Viva! Stockholm

Viva! Stockholm spent the afternoon at the 2009 Christmas Market in Gamla Stan. The market has been a Stockholm tradition since 1915. It is open every day between 11.00 och 18.00. until 23 December. It is held in Sweden's oldest town square, outside the Nobel Museum.

We were accompanied by Alex, an incorrigible black Schabrador (pictured left) who totally disgraced himself as soon as we arrived at Stortorget by stealing a sandwich from a small child! The little girl burst in to tears and, with the permission of her mother, Viva! Stockholm replaced the sandwich with a hot dog from one of the little red stalls. Alex was relegated to a traffic post nearby where he couldn't get into any more mischief.

The little red market stalls were filled with traditional Swedish Christmas items: marzipan piglets, fresh waffles with cream and strawberry jam, round packages of home-baked crisp-bread and hot mulled wine called glögg. There were lovely handicrafts as well: wooden cutting boards, butter spreaders, figurines, pottery, knitted mittens and scarfs.

One stall is devoted to fish: smoked eel, salmon and Arctic charr. The salmon is exquisite, melt-in-your mouth, served on tiny morsels on crisp bread. There is also pickled herring of every conceivable variety.

Another vendor is selling all manner of herbs and spices and exquisite flavored honeys. Of course there are chocolate pralines but we opted to visit Boutique de Chocolat at Tyska Brinken 24 where the broad range of products includes organic chocolates and artificially sweetened chocolates for the environmentalists and diabetics in the family.

Hobbling around the cobble stones gives you a good appetite. We entered Chokladkoppen at Stortorget 20 after the lunch hour and found the place still rather crowded but Viva! Stockholm was keen to try their baked potatoes and vegetarian lasagne.

Much has been written about Chokladkoppen's "atrocious service", and while I cannot say that the service is fantastic, it is not that bad.

The interior of Chokladkoppen is lacking in symmetry and all the other things a modern building craves, but it is profuse with nooks and crannies, winding stairs and church-like arches in one part of the room and a higher, plain ceiling in the other. Tables and chairs are mis-matched and the walls look like they have not seen a coat of pain since the fifties, but no one would want it any other way. It is utterly charming. The ambiance alone makes it worth a visit. It is the kind of place that can only be found in a European Old Town.

Add to that the absolutely delicious lemony fresh Skagenröra (chopped shellfish in a mayonnaise/sour cream sauce, with plenty of dill) baked potato and the impeccable vegetarian lasagne, and it's safe to say that the visit was a very pleasant one indeed.

Rating:
3.5 /5

Address:
Chokladkoppen
Stortorget 20
111 29 Stockholm

Telephone:
+46 (0)8-203170

Website:
N/A


Image 1, Image 2 (private)