Here we are in the motherland. My great-great-grandparents came over from Sweden and my grandfather was 100% Swedish.
My mom and I arrived in Lund in the middle of the afternoon. It just so happened to be a national holiday. After arriving, we sat around our room with Lynn and had wine, crackers and local cheese. Just as a side note, when we were driving over, we had to take the ferry from Germany to Denmark and then drive around Copenhagen to get to Sweden. On the ferry going over, we noticed a lot of people had loaded (and I do mean loaded) up their cars with beer, wine and liquor. My mom and I couldn't help but wonder why. There were people walking around the ferry with cases of 40 cans of beer. Backseats of cars were full up tot he top with beer and wine. It was insane. We were to learn why at dinner.
After our light snack, we headed into Lund to walk around and grab a bite to eat. Lund is a beautiful little town to just wander through. For dinner, we headed to Staket (pronounced Stake-it). After heading down to the basement where they were seating people, we sat down and started to peruse the menu. A few things came to mind- first off, instead of having just a meat dish and then having to order a side separately, you got a meat, starch and veggie in one go. There is also more of a global aspect to their food. At least here in Sweden, you can get a ligon berry hollandaise with your parsnip cheesecake. For as much as I like Italian food, you just can't get something like that in Italy.
We ordered a bottle of wine and that's when it started to sink in why people were bringing so much booze back. It's expensive. Very expensive. For a bottle of wine that you would pay $20 for, you were paying $40 or more. So, when you come to Sweden, keep that one in mind. If you have to have your Jack Daniels everyday, maybe get some at duty free on the way over. You'll thank me later.
But, back to the food. I opted for the fried pike perch with vegetables, ligon berry hollandaise and parsnip cheesecake.
My mom and I arrived in Lund in the middle of the afternoon. It just so happened to be a national holiday. After arriving, we sat around our room with Lynn and had wine, crackers and local cheese. Just as a side note, when we were driving over, we had to take the ferry from Germany to Denmark and then drive around Copenhagen to get to Sweden. On the ferry going over, we noticed a lot of people had loaded (and I do mean loaded) up their cars with beer, wine and liquor. My mom and I couldn't help but wonder why. There were people walking around the ferry with cases of 40 cans of beer. Backseats of cars were full up tot he top with beer and wine. It was insane. We were to learn why at dinner.
After our light snack, we headed into Lund to walk around and grab a bite to eat. Lund is a beautiful little town to just wander through. For dinner, we headed to Staket (pronounced Stake-it). After heading down to the basement where they were seating people, we sat down and started to peruse the menu. A few things came to mind- first off, instead of having just a meat dish and then having to order a side separately, you got a meat, starch and veggie in one go. There is also more of a global aspect to their food. At least here in Sweden, you can get a ligon berry hollandaise with your parsnip cheesecake. For as much as I like Italian food, you just can't get something like that in Italy.
We ordered a bottle of wine and that's when it started to sink in why people were bringing so much booze back. It's expensive. Very expensive. For a bottle of wine that you would pay $20 for, you were paying $40 or more. So, when you come to Sweden, keep that one in mind. If you have to have your Jack Daniels everyday, maybe get some at duty free on the way over. You'll thank me later.
But, back to the food. I opted for the fried pike perch with vegetables, ligon berry hollandaise and parsnip cheesecake.
The only way to describe it- fantastic. Now, I have never had ligon berries. I had no idea what to expect. But that night, I fell in love with a berry. They have a taste almost like cranberries- sweet and tart at the same time. They go really well with fish and meat (beef, veal, pork and reindeer- more on that later). The only thing on the plate that I wasn't a fan of was the cheesecake, and normally, I love parsnips. But this, the texture was just weird. It also didn't have much of a taste that I could discern. The fish was moist and the vegetables were tender but not mush. There were also potatoes hidden under there that were roasted perfectly.
Lynn and my mom had the fondue. The fondue was only served to two or more people in the basement during dinner. They got beef for their meat and a bouillebase to cook their meat in. It came with fried potatoes (not french fries) and several different dipping sauces.
Just so you know, I may have stolen some of their potatoes for my hollandaise, it was that good.
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