Trying a traditional food from the country I’m visiting is one of the highlights of my trips. Especially if the country I’m travelling has a special food, I try my best to find a good place to eat it. Because I want to experience the food/drink as good and as traditional as possible.
Naturally on my trip to Sweden, Swedish meatballs were on my list. Now, I had previously ate a version of it in Ikea but it is just cruel to compare a fast food version to a good traditional plate prepared in a real Swedish restaurant. So not counting my experience in Ikea, I set out to find a good traditional Swedish restaurant to try this meal for the first time. Of course Sweden, being one of the expensive countries in the world, to eat a good dinner out without a serious hole in the wallet was no easy task. Considering even Mc Donalds and Burger King menus cost about 10 dollars and just a normal restaurant has hot meals starting at least from 10-12 dollars, looking for a good traditional restaurant seemed like a budget suicide. But don’t worry I found just the place with perfect price/performance balance for the job, yes it is not the cheapest but it is totally worth it and trying the traditional food of the place you are visiting, this is where you stretch your travel budget.
I tried Swedish meatballs in a place called “Wardhuset Ulla Windbladh”, located in popular area Djurgården. I recommend a visit to this area if you are ever visiting Stockholm anyway, so why not combine your visit with a lovely lunch or dinner.
To start with, restaurant is a charming villa on the outside and though the weather conditions weren’t good for me, in summer you can also sit in the garden. Inside is decorated elegantly and with waiter/waitresses nicely dressed you can immediately tell it is a good place. As usual in Stockholm you will get free water served immediately. Drink menu is thicker than the food menu which is always a good sign for a really decent restaurant in my opinion 🙂 But don’t be intimidated with all of these and just enjoy because prices are quite reasonable.
You will get 4-5 kinds of bread served with butter before your meal arrives. (No charge). I’m normally not into much bread-butter thing but I loved the breads and frankly had to stop myself to left room for the meal! I didn’t wait much for my meal, and it’s served with mashed potatoes and special sauce. Also in a separate serving you get lingonberries and cucumber with your meal. Though as a wine lover I was tempted to try one of the wines of the day or pick another from the menu, I choose the draft beer as I was yet to try a local beer as well and confirmed my decision with the attentive waitress who offered me to bring their really good draft beer.
Meal was really delicious, I was satisfied by the portion, how it looked, served and taste. Really gave me the good traditional feeling. You are supposed to put lingonberries and cucumber to your plate and eat them all together, but it was delicious either way 🙂 Pricing was really fair for such a good restaurant in Stockholm, traditional Swedish meatballs cost me 155 kronas (around 18 dollars) and my draft beer was 69 krona (around 8 dollar). Now this may seem a bit high but don’t forget it was in Stockholm where a beer already costs you 8 dollars and you can’t find a hot meal in a restaurant under 12 dollars, let alone a good one.
I usually just focus on the meal on my suggestions, but with Swedish meatballs since I really enjoyed my experience and really think that it is a good place to try a traditional food, this time I also suggested a restaurant as well. You may find a cheaper place to eat out, but I think you are allowed to stretch your budget a bit to try a traditional food of the place you are visiting in a good place. This is the place 🙂
(By the way I have no affiliations with the restaurant except being a satisfied patron. I saw this restaurant ranking high in Trip Advisor but it was marked as very expensive, so I wanted to mention it especially, because I found prices of what I ordered very well compared to other Stockholm dining out options)
