Restaurant- Roxy

Yesterday evening a friend and I went to one of my favorite restaurants... Roxy! This is one of those restaurants that I think really deliver on food, location and service. It is located right on Nytorget square in the SoFo neighborhood, one of the most vibrant parts of Stockholm. The staff are very personable and give great service. You feel like a "regular" guest even if it is your first visit.

pork bourguignon

avec kit

The menu leans towards Spanish cuisine and there is something for everyone including some great vegetarian dishes. I really had trouble deciding what to get, but finally I chose their Spanish version of Beef Bourguignon made with pork (Pata Negra). I wasn't disappointed... it was the perfect dish with a winter storm raging outside. For dessert we both took the "avec kit": espresso or cappuccino, dark chocolate truffel and your choice of calvados, cognac or pear liqueur.
It is easy to get to Roxy's from the hotel. It's 15 minutes or so if you walk, otherwise the closest subway station is Skanstull (green line). The SoFo neighborhood is filled with great shops, so Roxy would be the perfect place for an early dinner after doing some Christmas shopping.
Click here for more restaurant recommendations!
.

Read More »

Add Comment

AN restaurants, SoFo

This Weekend!

Picture by: Alexander Dokukin

October 16th, 17th and 18th 
.

Besides The Chocolate Festival and the Nordic Film Prize, there are lots of things going on in the city to keep you occupied.

The Museum of History (Historiska Museet) is having a Farmer's Market on both Saturday and Sunday (11am to 5pm). Not only will farmers be selling ecological friendly fruits, vegetables, jams, honey and bread... there will be the oppurtunity to taste products, get tips and advice as well as autumn inspiration! Experts will be there to demonstrate how to create autumn decorations as well as how to bake bread the Viking way! While you are there, don't miss seeing The Gold Room and their new exhibition focusing on the past 1,000 years of Swedish history. If you are interested in other Farmer's Markets, then it's good to know that there is one taking place the first three Saturdays in October, just around the corner from the Rival Hotel in SoFo.

This Saturday, starting at 4pm, you can get a "jump start" on winter. Artificial snow is being trucked in to Sergel's Square and some of the world's best snowboarders will be showing off with jumps and tricks. Entrance is free!
All of the major autumn art and museum exhibitions are up and running now... click here for more information.
How's the weather? Sunny and chilly, with lows below 0 and highs around 5 degrees Celsius.
.

Read More »

Add Comment

AN event, Museums, SoFo, sport, weekend

Farmers' Market

During the next three Saturdays (October 9th, 16th and 23rd), between 10am and 3pm, there is an outdoor Farmers' Market in the SoFo neighborhood. Here farmers and craftsmen sell their wares and fresh produce to the public... everything from fruits & vegetables, sausages, cheeses, jams & juices to different types of handicrafts. I always love checking out indoor and outdoor markets when I travel to different countries as you get a real feel for the locals and their traditions and cuisine. This is a good oppurtunity to shop for some unique presents for people back home... or why not get some local cheese and sausage, go back to the hotel, order up a nice bottle of red wine and DVD movie and spend a relaxing and romantic evening indoors?
The market, located on the corner of Götgatan and Katarina bangata, is just a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel. Otherwise the closest subway station is Medborgarplatsen (green line).

Read More »

Add Comment

AN shopping, SoFo

Shopping- Jeans, jeans and more jeans!

Sweden has had a love affair with jeans and denim since the end of World War II. Most Swedes have at least 4 or 5 pair of jeans in their closet and in 2006 alone they bought 14 million pairs. I have to confess that I have around 10 pairs myself. These days, instead of only importing Levis and Lee jeans to Sweden, we are exporting Swedish brands to the rest of the world. Acne, Nudie Jeans and Cheap Monday are perhaps the most well known brands... followed by WeSC, Pace, Tiger of Sweden and Denim Demon. Several larger Swedish retailers or clothing brands, like H&M and Filippa K, have their own lines of jeans. Click here for more information about the Swedish jeans success story.
You can find a variety of Swedish jean brands sold at different stores like Åhlens, NK, Solo and JC. Otherwise, if you want to visit the retailers directly, here is a list of the major brands and where to find their stores in Stockholm:

• Acne has a few stores in Stockholm, but of special interest is their main store on Norrmalmstorg 2 and the store in the vicinity of the Rival Hotel at Nytorgsgatan 36 (in the SoFo neighborhood).
• Nudie Jeans are mainly sold in department stores and jean retailers, though they do have one store... and it is also close to the hotel, in fact right around the corner from Acne, on Skånegatan 75.
• Cheap Monday can also be found in several department stores and jean retailers... especially Weekday which has a location right around the corner from the hotel at Götgatan 21.
• WeSC has a couple of stores in Stockholm, a favorite of mine is located in the downtown area on Kungsgatan 66.

Click here for more shopping tips in Stockholm.
.

Read More »

Add Comment

AN shopping, SoFo

Restaurant Tradition

Last week I was invited to the premiere of a new restaurant on Södermalm called Tradition. This is their second restaurant with the original Tradition located in the Norrmalm district. This "sister restaurant" is located right next to the SoFo district of Södermalm, an easy 15 minute walk from the Rival Hotel.

Swedish design...

Their motto is "Svensk husmanskost. Punkt slut." which basically translates to "Swedish traditional cuisine. Period.". Well, sort of. I actually have a hard time translating husmanskost. It is one of those words that I think is only found in Swedish... like lagom and fika. There are several ways I use to describe this concept to visitors... rustic cuisine, meals your grandmother would make, workers' fare, traditional cuisine, historic cuisine, etc; Sometimes I compare it to types of dishes from the visitor's home country to give them a point of reference. For example Fish & Chips to someone from the UK, Coq au Vin to someone from France and Pot Roast to someone from the States. At any rate... it is good food! And a great way to "taste" Swedish history and tradition.

Cod with shrimp, horseradish and egg sauce.

Restaurant Tradition is a good place to try husmanskost and they try to make it a complete Swedish experience with the Swedish interior design as well as Swedish music playing in the restaurant. As it was the premiere when I was there, we were served small tastes of different courses on the menu... like cod with shrimp, horseradish & egg sauce and black pudding with glazed apples and lingon berries. Click here for menu. All very good! As I mentioned earlier, Tradition is located near the SoFo district which is a nice place to wander in the evening with bars, pubs and restaurants. Good thing to know: all of the dishes on the menu are lactose free and they can make both vegetarian and gluten free dishes as well. Click here for other restaurant recommendations/reviews and click here for other restaurants that serve Swedish cuisine.

Black pudding with glazed apples and lingon berries.

Read More »

Add Comment

AN restaurants, SoFo, tradition

SoFo neighborhood

Some PR genius came up with the idea of naming this area SoFo, both a play on the name Soho and an acronym of its location... South of Folkungagatan ("gatan" = street) as seen on this map. While this neighborhood doesn't have the size or scope of SoHo in NYC or London, nor the art & theater scene, it does have a bit of the bohemian feel. I especially like the streets Bondegatan and Skånegatan.

During the day you will find plenty of cafés and small, unique boutiques selling everything from music to furniture to vintage clothes to kitchy interior design trinkets. Some favorite stores are Grandpa, Beyond Retro, Pet Sounds and Coctail. There is a nice park area at Nytorget ("new square") with some great cafés nearby. In the evening there are a wide selection of restaurants to visit, though no late night bars as this is a residential area. Some favorites here are Thai Koh Phagnan, funky Pet Sounds Bar, gay-friendly Roxy and the classic Pelikan where you can get good, rustic Swedish cuisine like meatballs and Pytt-i-panna. The last Thursday of every month the neighborhood has a SoFo-Night where the stores are open extra late until 9pm.

I don't think that this is the prettiest or hippest area of the city, though it is an authentic Stockholm neighborhood and a great place to stroll around and see how Stockholmers live!

Right on the border of SoFo (on Götgatan) you have Skrapan shopping center. They boast being open a little later than other malls (8pm on weekdays, 6pm on weekends) and having stores that are not usually found in Swedish shopping malls. It is located in one of the few tall buildings in Stockholm. The name itself is a Swedish nickname for skyskraper, though it can't compete with the real ones in NYC or Chicago. At the top of the building is a restaurant & bar called Och Himlen Därtill with great views over the city!

Read More »

Add Comment

AN restaurants, shopping, SoFo

Guided Food Tours in Stockholm

Typical SoFo view.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the chance to partake in a food tour... a guided walking tour where food is the focus. The tours are arranged by Food Tours Stockholm and, so far, there are two different tours on offer. The first one is a tour through the SoFo neighbourhood on the island of Södermalm (home to the Rival Hotel) and the other is in the Vasastan neighbourhood. While the Vasastan tour concentrates on Nordic food culture, the Södermalm tour is more multicultural, reflecting the bohemian feel of the SoFo neighbourhood... and it was this Södermalm tour that a colleague and I went on yesterday.

Piccolo Metro deli selection

I really enjoyed the tour and think it is a great, unique activity for visitors to Stockholm! The tour is 3½ hours long with 8 stops at different restaurants and food specialty stores. As I mentioned earlier, the stops represent the multiculturalism of modern Sweden... with everything from Swedish to Chinese to Italian and in between. One thing I really like about the tour was that the guide Fredrik was very informative about both the food and the surroundings, so it is a great way to see a picturesque Stockholm neighbourhood, get the background story as well as try some delicious food. I also liked that the restaurants seemed generally interested in our visit and were happy to present their food.

Paneer Palak Korai at Shanti

The tour started at China, a traditional Chinese restaurant that has one of the only (if not the only) authentic Peking duck ovens in Europe. From there it was on to a newly opened Italian restaurant and deli called Piccolo Metro, where we got to sample some pasta and wine. They do specialize in Appertivo, the traditional pre dinner cocktails with small dishes. Next was Shanti, a great Indian restaurant (not your run-of-the-mill curry house) where they served us Paneer Palak Korai. Very good! The tour then continued on to Fang Yuan Shi Wu... a quaint hole in the wall where they serve Stockholm's best dumplings. Just meeting proprietress Wencui Cui made it well worth the stop. Cute as a button!

Urban Deli!

The tour then moved on to more local tastes with a stop at Urban Deli, which is one of the most popular restaurants in the Sofo district. Urban Deli combines a restaurant with a deli, bakery and grocery store. Here we tried different tastes from their deli selection (sausages, meats and cheeses). Just across the street was the next stop on the food tour... newly opened Nytorget 6. A great restaurant where the focal point is the beautiful rotisserie and bar. We were treated to some delicious chicken from the rotisserie as well as some local beer.

Rotisserie at Nytorget 6

Time for dessert! First we stopped at the famous Pärlans Konfektyr where they hand make caramels. You can actually watch them cook and roll the caramels every weekday in the shop. After trying an array of different tastes, we moved on to the final stop... local ice cream parlor: StikkiNikki. Here they serve ecological, home made ice creams and sorbets with tastes like peanut butter crumble, strawberry/rhubarb and salted liquorice. The perfect end to the tour!

Pärlans Konfektyr

The price for this tour is 695 SEK per person, which includes all of the food & drink, bottled water to have with you as well as the guided tour. I found the tour to be well worth the price as you do get quite a lot of food and information. The tours are guided in English & Swedish. Be aware that they run on different days, so check their website to find the right date and tour. You can book either of their tours on their website or, if you are staying at the Rival Hotel, by contacting me directly. Bon Appétit or smaklig måltid!

StikkiNikki

Read More »

Add Comment

AN restaurants, sightseeing, SoFo, tours, walk

Hornstull Neighbourhood

For years, most of the neighbourhood of Hornstull has been one big construction site. The majority of the construction is over and the area is emerging as one of Stockholm's new "in" areas. Located on the westerly tip of the island of Södermalm, the area has long been a transportation hub for western Stockholm with bridges connecting the island to Kungsholmen and the southern suburbs as well as tram, bus and subway stops.

The island of Södermalm (also the location of the Rival Hotel) has for the past couple of centuries been the home of Stockholm's working class. Gentrification of the island over the recent 40-50 years has changed it into a chic area with boutiques, galleries, restaurants and cafés and the home of artists, bohemian culture and young up-and-comers. One of the most famous gentrified areas is SoFo (South of Folkungagatan)... and as SoFo has become slightly over-exploited (it is found in just about every tourist guide), Hornstull has developed into the place where young Stockholmers want to live, work & play. In fact, some people have taken to calling the neighbourhood NoHo (North of Hornstull).

Hornstull shopping center

So, what is new? The underground passageways connecting the subway station to street level have been refreshed, adding many new boutiques. In fact, the passageways also connect to a small shopping center with stores selling fashion (H&M among others), technical gadgets, books, flowers as well as a larger liquor store (Systembolaget) and grocery store. Probably the most obvious change is a new, three story, leaning glass building adjacent to the shopping center's street entrance. Housed within this building are two restaurants... Hornhuset and Trattoria Enzo's. There is even a rooftop terrace which should prove to be very popular during the summer.

Hornhuset with rooftop terrace

As the area has increased in popularity, more and more restaurants have moved in over the past few years. Some well-known ones, representing a wide range of cuisines and price ranges, are Ho's, Ramblas, Linje 10, Judit & Bertil, Calexico's and Lasse i Parken. Cafés, always popular with Stockholmers, are in abundance! Another reason, as a tourist, you might visit Hornstull is its proximity to green areas. The small, leafy island of Långholmen is nearby... a great place to take a swim or to rent a kayak during the summer months. On the other side you have the park Tantolunden and the waterfront promenade Hornstulls Strand. Another fun thing to do is walk across the bridge Västerbron, which connects the area to Kungsholmen. Great views of the city!

View from Västerbron

There is still some minor construction going on (beautification of the sidewalks), but this is already a great place to visit. It is easy to get to from the Rival Hotel... just a 20 minute walk down the street Hornsgatan, or else two subway stops on the red line.

Read More »

Add Comment

AN restaurants, shopping, Södermalm, SoFo, tourist information