Looking to experiece the real Stockholm? Look no further than Pelikan. Photo / Getty Images
Pelikan, Stockholm
Blekingegatan 40, 116 62 Stockholm, Sweden
We arrived… on a freezing night in the middle of November, the month Swedes hate the most because of its darkness and coldness and lack of snow, which typically doesn't arrive until later in the season. Arriving into the relief of a
warm, bright restaurant would have been joy enough, even without the promise of food.
We chose here because… it's an authentic piece of Sweden, serving traditional fare like meatballs, salted herring and reindeer, and also because it's beloved by the city's cultured crowd, made literarily famous by world-leading author and cynic Karl Ove Knausgaard who, despite being Norwegian, and generally hating Stockholm, enjoyed regular meals here with a close friend. He liked the meatballs.
Our first impression was… that we'd just stepped back in time, taking a hundred or so local hipsters with us. The high-ceilinged beer hall probably looked and felt exactly like this 100 years ago. Our waiter may also have been working there then.
