Siiri

Jun 3, 20216 min read

Restaurants and cafés in Stockholm

I spent three months in Stockholm during the pandemic, so I did not visit a huge amount of restaurants. Mostly I either ordered food to go or made sure the restaurant was following the strict rules with distance and other safety procedures. As food is one of my favorite subjects to write and talk, this might become a longer post...

Keemchi by Kimchistan

Keemchi has three restaurants around Stockholm and I visited two of them. I picked up food once from the bottom floor of Hötorgshallen and once from Tegnérgatan 18 which is where I also sat down to eat once as there were no other customers on sight.

Keemchi is vegan friendly and offers tasty Korean dishes such as bibimbap (rice with vegetables), hoedeopbap (bibimbap with raw fish) dolsot bbibimbap (a traditional version of the korean bibimbap) and japchae (Korean sweet potatoe noodles). You get to choose your protein and toppings for the dish.

Keemchi was one of the causes why I am now obsessed with kimchi, and eat it at least two times a week if I can find it. Fortunately there are multiple good markets with excellent kimchi choices (as I am not a really good chef myself and don't know how to prepare it myself) in Stockholm: Oriental Supermarket in Sveavägen and a brand new (2021) AM Store and AM Cafe at Sergel's Square.

Thaiboat

Thaiboat is located in the southern river bank of Södermalm. During winter you can get a table in a heated up bubble which gives a cozy atmosphere. During summer you can enjoy your time under the huge umbrellas on the pier. I went there with a friend and got to sit inside one of these bubbles just with one other group of people, so we felt very safe and it was not crowded. It wasn't the warmest of evenings either but with the heaters on it was actually a little bit too warm - but I had dressed up as if we would sit outside.

Thaiboat offers flavors from Thailand, Vietnam and India. Me and my friend got the Thaimix menu to share - it was amazing! They also have a complete vegan menu option. Got some drinks on the side but didn't have time to get dessert as the restaurants are closing a bit earlier during the pandemic.

Waipo Stockholm

You can find Waipo in the Stockholm city center from Jakobsbergsgatan. I actually stumbled upon this completely by accident as I was doing my shopping in the city center and realized I was starting to feel hangry and out of energy. I pondered for a minute if I could handle myself and make it for one more hour or so before I would be home, but I am glad I ended up deciding to get lunch here.

I got chicken and shiitake dumplings topped with planed truffle, two bao buns and I also had to get dessert which were these cute pig-themed pastries filled with vanilla.

Omnipollos Hatt

Just across the road where I was living in Slussen was this famous pizza place / pub, Omnipollos Hatt. It was always SO crowded as I walked by that I knew that it had to be somewhat special. One evening I asked my landlady if she knew where to get the best pizza of Stockholm and she said that Omnipollos Hatt was pretty good. So I had to see what the fuzz was about and picked up a pizza to go one evening.

Omnipollos Hatt offers multiple pizza's with toppings I was not familiar with yet, so it was interesting to see how it went. There were a lot of people waiting for pizzas as well, but the service was great and the sun was shining outside so it wasn't too bad. If you are into beer, I think this might also be a good place for you. As I am not very good with beer, you should check their web page to learn more about it yourself.

After a while of discussing the pizza's with my friend I ended up taking a kimchi, blugogi, air-dried bull and mozzarella fior di latte. It ended up being very delicious - and check out the cool box I carried it home with.

Dirty Coco

Again, another restaurant I saw people lining up in front of as I walked the streets in Stockholm. Dirty Coco looks amazing from the outside and even more instagrammable from the inside. They have said that Dirty Coco's goal is to make Sweden's boring fika (coffee break) moments more enjoyable and unforgettable.

Dirty Coco offers multiple sweet options for your coffee break moment but has also very good and healthy bowls for lunch. I had to try their forbidden bowl with sweet potato, black rice, edamame beans, mango, avocado and salad with a garlic sauce as well as the pink cotton candy pancakes. I took it all to go for my second last day at work and shared the desert with my co worker. The dessert was huge and extremely sweet, so even when we shared it it was difficult to finish, but no worries - we did.

Indian Street Food & Co

"Indian Street Food & Co creates a modern Indian cuisine inspired by food vendors in the streets of India. By blending tradition with modern tastes and sustainable ideals our mission is to raise the Indian dining experience wherever we go." - http://www.indianstreetfood.se/

This was one of the restaurants my friend suggested to me straight from the first weeks I arrived to Stockholm. Of course we ended up booking a table together from here on my last proper evening before my move back to Finland - took us three months to make it here.

Indian Street Food & Co has four restaurants, a cafe and a food truck in Stockholm. We had heard so much good about their waterfront restaurant in Hendriksdal that we decided to go there even though there were restaurants that were located closer to us as well. And it didn't disappoint.

For starters we shared one dish as the entrees were a bit big. For our main dishes we both ordered a sizzler plate with veggies, rice, sauce and I had lamb. We made a mistake of ordering two Österbotten cheese naan breads, which was way too much for us to eat. But the naan... it was phenomenal.

With good company the time flies again so fast - we did too much talking (or enough!) and didn't order any desserts as we had to leave for the restaurant to be able to close on time.

Bubble tea and pastries

I visited a few bubble tea spots as well, as they are not very common in Helsinki, and I wanted to see what is this all about. I have drank bubble tea before on my travels as well, but still wasn't quite sure what the fuzz was about.

Oolong Tea House is a Nordic chain for bubble tea and pastries in Stockholm and you can find one from Hötorget, Gallerian or Götgatan. I tasted their matcha tea both hot and cold accompanied once with a sweet mochi pastry.

Yi Fang - Taiwan fruit tea is a cafe in the middle of Stockholm and they only have one store in Sweden but you can find a Yi Fang also from Paris, London and multiple other cities around the world. This was a very popular cafe and I lined up outside of the store for about 15 minutes to get my drink which was really good in the end.

Take a machi break and get some boba tea from Machi Machi located in Hötorgshallen. As I was obsessed with matcha (and still am) I tried their matcha boba tea. Delicious, and great service as well! Machi Machi is also a global boba tea chain and has stores all around the world from Paris to New York, from Seoul to Singapore.

Bubbies is not a store or a cafe but a brand I got infatuated with. It is a home made ice cream and desert company that makes amazing mochi ice cream. I found a fridge full of these from Urban deli from Sveavägen but soon after that started noticing that they are sold in many stores in Stockholm. I sure hope I can find these from Finland as well - let me know if you already know where to find them!

I have already told you about one more great cafe in Stockholm called Café Goya - read more about it and my chase for cherry blossoms here.