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2022 wasn’t a great year for Stockholm as a gastronomic destination, if you use the Michelin Guide as your measure. The Swedish capital, always second to its neighbour Denmark and in particular Copenhagen, saw three different starred restaurants close-up.
Two-starred Gastrologik and Oaxen Krog, and one-starred Agrikultur, all had their finances in good order. This wasn’t that. It just so happened that the restaurateurs, independently, wanted to do something else in life. Still, the headlines read, “The death of fine dining,” and it all spun again in January this year when the news of Noma’s self-proclaimed expiry date in 2024 got out.
The fun in fine dining seemed to have run out in the Nordics. But if you zoomed out of the major inner-city islands that make up Stockholm there were quite a few spots starting to lure thirsty foodies out in the suburbs.
“Big parts of the city’s premises are owned by constructors and operated by big restaurant groups. It’s becoming soulless and it’s too expensive to go out and eat there,” says Max Duhs, a chef with shared ownership of Bar Montan, which opened in May this year.
His place didn’t even have a sign on the door, zero budget for PR, and it ran only on word of mouth. Now, a few months down the line, it’s sold out.
Bar Montan. Photos: Albin Heyman
The area where the restaurant operates is growing to be a food, drinks and entertainment destination. Just like in New York and Copenhagen, Slakthusområdet was functioning as the meatpacking district back in the day. Just 10 minutes southbound on the metro to Globen gets you there. Neighbouring Bar Montan is Solen, a casual restaurant from the chefs behind starred Adam/Albin in the city, music bar Hosoi, with a world-class speaker system, hosted a popular electronic music festival this summer.
The difference between this area-in-development and others in Stockholm is that it didn’t start with building apartments and selling them before getting businesses in; the real estate company Atrium Ljungberg started the other way around and getting restaurants in was a move to create a new story for the area.
“The hype is going to get even bigger next summer. You could spend a whole day out here, start with a pizza at our neighbours, have a cocktail in the music bar and come here for dinner and stay for some wine in the bar,” says Duhs.
Dishes at Bar Libertin
Bar Montan is a produce-at-heart kind of kitchen; highly seasonal, sourcing locally as much as possible – and very personal. Duhs has a background in fine dining and just returned to service after a few years of consulting. He was set to leave for a project in Dubai when this opportunity came up from his friends and business partners, Johan Montan Ahlgren and Öner Kulbay, also the coffee roasters behind Stockholm Roast.
The duo’s business was the first one to move out to the meatpacking area three and a half years ago and they still run the roastery as a combined coffee and wine shop next to restaurant Solen.
“As independent owners we’re free to do whatever we want. The kitchen is my playground, and we didn’t really have a food concept ready as we opened, I just cooked my way there, you know?” says Duhs as he serves up a homemade sausage (70% beef, 30% pork and thyme) with a silky-smooth potato mash.
He pours sauce into a hole in the mash and that’s about it on the plate, except some tiny flakes of parsley that might as well just accidentally have landed there.
“Garnish is just trumpery. No leaves of marigold will end up on my plates unless I picked it myself on the way over here in the morning,” says Duhs.
His no frills approach to cooking is being well received; guests love to tuck into his thinly sliced agnello (lamb) tonnato and cod croquettes with dip and even though the menu changes daily, these dishes and steak tartare frequently return.
“We have true regulars already, making their way out here, even though they live across town. But we love for people to come often and want to stay accessible which we cannot do charging as much as the city’s menu prices tags,” says Duhs.
Bar Libertin (left) and a dish at Triton
Another suburban hidden gem (not so hidden anymore), Bar Libertin in Aspudden, also has a fanbase.
“We have such a devoted group of regulars!” says owner Louice Nilsson explaining how the restaurant was packed to its last inch this summer as it celebrated its first year in business.
“We didn’t expect to be this popular. Normally Stockholmers travel during their holidays but for some reason people flocked here. But it can feel a bit like a trip coming out here, it’s like you’re in the countryside even though it’s just 12 minutes from the Central station.”
Nilsson explains how Bar Libertin started out as a wine bar but quickly learned that they had too much of an ambitious kitchen team. “So, it’s unfair to just talk about our wine. We serve tasty wine-friendly food that works well to share,” she says.
Gaia Matbar (Gaia ‘food bar’) was another successful opening this spring in Midsommarkransen. Behind it are four young first-time restaurateurs with backgrounds in wine import, a quirky taco pop-up and project Reformaten that promotes new sustainable food systems. Real estate agents in the area are already writing up Gaia Matbar in their advertisements.
But let’s get back to Michelin and the echo of lost stars in Stockholm. Are there no chefs out there willing to fill the void? Or is it that the young chefs of today don’t worship the red French gastro Bible as much as their predecessors?
Duhs shakes his head.
“I think deep down no chef is going to be unhappy with an acknowledgement from them. But, at the same time, I do think Michelin is no longer setting the standard direction for kitchens here in general,” he says.
To get an award like a Bib Gourmand can be a bonus, that’s what Triton learned this summer. The restaurant opened last November, with the kitchen headed by now closed Gastrologik’s longest-serving employee, Erik Eriksson (above). At his side is the Head Chef, Patric Kling, who was on the pass as the restaurant earned its second star back in 2019.
“We all come from fine dining, but we’re taking it down a notch here,” says owner Adrià Lorenzo. “We’re proud of our backgrounds and through them we also learnt systems that we can apply to our current work but at the same time in more sustainable manners.”
Triton, located on a quieter side of Ringvägen in Södermalm (the South Island in the city), serves one menu of three salty courses, which you can size up with add-ons, like dessert or cheese. But that’s it. The simple menu approach has become a huge hit. Many of the suppliers just moved with the owners, providing a network of fine-dining-worthy produce.
The 25-cover dining room has that ‘living room feel’ so many want to achieve when opening restaurants, but here it comes naturally; all framed by a sound wall from the large vinyl collection.
“We have regulars now that bring us records as gifts. It’s open for anyone to put something on. I actually had a kid in here, like six or seven years old, who was desperate to listen to Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. Next thing we knew, he was air guitaring as he was eating his lamb sausage,” says Lorenzo.
Dessert at Triton
But it doesn’t stop there, Stockholm has this year alone seen some 25-plus restaurants of good quality open, many of them are independently owned (like all in this article). It’s the story behind Agrikultur’s old address, where former Fäviken chef Joel Aronson, runs á la carte spot Bord (meaning Table), also with a produce-focused kitchen – no hiding flavours, just enhancing.
And where, for 10 years, Gastrologik welcomed guests, new ownership beckons – nothing official has been announced yet, but we can say a veteran from within the industry is about to open a restaurant rumoured to be called Ergo. It’s just a few blocks away from Persona, where Frantzén and Adam & Albin alumni opened their own shop in November 2022.
So, to sum up this current restaurant boom in Stockholm, let’s just say that the Michelin inspectors are going to be busier than usual in the Swedish capital from now on.
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