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RESTAURANTS

These are the 600 best restaurants in Sweden (or so we’re told)

An upscale eatery in ski-town Åre, a gourmet pub in the heart of Skåne, and several restaurants in downtown Stockholm are among Sweden's best restaurants, according to the prestigious White Guide rankings.

Published: 5 March 2019 12:28 CET
Updated: 5 March 2019 15:44 CET
These are the 600 best restaurants in Sweden (or so we're told)
Magnus Nilsson, in front of his restaurant Fäviken Magasinet. Photo: Robert Henriksson/TT

Ever since 2004, the Swedish White Guide, the country's answer to the Michelin Guide, has released its list of top restaurants, and this year it recommended 600 restaurants across the country.

Each restaurant was rewarded points for criteria such as food, drink, service and ambiance, with 40 of those points reserved for the quality of the food. The top-ranked restaurant was Fäviken Magasinet in Åre, claiming 97 out of a maximum 100 points.


Björn Frantzén in his restaurant in Stockholm. Photo: Lars Pehrson/SvD/TT

This was the second time Fäviken Magasinet has been named the top-rated restaurant.

It also won the Best Gastronomy category, for moving “the boundaries of their own distinctive Nordic gastronomy in combination with an all the more interesting drink selection and an ambience that almost perfectly connects the experience”. 

READ ALSO: Swedish chef ranked second best in Europe

But it was not the only restaurant that made a second appearance in the list. Eight taverns and five restaurants, including Frantzén, were included in last year's guide. This year 89 new taverns and 87 restaurants were included in the guidebook.

Mikael Mölstald, one of the founders of White Guide, attributed the success of newcomers to the dynamic restaurant environment in Sweden.

“Today, the Swedish restaurant trade has fantastic self-confidence, which many successful taverns around the country show, much because the stars of our top list inspire young but just as important chefs and dining professionals to establish their own,” he said in a statement.

White Guide's Global Master Class 2019
 
1. Fäviken Magasinet, Järpen 39/97 (out of 40/100)
2. Daniel Berlin Krog, Skåne Tranås 39/94
3. Frantzén, Stockholm 38/98
4. Gastrologik, Stockholm 38/93
    Oaxen Krog, Stockholm 38/93
6. Restaurang Vollmers, Malmö 38/90
7. PM & Vänner, Växjö 37/87
8. Upper House Dining, Gothia Towers, Göteborg 36/87
9. Krakas Krog, Katthammarsvik 36/86
10. Adam/Albin, Stockholm 36/85

The other categories:

Best restaurant – restaurant culture: Frantzén, Stockholm
Best restaurant – gastronomy: Fäviken Magasinet,
Järpen/Åre
Shooting star: Etoile, Stockholm
Pioneer: Garveriet, Floda
Service experience: Frantzén, Stockholm
Drink experience: Daniel Berlin Krog, Skåne Tranås
Worth a trip: Skoogs Krog & Logi, Funäsdalen
Hidden Gem: Taxinge Krog, Nykvarn
Heart Pub (a pub where you feel at home): Hemmagastronomi, Luleå
Rising Star: Frida Nilsson, MJ's, Malmö
Tribute to a meaningful gastronomical act: PG Nilsson, Svenska Brasserier, Stockholm

Here's a link to all the restaurants in the guide.

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FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

Published: 5 April 2024 13:59 CEST
OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits. 

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user). 

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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