Åta

Weeks before I took this trip I was on the net researching the best places to eat, I wanted to eat at one or two up market modern restaurants, but also eat at cafe’s, beer halls and at markets and street stalls. I wanted to try some real Swedish food. What has shocked me most so far is the amount of people who cook their own meals at hostels, I guess it’s just a different culture, if you don’t go out to eat when you’re at home you’re not going to do it on holiday. For a lot of people it’s definitely a money thing and I totally understand if you’re traveling for a long time it’s just something you have to sacrifice because it does put a significant dent in your funds but I just couldn’t do it every night. Such a huge part of my traveling experience and I think of really experiencing any culture is trying the food, especially with Swedish food, i really don’t think you can get it anywhere in Melbourne (sorry, smorgies doesn’t count). My main issue which I will address in my next posts is with the douchebag wankers you meet and try to ignore when you’re traveling, you definitely meet more idiots than nice like minded people but they are out there.. I’ve met one cool person so far – It’s about 1:20. And he was from Melbourne but that means nothing, the Australians over here are embarrassing.

These are at every cafe in Sweden, it’s a cinnamon roll. I didn’t like it  it tasted like cloves.

This is Basement, apparently it has a Michelin star. It was described as having modern swedish cuisine. Interesting note, the head chef was Australian.

All this was nice, the potato soup, the mushrooms and salmon, I think.

Okay what’s the deal here with mayonnaise, I thought maybe I just didn’t like the stuff because I rarely eat it but I had a nicer subtler mayonnaise last night. This was beautifully fresh lobster that was dripping in overpowering mayonnaise. Was a real shame.

The seaweed oyster topping was a bit much for me but I enjoyed the haddock and that potato thing with the egg. That white stuff running down the side of the plate was amazing, it was called a milke and was horseradish flavoured.

A very refreshing lime and passionfruit sorbet, just what I needed after that seaweed and mayonnaise.

Ah dessert, the brulée was crispy but not burnt and I could see lots of little black specks through the custard indicating the had used vanilla beans. Blood orange sorbet was nice and the coconut foam had an interesting airy texture.

The people at this milk bar were really friendly and those are handmade chocolates below. The balls were delicious. I went back the next day to get some more and his wife was there, we chatted about chocolates and Obama.

Awesome blueberry muffin coated with sugar.

Fish Church

The FIsh Church is a fish market with a couple of restaurants.

Three different kinds of herring, one was pickled and I think one was raw. I hated the one with mayonnaise.

Hot smoked salmon.

This chocolate fudge cake was amazing and my breakfast. Those red things on the top are pomegranate seeds. I got an outer square which unfortunately had significantly less than the middle.

Delicious Smörgåsbord lunch which consisted of various breads, two vegetable toppings, some sort of tapenade, grated carrot and grapefruit which I didn’t have. It came with soup alwell and was around $12.

No I haven’t tried the plopp, it’s still in my bag. I think it’s just chocolate with a caramel centre.

I went to the Universeum which is a kids interactive museum, like scienceworks but better. I spent an hour there on my first afternoon, it was a lot of fun.

This was the music section of the museum. It had voice recorders, deejay decks, synth drums, a piano and a few other things I didn’t understand. I played the drums and I’m actually a lot better than I thought.

This was a weird chair exhibition at the Stadsmuseum, they boasted that there were 600 or something chairs in the exhibition. It was a pretty boring museum, a lot of things in glass boxes. I preferred the Konstmuseum which actually is an art gallery.

A diet high in herring and reindeer is important for creating great indie pop. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see any live music over here. It’s really hard to search on the net for smaller gigs and I haven’t come across anything while I’ve been here.

Erik Hallden – If I Ever Get Married (zSHARE)

The Knife – One For One (zSHARE)

Love Is All – Spinning And Scratching (Metronomy Remix) (zSHARE)

Studio – Radio Edit (zSHARE)

Peter Bjorn And John – At The Seaside (zSHARE)

Peter Bjorn And John – Money (zSHARE)