6 Swedish food trips to discover this diverse Scandinavian country

Foodie neighbourhood

Hop off the metro at Globen, skirt the huge golf ball shaped shopping centre and discover the first murmurings of a foodie hub in the city's former meatpacking district. Stockholm Roast keeps punters fuelled with coffee, snacks and sweet treats during the day, and has recently opened cosy wine bar and Swedish small plates restaurant, Bar Montan round the corner; already proving popular with trendy Swedes on the food scene. Solen is apparently the place to be... it's a beautiful space boasting a large outdoor area strung with fairy lights, while inside the restaurant opens out into a stunning, light-filled concrete room. The focus is on open-fire cooking, with dishes including red shell prawns in harissa butter, flank steaks in pistachio spice butter and oyster mushroom kebabs with pickled chilli. After dinner, head to trendy listening bar, Hosoi, its contemporary space home to a selection of wines on tap and beers from Omnipollo brewery.

Hotel Skeppsholmen Stockholm yellow building with terrace

Next stop:

ferry to the archipelago
train north to Östersund
train south west to Gothenburg

Östersund, Sweden – for visiting Swedish artisan producers

Situated in the middle of Sweden, Östersund is a Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy and boasts one of the highest numbers of small-scale food artisans and organic farmers in the country. Innovative bistro Republiken Bar & Kök serves everything from moose carpaccio to cellar-matured goat’s cheese from local farmers. Nästgårds Farm Restaurant (open in summer) and its sister BUA create menus with sustainability at their heart, with dishes such as halibut with coriander seeds, rose pepper, green tomato and fried sourdough. The menu at Hamngatan 12 fights against food waste by using surplus produce and with upcycled dishes including its potato and leek soup topped with crispy pork belly. But for something iconic to the region, Wedemarks Café is where the smörgåstårta was invented, a savoury layered ‘sandwich cake’ of rye bread, shrimps, salmon and pickled vegetables.

Stockholm archipelago – for rejuvenating nature

Take the ferry from Stockholm harbour or hire a boat with friends to Ingmarsö island. Hike the Båtuffarleden trail winding through forests, taking dips in the water and rowing a wooden boat between granite rock stations. Stable-turned-bakery, Ingmarsö Bageri, emerges from the forest like a mirage for a well-deserved fika of heavenly cinnamon buns, chocolate espresso balls and apple cream-filled pastries beneath pretty parasols. Stay overnight in the quintessential red wooden baker's cottage, set back in the trees with a view of the water, to wake up to the gentle aroma of fresh bread and buns for breakfast. ingmarsöbageri.com

Or stay at Harö Nature, where your bed for the night is a unique choice between a floating greenhouse, boujie boathouse or glass-fronted treehouse. In the summer months, two Italians take residence on the pizza ovens, or opt for the tasting menu sitting; a succession of contemporary Swedish dishes that might include roe with dill oil and horseradish cream, smoked char with celeriac and cucumber celery jus and woodfire oven lobster with jalapaño cream. Take a dip in the clear waters and warm up in the hot tub and dinky sauna, perched on its own pier, while sunset casts a pink and orange glow over the archipelago. 59north18east.com

Get Out Kayak rents out kayaks and puts together adventure itineraries on the Stockholm Kayak Trail. Bespoke tours include transfers from the city and a full kit for camping, including food packages so you can cook your own Swedish meatballs with mash and lingonberries or creamy chanterelles pasta over a stove in the wild. The pack even includes a kåsa, a drinking vessel originally crafted by Lapland's Sámi community, so you can sip on Swedish beer or cloudberry juice while on the move. getoutkayak.se

Two kayaks in the water by Stockholm's archipelago islands

Gothenburg – for cutting edge seafood and brewery hopping

West Sweden's coastal city is a foodie hot spot, particularly in the spring and summer when the city's courtyards and terraces come to life. Try cinnamon buns and coffee at Da Matteo, flash-fried herring at quirky food truck Strommingsluckan and bags of plump prawns by the river outside the charming ‘fish church’ seafood market. Head out on the ferry to the archipelago for a taste of Styrsö’s car-free island life and cinnamon buns at charming Café Obergska before a brisk dip off one of the sandy beaches.

Gothenburg river with boats and a large bank building on the river

Next stop:

drive to Bohuslan for a coastal adventure
walk the Gotaleden trail
drive inland to Stedsans in the Woods
train 3 hours south to Malmö

Stedsans In The Woods – for off-grid gourmet glamping

Stedsans In The Woods is an ongoing project from Mette Helbæk and Flemming Hansen, who sold their Copenhagen home and rooftop restaurant, Stedsans ØsterGRO, and moved their family just across the water to a seven-hectare plot of forest next to Lake Halla in West Sweden. The ethos is the make guests happy through sharing food and bring them closer to nature through the use of fresh ingredients and simple cooking.

Stedsans means “a sense of location” in Danish, and here you truly get a feel for your surroundings – guests eat and sleep in tents under the stars, drift in the lake inside the floating sauna, and pluck ingredients (blueberries, edible moss, mushrooms) from the wild/forest floor to create daily-changing menus that cherish the best of what is available where you are at that precise moment. Preparation of dishes at Stesans in the Woods is minimal, to let the ingredients shine. There’s no fancy equipment (not even a blender) in the “yell-free” open-to-the-wild kitchen. Instead, chefs roast meats over an open fire, crush pastes in a pestle and mortar and heat water over a stove for guests to enjoy communal style in an ethereal glass dining cabin.

Smart glass-fronted wooden cabins are dotted amongst the trees and round the lake, adding to the idyllic cabin vibes that the floating sauna already provided. In order to ensure that guests completely relax, a wild spa has been constructed on moveable platforms beside the lake. Mette’s homemade scrubs and oils, a yoga platform and a sawdust sauna all contribute to creating a luxurious wellbeing centre that is in harmony with its natural surroundings.

Three images, two of a forest with cabins and the middle one a plate of wild mushrooms and strawberries

Gotaleden walking trail – for foodie walking trails

Hop on the train from Gothenburg to Jonsered, a tiny riverside hamlet home to popular Poppels Bryggeri, where you can taste a range of Swedish beers matched with the likes of torched shrimp, ricotta and chanterelle ravioli, and Swedish roe scooped up with crisps. Round the corner is Brödfabriken, where you can chill out with classic cinnamon bun and coffee fika under a blanket by the river.

From Jonsered, follow the Gotaleden walking trail, treading through forests blanketed with tiny flowers, winding along rivers and clambering over rocks around Lake Aspen. Reward yourself at Garage Fromage, where owner Hans curates speciality cheeses from remote parts of Sweden to sell in his converted garage shop. Continue the riverside trek or take a short train ride to spend the night at Nääs Fabriker, an old cotton factory built in 1890, now home to a stylish hotel with onsite restaurants, shops, bakery and brewery. Wrap up in your robe and pad to the al fresco lakeside spa before seasonal Swedish dinner in the plant-adorned conservatory room. Doubles from £107, check availability at booking.com.

A lake surrounded by trees and a large cotton mill converted into a hotel

West Sweden’s Bohuslän – for coastal, seafood-fuelled road trips

Ladfabriken b&b, Hälleviksstrand, Orust

From Gothenburg, pick up a car and drive north for an hour to reach West Sweden’s Bohuslän coast, a series of islands and peninsulas (Orust, Skaftö, Tjörn) jutting into the North Sea. Drive through forests and pass by quintessential coastal villages strung between rugged rocks, stopping off for Swedish fika in forest huts, local craft beers on sun-soaked wooden jetties and quiveringly-fresh fish inside painted clapboard cafés.

On the very Western peninsula of Orust island, sunshine bounces around the quirky fish crate factory turned b&b, XXX. Owners Johan and Marcel serve family-style dinners such as cod fillets in buttery leek sauce and 'east meets west' coconut and lemongrass fish soup using catch of the day from neighbouring Skargrak Sea via Larsson’s fish shop in nearby Mollösund. Breakfast is a similarly homely affair, seeing the table laden with Priest cheese, Swedish emmental, Leksand crackers and an array of homemade preserves – rosehip marmalade, cowberry, lingonberry and more. Local strawberries get plenty of light throughout the long summer days, so they’re extra sweet and served with fresh mint.

During the day, take a kayak out on the crystal-clear water, go wild swimming in the archipelago, kick back with a book on a deckchair in the rocky garden, or clamber over rocks following blue dots to the picture-postcard Swedish hamlet of Edultshall. Here, among red and white clapboard houses, families gather around barbecues on little jetties outside their boathouses. Ladfabriken.eu

Ten minutes down the rod in Mollösund, park outside the church and follow signs to Larsson’s fish shop, winding over cobbles between clapboard houses, to be rewarded with boiled crab, bags of shrimp and salted herring then wander along the waterfront to Café Emma for homemade pastries and cakes. facebook.com/LarssonsFisk

A fishing boat and red wooden house in Mollosund harbour, Sweden

Lysekils seafood safari, Grebbestad, Lysekil

Hop off the jetty at Grebbestad harbour into ‘Signe’; fisherman Lars’ boat was built in 1952 and named after his grandmother. Chug out of the harbour through the clear waters until a tiny black hut comes into view on Lars’s private island. Hop off the boat and help Lars cart up nets filled with fresh mussels and oysters before a lesson in shucking from the master (his current record being 100 oysters in 30 minutes). After a lesson in shucking, duck into the cosy throw-lined cabin and cook mussels in a pale blue pot on a traditional stove. Lysekilsostronomusslor.se

Fiskebäckskil, Skaftö

A 100-year-old shipyard is an unlikely location for a hotel, but Slipens Hotell & Pensionat has become a destination for foodies thanks to its restaurant, Brygghuset. Each of the nine rooms is designed around a local character, from Anna-Stina, the area’s first female taxi driver, to Sander the ferryman, who ferried passengers to and from the island in times gone by. Squishy beds are some of the comfiest we’ve curled into, furnishings add cosy touches against dark green and blue painted walls, and bathrooms are kitted out with power showers and Swedish toiletries. Before dinner, wrap up in a fluffy white robes and pad down the harbour’s long jetty to Slipens’ floating spa. A red wooden hut with an open roof houses a large jacuzzi and sauna, so you can soak up the steam as well as the serene harbour life (and enjoy a sparkling wine/Swedish beer or two at the same time).
Slipenshotell.se

Popular restaurant Brygghuset Fiskebäckskil focuses on seasonal seafood caught straight from the Atlantic by a fisherman named Manfjärd – mussels in the summer, lobsters in the autumn, oysters in winter and mackerel in spring. Start with crayfish with wild garlic followed by cod in a rich shellfish sauce with deep-fried, crouton-like potatoes (paired with a minerally Riesling). Finally, a chocolate pie is given a Swedish twist with liquorice ice cream and liquorice panna cotta.
Peruse Sweden’s largest selection of whiskies (1600 varieties and counting) at Joeys Whisky Bar; if you’re finding it hard to choose plump for the apple and woody spice notes of hyper local Smögen Swedish single malt. Brygghusetkrog.se

Spa overlooking harbour at Slipens Hotell Sweden

Malmö – for urban restaurant hopping

Though Skåne may be home to more than its fair share of rustic restaurants and earthy cafés, there are plenty of high-end options, too. Its close proximity to Copenhagen means Malmö, in particular, boasts several destination restaurants.

In the city centre Bastard has long been a place to be seen, offering meat-heavy small plates and punchy cocktails in a party atmosphere, while field-to-fork restaurant Bloom in the Park has a Michelin star. Contemporary SAV and French-focussed Sture also hold stars, while intimate Vollmers boasts two for its seasonal tasting menus, which elevate Scånian ingredients to gourmet levels.

The place of the moment during our visit was Västergatan, a cosy restaurant on a cobbled street of the same name in the centre of Malmö. Mini loaves of cold yeast bread with homemade butter kicked things off, followed by mixed meat tartare with smoked paprika, oven-baked celeriac with anchovies, wild garlic seeds and radishes, and slow-baked trout with burnt leek oil, roast chicken stock and pickled shiitake mushrooms.

Elsewhere in the region, foodies flock to Daniel Berlin’s yellow-brick restaurant in Skåne Tranås, where the innovative chef serves his sophisticated take on vegetable dishes (there’s also game during the hunting season, shot by Daniel himself).

For ales brewed in the centre of Malmö, try Skåne’s largest brewery, Malmö Brygghus. Its craft beers are available at Malmö Brewing Co & Taproom, in the city’s buzzy Möllevången area. On a smaller scale, the tiny island of Hven has its own brewery, and even MJ’s Hotel in Malmö has created its own Pilsner.

Skåne’s hip towns and stunning countryside are peppered with artisan micro-bakeries, where bakers use ancient Swedish grains to make unique flours for perfect loaves and iconic buns. Some of the best-loved buns come from Söderberg and Sara, which has a shop and café in Malmö and another in Ystad. The team uses a well-rehearsed combination of spelt and sourdough, topping its creations with sweet cinnamon and fragrant cardamom.

Malmö Restaurants And Best Places To Eat And Drink In Malmo Sweden

Next stop:

drive to Österlen for a field-to-fork road trip
train to Copenhagen
train back up to Stockholm

Österlen, Skåne – for rural field-to-fork road trips

Skåne is Sweden’s most southerly region, and often dubbed the country's pantry thanks to its vibrant producers and a prime position, surrounded by forest and farmland, between cutting-edge Copenhagen (just across the water in neighbouring Denmark) and the Baltic Sea. Many dedicated professionals have been drawn to Skåne’s countryside. Seek out tiny pasta factories in old tractor repair halls, or chocolatiers in former school buildings, and take time to listen to the inspiring stories of these passionate twenty- and thirty-somethings. Fran jord till bord (from soil to table) is a deep-rooted approach in Skåne. The region lives up to its nickname of Sweden’s larder, with passionate producers and chefs making the most of the Scånian soil and diverse terroir (coast/farmland/forests) to bring local produce to life on the plate. Pralines made with forest herbs, intricate fine-dining dishes created from an on-site farms, and contemporary tasting menus using ingredients foraged from Malmö’s suburbs are par for the course in this part of Sweden. Österlen, Skåne’s southeastern corner, is a hotspot for producers. Ulrika at Österlenchoklad is super geeky about chocolate and all things cacao – she can tell the smaller Sri Lankan beans from the Peruvian, and is exacting when it comes to sourcing. She and her partner travel the world to track down the finest beans to blend with Skåne’s unique ingredients and create super-smooth pralines – Kivik’s iconic apples, aromatics from nearby farmshop Österlenkryddor, aronia berries picked every October after the first frost, and citrussy sea buckthorn foraged from the shoreline. A Scånian trio – Per, Tilde, and Pär – have recently opened a pasta factory in Österlen. At their pizza place in Malmö’s Saluhall, the team uses locally-grown toppings, many from their own vegetable garden in Hedvigsdal (which the pizza place is named after), including overnight cabbage with butter and pecorino, savoy cabbage with soy sauce and mozzarella, and green beans with Skåne cheese and brown butter.

There are many smaller operations, but our favourites include Byvägen 35, where Mati combines durum wheat, roast potato and seeds to create his fluffy devil’s loaf. Mati’s original plan wasn't selling buns, but his sourdough cinnamon and cardamom swirls have gained popularity due to their extra-sour edge, gleaned from a 48-hour fermentation before baking.

Blåsingsborg Gårdshotell is just outside Kivik, a small town famous for its apple orchards, and the hotel can arrange juice- and cider-tasting trips to local producer Kiviks Musteri as well as whisky tastings on site, should you fancy something stronger. Housed in a classic skånegård (a four-sided farmhouse built around a cobbled inner courtyard), the hotel is friendly and family owned. Stylish bedrooms retain their rustic farmhouse feel with exposed beams and tiled floors.

Owners Karin and Henrik cook and serve a three-course set dinner that changes daily and is based around the best ingredients available – a starter of own-cured monkfish with cauliflower purée, for example, followed by local beef fillet with beetroot – and a vegetarian option is always available.