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Nobel Banquet chef Tom Sjöstedt reveals his favourite Stockholm restaurants

Tom Sjöstedt is someone you should listen to when it comes to food. After all, if you want advice on the best restaurants in Stockholm, the chef of the last two Nobel Prize dinners is not a bad person to ask.

Published: 2 September 2019 04:00 CEST
Updated: 16 March 2021 17:15 CET

Nobel Banquet chef Tom Sjöstedt reveals his favourite Stockholm restaurants

Photo: Tom Sjöstedt

Sjöstedt, the co-founder of Michelin Guide restaurant Lilla Ego is also a former Swedish Chef Of The Year and a gold-medal winner at the Food Olympics and Food World Cup. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone more qualified to comment on Stockholm’s food scene.

Given Tom’s high-achieving, glamorous background, you might think he would be a fan of flashy brasseries and pricey main dishes. But no. Tom likes simple, intimate Stockholm eateries.

“I love places like Bar Agrikultur,” he says. “It’s relaxed, easy cooking. No menu, very few seats. Just really good food and a lovely intimate atmosphere. You can have such memorable times there with just a couple of friends.”

Click here for a Stockholm restaurant guide compiled by Sweden’s top chefs, also available as a step-by-step audio guide for the visually impaired

Located in the heart of Södermalm, Bar Agrikultur, which is owned by the chefs behind the brilliant eco-Nordic restaurant Agrikultur, may only have about two dozen drop-in seats, but this creates an intimate dinner party atmosphere. The food is an ever-changing menu of seasonal snacks and refined small plates.

“I like restaurants where you can hang out with friends and just choose the food you want. No menus.”

“I love Hantverket too. It might be quite big but there’s such a great atmosphere. And the food is quite simple but super-innovative, too. I like places that are cozy and friendly but that also are very inventive with food.”

Tom, as befits someone who has been such a successful chef, has very clear ideas about the restaurant experience. And the importance of taste above everything else.

“First of all, when you eat something the taste should remain in your mouth for a long time. Sweetness, acidity, saltiness or heat. It should preferably stay with you all night. There are some restaurants that only serve small, easily-cooked plates of food. That’s not good. The chefs need to work to produce something great.”Tom is a man totally obsessed with food. But it wasn’t always that way.

“I used to help my aunt out with food at a golf club in Germany. But I really wasn’t that interested in food. What I really, desperately wanted to be was a footballer. But I don’t think I was good enough! But working with the chef Karin Fransson at the Hotel Borgholm totally changed my life, and excited me about food and cooking.”

Since his time with Fransson, food has become an all-consuming passion for Tom.

“Sometimes I find it hard to sleep, because I’m thinking of ideas and dishes to cook. I simply never let go of the idea of food. I can’t. My driving force is to constantly develop my skills and food. Wherever I go, wherever I eat and whatever I experience, I try to take these ideas, or even just impressions, and add them to new dishes.”

Click here for a Stockholm restaurant guide compiled by Sweden’s top chefs, also available as a step-by-step audio guide for the visually impaired

Tom also thinks it’s important that Swedish chefs incorporate tastes and ideas from other parts of the world.

“Taking spices and ideas from Asia, for example, and other European countries, and making something new from them is an important part of being creative. Whether you take a flavour from an Asian country or an idea from Italy, it’s still important to ensure all the dishes taste as they though obviously come from the same kitchen. But acknowledging the rest of the world is important.”

Tom is proud of the cosmopolitan nature of the Stockholm food scene and believes it’s what gives the city’s culinary scene its unique flavour.

“There are many great restaurants here that take inspiration from other parts of the world. As a result, Stockholm is definitely one of the best places in the world to eat.”

This article was produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by Visit Sweden and Visit Stockholm.

How to grow your own fruits and vegetables in Sweden

Know your growing zone

Sweden is split into eight different growing zones, known as växtzoner in Swedish, with one being the mildest zone in the far south of the country and eight being the harshest, in the far north.

The easiest way to figure out which zone you live in is to search your address on a digital growing zone chart like this one from the Swedish Garden Association.

There are two “bonus” zones too, which you’re unlikely to see on plant labels: zone zero, which refers to extra mild conditions in zone one, like a sheltered south-facing garden or the climate inside an unheated greenhouse, and the fjällzon or zone nine, which is found in mountain regions.

Lots of fruit trees can handle snow, for example, but not all of them will survive the winters in harsher, colder zones.

“Apple trees or fruit trees will survive snow,” British gardener and cider maker John Taylor, known for presenting Swedish gardening show Trädgårdstider (Garden Times), told The Local.

“You can grow all kinds of apples, pears, plums, cherries, we can grow edible quince in southern Sweden, so there’s a bunch of fruit trees which will survive, but it depends what rootstock they’re on – that’s called grundstam in Swedish,” he explained.

“There’s one rootstock called B9 that survives down to minus 40, because it’s from Russia, then there’s another called M106, and that probably doesn’t want to live in the depths of Norrland.”

Buy plants local to you

An easy way to make sure the plant you’re planning on buying is going to survive in your zone is by sourcing it from a local plant nursery or garden centre, as they won’t sell plants that can’t handle the local climate.

“There’s a nursery in the north of Sweden and Finland called Blomkvists, they sell lots of fruit varieties which will survive up there,” Taylor said. “You can grow pretty much anything you want up there, just as we can [in Skåne, southern Sweden], but it will be different varieties that taste different and will survive the frost.”

You won’t be able to grow Mediterranean fruits like lemons or oranges in Sweden unless you bring them inside during the winter, although you should be able to grow peaches or nectarines in most of the country.

“The further up in the country you go, the further north you are or the further away from the coast, the harsher the climate becomes, so you might need to have them on a south-facing wall or in a greenhouse,” Taylor said.

Think outside the box

Although the growing season in Sweden may be shorter than it is further south, there are still a number of crops from warmer climates that do surprisingly well.

“People don’t really grow cucumbers outside here, I don’t think they realise that you can actually grow them outside,” Taylor said. “Tomatoes, too. You don’t need a greenhouse, you just stick them in the ground, they’re basically a weed – you’ll get so many you won’t know what to do with them.”

Sweetcorn, for example, performs well in a Swedish climate, Taylor said, although Swedes more often grow it as a feed crop for pigs.

You can also test things by trying to build a microclimate so you can grow things that are one or even two growing zones away from yours. Usually this is done by providing shelter from the wind and the weather using fences, hedges or by planting near buildings, as well as providing protection during the winter.

And if you’re pushed for space, look into companion planting, where you can grow multiple plants which complement each other in the same space.

One example of this is the “three sisters”: corn, climbing beans (or peas), and squash. The corn provides a support for the beans or peas, which anchor the corn in high winds while fixing nitrogen in the soil, while the squash’s large leaves provide shade for the soil, preventing it from drying out.

Don’t be put off just because you don’t have any outside space

Thinking outside the box applies to balconies too.

“If you’re in a built-up area, you will get reflected light from other buildings, so even if you’re on an east-facing balcony, you should be able to grow a lot of stuff. North is a bit more tricky, but east and west are probably better than south as you’re not getting hammered by the sun all day,” Taylor said.

You should be able to grow things like tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers, but it’s important to get hold of good soil and replenish it each year, so your plants have enough nutrients.

“Anybody with a balcony can grow pretty much the same that you can in a garden, you just have to get the soil up there and you always have to fertilise, the soil becomes nutrient deficient after one season.”

“But if you’re prepared to get the soil up on your balcony you can grow anything, even fruit trees. They will be smaller and stunted, and won’t give as much fruit – I’ve done it myself – so don’t see it as an obstacle, see it as a possibility.”

Kale and tomatoes growing on a balcony. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Take inspiration from Swedish growers

Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore what all your Swedish neighbours are doing. If you’re not sure what to plant in your garden or what fruit and veg you should try to grow, take a look at what other people who live near you are growing.

You might also come across some crops you’ve never tried before which work well in a Swedish climate, like Alpine strawberries (smultron), honeyberries (blåbärstry), wild garlic (ramslök) or sea buckthorn (havtorn).

This doesn’t just apply to varieties, but also where you plant them in your garden. Some crops need full sun, some work best in shade, and others, like asparagus, can grow tall and cast a shadow over your garden.

“You want a south-facing location for all fruit, and berries – check out what your neighbours are doing,” Taylor said.

If you don’t want tall plants to cast a shadow over other crops, see if you can plant them at the northernmost edge of your garden, while making sure that sun and soil conditions are still optimal. Blueberries, for example, need acidic soil to thrive, meaning you will probably need to amend your soil if planting in the ground, or even plant them in containers.

Think about what you want to do with your harvest

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to plant what you like to eat, too. If you hate the aniseedy, licorice-y taste of fennel, why bother growing it?

You should also choose the variety of crop based on what you’re going to use it for. Do you want to make pickles with your cucumbers, or are you going to eat them on salads? Do you want cherry tomatoes for snacking on, or big beef tomatoes for making sauces?

“Think ‘what am I going to do with my harvest’,” Taylor said. “Am I going to juice it? Am I going to preserve it? Am I going to make cider with it, for example?”

Apples, for example, can range from sweet eating apples to tart cooking apples, so make sure you do your research before you commit to buying an apple tree. Most varieties exist in English-speaking countries, so you should be able to search the name of the variety online and find some information in a language you understand, if you don’t speak Swedish.

“Patience is a virtue,” he added. “A lot of fruit trees are going to take two or three years, or even more, to give a harvest. So you have to have patience.”

Learn to deal with the Swedish weather

Many areas of Sweden along the coast or in the south of the country can get windy, which you’ll have to learn to deal with.

“How to deal with the wind? You can’t,” Taylor said. “We cannot affect this, we are powerless.”

“What you have to do is plant them in areas where there’s less wind, usually behind large buildings.”

Some plants simply won’t survive the wind, so either you plant them close to buildings, protect them, or accept that you’re restricted in what you can grow.

Make sure to provide supports for crops which will grow tall, like sunflowers, peas, beans and sweetcorn, and tie these down well or bury them deep in the ground, so summer storms can’t blow them away.

Listen to the full interview with John Taylor in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers. Out on Wednesday, May 8th.

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