Texan Girl- Eating and Drinking Through Europe: Stockholm

Alright, let me just start off by saying that this is going to be a long post. There are some fantastic restaurants in Stockholm, so I want to be sure to get all of them in. Just as a heads up, food and drink here is expensive. Even simple lunches can cost two people $50-$75. But please don't let that stop you. Stockholm has some great food and restaurants. Just know that you are going to spend a lot.

The first night we were in Stockholm, we ate at JT. JT is in Gamala Stan, which is the old town in Stockholm. We started with some cocktails, which were good, but not great. For our main courses, Lynn and I both got reindeer with a game sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and ligonberries. My mom opted for arctic char.

There was a bit of false advertising here. I was expecting reindeer strips, but it was more of a chopped meat. However, that being said, it was fantastic. Reindeer tastes like (at least to me) beef or buffalo. Very good. The whole dish was like Christmas dinner with the ligonberries, greenbeans, game sauce and mashed potatoes. Game sauce, well I don't really know what it was. However, I did detect thyme and sage. And lots of butter. The arctic char was very good. It was done perfectly (according to my mom) and since she ate all of it, I assume that it was tasty. There was wine involved with the meal, but it wasn't that note worthy. All of the wine that we drank during our time in Sweden and Denmark was from South Africa or Italy.

Our next meal was at Pontus by the Sea. Pontus Frithiof is a well known Swedish chef who has several restaurants all over Sweden. One of them is by the sea (get it?). It's actually on the bay in Gamala Stan. Since it was such a beautiful day, we were seated outside. In fact, everyone was outside. Since winters are so harsh, when people are able, they sit outside. Every table had enough blankets for those that wanted them- you know, in case you got a chill. Keep in mind, the high was maybe 75 and by the time dinner came around, it was 65. And you were seated in the shade and the sun kept disappearing behind the odd cloud. I would say buildings, but the sun never set until 11:30 at night. So, at 7:00pm, the sun was still high. I opted for the veal burger. I just wasn't in a seafood mood. My mom opted for the cod and Lynn opted for the chilled seafood platter.

The wine was from South Africa. It was a nice, crisp white wine that was very tasty and paired well with seafood. It was a 2011 Roodeberg. The veal burger was good. It was moist and flavorful. However, there was a LOT of brown butter on the plate for both the peas and the potatoes. The flavor of the butter overwhelmed the veal. Of course, it was served with ligonberries. The cod (the top food picture) was baked in salt and served with fresh shrimp, egg cream, fresh horseradish and potatoes. The egg cream basically contained eggs and mayo pureed together with some smokey flavor (read- bacon and eggs). My mom liked it. Just as a side note, they serve a lot of seafood with freshly grated horseradish. It seems deceiving at first. You think it may be a pile of Parmesan cheese. But no, it's horseradish. It doesn't have that strong, pungent flavor that jarred stuff does in the US, but the scent and flavor are still there for the most part. I am not a fan. The seafood platter, while beautiful looking wasn't the best. The lobster, which was from Canada, was good. The oysters were from France and were very good. However, the crab was Ireland and was way to labor intensive and there wasn't enough crab to tell if it was good. The shrimp all had to be peeled, were small and tough from the few that Lynn ate. The shrimp were the only things on the plate from Sweden.

Now, it may seem like the meal wasn't that great. However, it was the ambiance that added to the meal.

Just being able to people watch and look out on the water was fantastic. The service was attentive and very friendly.

Our final huge meal in Stockholm was at F12, a Michelin starred restaurant. It was AMAZING. And yes, I mean every one of those capital letters. Just as a starter, this is what inspired our chef.

It's always a nice thing to know what pushes someone to do something with their food. That way, when you get the menu and your food, you aren't thinking, WTF?

To start, Lynn got the duck liver served with Swedish melon, ginger beer and macadamia nuts. I opted for the milk poached cauliflower with rapeseed oil and sorrel.

The duck liver (top photo) was very tasty. The Swedish melon added a nice flavor to it all and of course the duck liver was fantastic. The cauliflower was not my favorite thing. The sauce on it was very overpowering and took away from it.

For our main courses, I opted for the blackened turbot and wild asparagus with curry and wood-sorrel. Lynn opted for the poached arctic char and fresh wasabi with leek and lemon.

The turbot (top photo) was fantastic. It wasn't blackened like we are used to in the States- tons of cajun seasoning. This was done with a cast iron skillet and done to perfection. The curry sauce was fantastic and didn't overpower the fish as one might think. I am not a fan of wild asparagus. I find the flavor to be to onion like. And I am not a huge onion fan. Thankfully, there was fresh asparagus on top and the wild was hidden under my fish. The char, per Lynn, was fantastic. The came and grated fresh wasabi right there on at the table so you could control the amount that you got.

It was all served with freshly made bread.

Beautiful, right? We finished off the meal with white peach and wild strawberry souffle served with almonds and caramel sauce. They then brought us little macaroons made with shortbread and a vanilla cream. So good.

The interior of the restaurant is done in whites and beige with huge splashes of lime green- in the curtains and seat covers. It is a large space but at the same time, small and intimate. It was fantastic.

However, that wasn't our last meal in Stockholm. We still had time for lunch the next day at the Spirit Museum. Now, you might not think that a museum restaurant is that good. But, it was. I opted for the asparagus salad with ham and cheese served with Bearnaise sauce. I know it seems like an odd combination, but it really did work well together. We ate outside, so we were able to people watch and look out on the water.