Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

MICHELIN

This is Sweden’s newest Michelin-starred restaurant

Sweden's only restaurant with three Michelin stars held on to its distinction when the prestigious 2020 food guide was announced at a ceremony in Norway. And one Stockholm eatery won its first star.

Published: 18 February 2020 07:59 CET

This is Sweden's newest Michelin-starred restaurant

Restaurant Etoile won its first Michelin star. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

The Michelin guide for the Nordic countries on Monday released its ratings for 2020, and in addition to confirming the three stars it handed chef Björn Frantzén's eponymous Stockholm restaurant in 2018, it also gave the aptly-named Restaurant Etoile in the Vasastan district its first-ever star.

It also upgraded Aloë, in a suburb south of Stockholm, to two stars.

This means five of the Nordics' thirteen two-star restaurants are located in Sweden, which now has a grand total of twelve restaurants with one star, with Etoile being the only newcomer on the list.

Restaurant Etoile on Norra Stationsgatan in Stockholm. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

Restaurant Franzén is one of only two in the Nordics (Geranium in Copenhagen, Denmark, is the other one) and 130 in the world with three stars.

Three Swedish top restaurants lose their stars because they have closed in the last year: the legendary Fäviken Magasinet in the Åre mountains, Upper House and Volt. Malmö's Bloom in the Park and Stockholm's Mathias Dahlgren Matbaren also lost their stars.

Two Swedish restaurants got an honourable mention in the form of a Bib Gourmand – the category for good value restaurants that do not qualify for a star: Allegrine and Speceriet, both in Stockholm.

One star:

bhoga, Gothenburg

Agrikultur, Stockholm

Sushi Sho, Stockholm

SAV, Malmö

Ekstedt, Stockholm

PM & Vänner, Växjö

28+, Gothenburg

Operakällaren, Stockholm

Thörnströms Kök, Gothenburg

Koka, Gothenburg

Etoile, Stockholm

SK Mat & Människor, Gothenburg

Two stars:

Vollmers, Malmö

Daniel Berlin, Skåne-Tranås

Oaxen Krog, Stockholm

Gastrologik, Stockholm

Aloë, Stockholm

Three stars:

Frantzén, Stockholm

Bib Gourmand:

Namu, Malmö

Familjen, Gothenburg

Oaxen Slip, Stockholm

Lilla Ego, Stockholm

Ulla Winbladh, Stockholm

Kagges, Stockholm

Brasserie Bobonne, Stockholm

Somm, Gothenburg

Bar Agrikultur, Stockholm

Allegrine, Stockholm

Project, Gothenburg

Nook, Stockholm

Bastard, Malmö

Rolfs Kök, Stockholm

Speceriet, Stockholm

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

SEE ALSO: What’s the tipping etiquette in Sweden?

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.

Url copied to clipboard!