelbulle.

Other great places for a kanelbulle

Magnus Johanssons Bageri in Hammarby Sjöstad. Haga Bageri at various places around town. NK department store’s bottom floor sells (at least used to) great kanelbullar.

Any other suggestion for a good quality kanelbulle in Stockholm? Let me know!

Fabrique’s website

Just got back from a visit to Kvarnen, a classic Stockholm beerhall and restaurant situated on Södermalm. My expectations weren’t that high, but I actually got pleasantly surprised with my meatballs.

Swedish meatballs with cream sauce, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers and lingonberries. Four out of five meatballs were juicy and tasty, one was dry. Still probably the best meatballs I’ve had in a Stockholm restaurant. Tasted like homemade. A solid four out of five, to quote my cousin who also had the meatballs.

Isterband. A Swedish sausage made of pork, barley groats and potato. This one was quite good too. Served with beetroots, dijon mustard and mustard from Skåne, parsley and chives creamed potatoes, according to the menu.

(Excuse the bad lightning phone shot pics.)

Kvarnen’s website