While Michelin Star restaurants serve up sumptuous food with price tags to match, there are those of us who want the similar experiences of scrumptious eats that are a lot kinder on our wallets.
Well, this wish is definitely within our reach: since 1955, the Michelin Guide has highlighted eateries offering exceptionally good food at moderate prices: with a solo meal at €40 or under, we can whole heartedly regularly indulge our foodie cravings at establishments awarded its Bib Gourmand – Bib being the company’s nickname for the Michelin Man, its logo.
Your Living City gives you the run down on the eight restaurants in Stockholm given Bib Gourmands by the Michelin Guide 2017 for serving good quality food simply yet skillfully cooked at great value.
(1) Restaurant: Rolfs Kök
Where: TEGNÉRGATAN 41, 111 61 STOCKHOLM
Passionate chef and co-owner Johan Jureskog, a member of the Swedish Culinary team, runs this popular and buzzy restaurant in a lively commercial district. Together with head chef Johan Andersson, he creates a menu that clearly shows the season’s flavours from near-by producers; all his sommelier beautifully pairs with wines from a particularly interesting and excellent cellar of 450 different vintages.
With a philosophy of serving quality food without flourish, diners sit at the counter to watch the chefs in close-up action in the completely open kitchen for both lunch and dinner in a contemporary setting designed by famous Swedish artists.
Having a specialization in modern cuisine that includes homely Swedish classics and blackboard specials as well as an emphasis on taking care of its guests well definitely makes a table reservation essential.
(2) Restaurant: Brasserie Bobonne
Where: STORGATAN 12, 114 44 STOCKHOLM
With period floor tiles and comfy chairs, this sweet little two-roomed homely restaurant’s open-plan kitchen fills the place with pleasant aromas of classic French-style French dishes like Moules Marinière, Boeuf Bourguignon and Chèvre Chaud, along with French-inspired tasty well-balanced modern food crafted from fresh ingredients and the odd Swedish influence.
Together with something new always landing on the menu or listed on the blackboard, lunch and dinners at this intimate and inviting neighbourhood restaurant in Östermalm gets a thoroughly deserved listing in the White Guide as well; making bookings absolutely necessary.
(3) Restaurant: Den Gyldene Freden
Where: ÖSTERLÅNGGATAN 51, 10 317 STOCKHOLM
This historic hugely characterful vintner-built property is thought to be the city’s oldest restaurant, serving diners since 1722. Bequeathed in 1920 to the Swedish Academy who continue to meet here weekly, well-known local and foreign cultural personalities too patronize it regularly or on special occasions to enjoy good food and an authentic atmosphere.
Its cooking sees refined modern versions of Swedish classic home cooking; reflecting its proud heritage of tireless toil in developing traditional foods for the modern palate with international influences and the Nordic respect for raw materials, their origin and the craft of cooking.
To indulge in its philosophy of taking time to enjoy great tasting lunch and dinners, advance table reservations are necessary.
(4) Restaurant: Proviant Östermalm
Where: STUREGATAN 19, 114 36 STOCKHOLM
Located in a chic residential area by Sture Park, this lively restaurant boasts smart contemporary décor, a small counter, an adjoining foodstore and the wonderful option of al fresco lunch or dinner.
Featuring Swedish ingredients in its rustic classically based home cooked dishes well-loved by Swedes on the blackboard, in its French-inspired à la carte menu, and in the house specialties, its lunch menu changes weekly while its evening’s lists a bigger selection of equally delectable dishes.
(5) Restaurant: Lilla Ego
Where: VÄSTMANNAG 69, 113 26 STOCKHOLM
One of the hottest tickets in town, this establishment with its pared-down look and buzzy vibe requires booking to secure a table, and most definitely a private dining room. Otherwise pray hard you can get a counter seat.
What is all the fuss? Its two modest chef-owners have created an appealingly priced menu of robust satisfying seasonal modern dishes, with their ‘wrestling’ sausage challenging even the biggest of appetites!
(6) Restaurant: Ulla Winbladh
Where: ROSENDALSVÄGEN 8, 115 21 STOCKHOLM
Besides having its name inspired by the national Bellman musical and being originally built as a steam bakery for the 1897 Stockholm World Fair, Ulla Winbladh is set in charming parkland beside the Skansen open-air museum. Thus offering diners the wonderful luxury of lunch or dinner out on the terrace or in the older more characterful part of the building, including its private dining rooms – all of which crucially require bookings.
Since 1897 its unusual popular restaurant concept of treating people like kings and kings as people welcomes royals, families with children and Djurgårds flaners, with dogs and horses quenching their thirst alongside their owners dining al fresco; making it THE establishment for weddings as well as Christmas, New Year and Father’s Day celebrations!
Hearty high quality classic Swedish home cooked dishes, including sweet and sour herring along with fish roe, ensure all who partake the well-loved national gastronomically pure mind-expanding experience: its chefs guarantee good ingredients with an equally good touch and a lot of passion take precedence over new thinking and technology in serving great tasting food.
(7) Restaurant: Nook
Where: ÅSÖGATAN 176, 116 32 SÖDERMALM
Beyond the confines of fine dining, this modern restaurant offers great value for modern cuisine its chefs love to eat. Drop into the bar for Asian-influenced snacks or head to the intimately lit dining room with its checkerboard floor for one of two set menus.
Dishing out creative tasty cooking that blends Swedish ingredients with Korean influences – from vintages that capture your palate to inspirational street food; it happily serves you a dinner feast of suckling pig if you book three days ahead.
(8) Restaurant: Oaxen Slip
Where: BECKHOLMSVÄGEN 26, 115 21 DJURGÅRDEN
Friendly Oaxen Slip is a natural rendezvous where you, friends and co-workers can come often. A bright bustling bistro next to the old slipway, its delightful terrace is the perfect spot for a leisurely weekday 3-course lunch or a popular weekend brunch, while its light-flooded private and public rooms with boats hanging from the girders as a nod to the local shipbuilding industry make for equally casual dinners.
This breathtaking and highly unusual location and setting undoubtedly additionally appoints it as a highly desirable venue for a traditional Christmas lunch or dinner.
Serving its interpretation of traditional hearty and uncomplicated Swedish bistro fare, its wholesome and hearty food is meant for sharing by two or more, and features plenty of seafood, with whole fish dishes a decided specialty.
Information credits: Michelin Guide 2017 and the respective eateries
Photo credits: thatsup.co, thefork.com, TripAdvisor, Proviant Östermalm, visitstockholm.com, Ulla Winbladh, nouw.com and get10things.com
Feature photo credit: Ulla Winbladh
