Stockholm restaurants

[ringingup]

I’m going to Stockholm for 4 nights in August.

Any restaurant recommendations? I want to stay away from too expensive tasting menus and long dining experiences.

[JDB]

Restaurants in Stockholm are very expensive (although perhaps a bit cheaper than Copenhagen) on a par with or slightly more expensive than London, particularly if you like a drink. I was there in April and while I don’t do recommendations, four restaurants I would go back to are: Babette and Bar Agrikultur – different parts of town, both are very busy, quite noisy neighbourhood restaurants. Both serve really excellent, original small plates and have very efficient but informal service. Big choice of wines by the glass. BA has a few tables on the pavement, Babette has a covered seating area on the pavement. Restaurant Oxenstiernan is in a small park with a light airy dining room and a few tables outside but little shade at lunchtime when I went. The food is very simple, not vegetarian but some focus on vegetables but really well prepared and presented. Good cocktails – apple gimlet! These three are all very informal and can be quick if you choose.

More formal but neither a tasting menu nor a long dining experience unless you choose to make it one is Matsbaren. It’s in a beautiful small building next to the Grand and has a very chic but informal, buzzy dining room with tables and also lots of bar seating. The menu is again principally of small plates, but of serious quality; if you have the raw herring, a local must, ask for a glass of the aquavit one of the waiters makes; oddly the cheapest drink I had in the city. Tip top service; it’s a very smart, high quality restaurant without being up itself and was surprisingly the cheapest of the four. Nobody was able to offer me any decent advice before I went, so I chose all these from the Michelin bib/good value for money list.

All need booking (although I only did do a week in advance) and can be booked online.

[travelersolo]

If you have AMEX plat dining credit Restaurant Oxenstiernan is a good option