Sweden is famous for some of my childhood favorites, like Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking, Roxette, ABBA, Ace of Base, and some of my current faves, like Robyn, H&M, COS, and Alexander Skarsgård.

Another one of my favorites, IKEA, introduced me to Swedish Meatballs way before I have ever been to Sweden. Simple, but delicious and filling, accompanied by a refillable drink, this meal made all my trips to IKEA to stock up on Tindra candles even more enticing. Of course, my trip to Stockholm wouldn’t have been complete without having Swedish Meatballs in Sweden.

A closer look.

Yum. It was perfect after hours of walking in Drottningholm. I ordered this at the restaurant just outside of the Drottningholm Palace. The tartness of the redcurrants mixed very well with the creamy sauce. I would have preferred mashed potatoes, but maybe that wouldn’t be too traditional.

On to the next lunch: grilled salmon with potatoes at the Nordic Museum restaurant. This was my favorite meal. The skin was just crispy enough and the fish meat was soft and juicy. So, so good.

On to the sweet stuff! Before entering the Nobel Museum, we saw this interesting sign.

If it’s claimed to be world famous, you’ve got to try, right? So after an inspiring, but also heartbreaking tour of the museum, we went to its Bistro Nobel to try the Nobel Ice Cream. The sweet treat is vanilla and blackcurrant ice cream topped with whipped cream, berries and an Alfred Nobel chocolate coin. The vanilla flavor tasted so real, and you could even see specs of vanilla bean in the ice cream. The blackcurrant ice cream was just the right combination of sweet and sour. It was a perfect afternoon pick-me-up! While at the Bistro Nobel, we noticed people turning over chairs a lot. Turns out that signatures of Nobel Laureates that have visited the museum were under the chairs!

In Skansen, we had cheesecake at the Tre Byttor Taverne. I liked it, but it wasn’t too special – light, not too sweet, a bit on the dry side.

I may never get a Nobel Prize, but now I know what the table setting at the Nobel Banquet looks like:

At Midsummer Eve, the dinner table would usually look like this:

Nobel Museum
Nobelmuseet Stortorget 2, Gamla Stan
Summer opening hours: June 3–August 31, every day 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Winter opening hours: Tuesdays 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Mondays closed.