Significant Insight from the Significant Other - Hej Hej, Smörgåsbord

Ahhh the Smörgåsbord...  What a delightful idea!  Similar to what we know as a buffet, except with purpose (and that isn't the purpose of stuffing your face).   The Smörgåsbord is a quintessential Swedish experience (Miss Mauds does NOT count!), with Swedes using the meal to spend time with family and celebrate special occasions.  Given we were in Stockholm over Easter, how could we say no!

We arrived nervously at the Grand Hotel - nervous because we never quite feel comfortable going into classy establishments with our best backpacker attire and signature scent.  The entrance to the hotel looks across the road into one of the many harbours in Stockholm and is surrounded by blooming daffodils.  Much to our sheer excitement the restaurant has the same view as the entrance and we were sat against the window with sunshine beaming through onto the crisp white tables.  By this point we knew we were in for a treat!

The idea of this Smörgåsbord is to think of it as a 5 course meal.  You begin with the array of herring, moving onto the salmon dishes before a mix of cold cuts and salads, then you arrive at the hot courses and finish up with dessert.  Sounds simple in theory but when you see the amount of pristinely presented morsels that you need to try and work your way through you know you are commencing a marathon.  Please note that no actual marathons were run.  If you would like to read about my amazing uncle who just completed 6 marathons in 6 days across the Sahara in Morocco then please click here.  We prefer marathons of the eating kind.

We decided to do what the Swedish do and start our experience off with some aquavit.   Specifically, we chose the aquavit made especially for the Grand Hotel which is flavoured with caraway, aniseed and fennel. It was delicious but at 125kr ($20) for 50ml you would hope so!  This is where unfortunately I had made an error (against Brim's good advice) - the menu quoted 25kr however in Sweden they tend to bill spirits per 10ml.  Oops!

To accompany the aquavit was our first course, the herring, aka sill.  The Swedes, and pretty much all of the Nordic and Baltic countries, love herring and prepare it in hundreds of way.  Clockwise from the scrumptious Swedish potatoes are herring in a red curry sauce with pink peppercorns, an unidentified fish with an avocado creme topping, mustard herring with coffee, inlagd sill - pickled herring, Klargravad strömming - fillets of salted herring, a blob of lavaret roe with sour cream and onions, herring in sherry, kryddsill - spiced pickled herring and in the middle is an egg with shrimp and aruga caviar.  Brim's favourite was the inlagd sill for its simplicity and the level of fishyness it retained.  I would vote the herring in the red curry sauce because the pink peppercorns gave these crazy bursts of flavour that went so well with the acidic fish.

Next up was the salmon course which I had been looking forward to the most.  I was quite impressed with myself that I didn't dive in head first and was able to wait until the correct eating moment.  How could you resist this?

Clockwise from the blob of avocado sauce and mustard sauce we had smoked and cured salmon, traditional gravlax, hot smoked salmon, hot smoked char, a char terrine, preserved halibut with a cress butter sauce, an egg with anchovy sauce and what you can't see is a little glass tea cup full of 'lobster' cerviche with tropical fruits.  The winner here for me was the gravlax and the smoked cured salmon. And the hot smoked salmon was the best I've ever had.  Brim is also going with the gravlax.

Onto the cold cuts and salad.   By this point we were starting to feel full...  Not a good feeling when you're not even half way yet!  But we soldiered on.  Clockwise from the spoon of asparagus creme with pumpernickel, asparagus (without the poached eggs which made up their salad), a slice of roast lamb, rabbit ballotine, chicken terrine, a beetroot and goats cheese salad, a smoked fish of sorts and a delicious piece of ham.  We both agree that the ham was certainly the standout.  I think this course was lacking a little as it didn't have the same incredible flavours as the first two.

Time for round four and the hot dishes.  Also time for a beer and the Carnegie porter was a fantastic choice!  From the top we had meatballs (yay!), Janssons frestelse - sort of potato bake with sprats, roast ham, an omelette with shrimp cream, steamed vegetables, roasted char and in the middle was some cod.  The meatballs were delicious and the lingonberry jam accompaniment was fantastic.  An obvious winner for Brim to satisfy the Swedish meatball dream.  I had also been hanging out to try the Janssons frestelse and it certainly did not disappoint.

Dessert!!!  In all of its Eastery goodness...

Clockwise from the fruit (as is necessary in any healthy diet) is a chocolate dipped strawberry and icecream, a soft meringue, a coconut bavois with mango pannacotta, a little chocolate cup, a chewy macaroon thing and in the middle was a rhubarb soup with a white choc cardamom ganache.  Brim's plate was a little fuller than mine (I had my eyes on course 6 and the finish line) and so he also tried the Easter cake and some jubes.  My favourite was the light coconut bavois whilst Brim favoured the Easter cake.

Last but not least was the cheese.   Brim chickened out and decided that 5 courses was his limit.  There was no way I was passing on the cheese - the sign of a true eating athlete.  I can't tell you the names but I can assure you that they were fantastic and well worth taking it a little easier on the previous dishes.

To summarise, this Smörgåsbord was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime meal for us. Given we only had three nights in Stockholm and that was the extent of our time in Sweden, it allowed us to experience a broad range of Swedish foods, enjoyed in an authentic way.