Travel Diaries: Stockholm 2013

Everyone who knows me in real life is sick of hearing the word 'Stockholm' but you, my internet friends, are yet to be overloaded with Sweden stories... so here I go! Recently I went to Stockholm with my colleagues for 2 days and it was such an amazing trip. We arrived late Thursday night/Friday morning, worked all day Friday, on Saturday we did some sightseeing around the city and we got picked up at 5am Sunday to fly home. A real flying visit so we made the most of every minute.

After a busy work day on Friday the 4 of us from the Malta office went out for dinner with 3 of the Swedish team to Strandvägen 1 which was amazing and the perfect first taste of real Swedish food. The service was a little slow but it was a Friday night, they were busy and they were still very friendly.

FöRRÄTTER / STARTERS

Kalixlöjrom med mandelpotatisterrin, citronoch syltad rödlökBleak roe from Kalix with almond potato terrine, lemon and pickled red onion

I was really torn about the starter. I had never tried roe before so was leaning towards the scallops but I wanted to try something super Swedish so lovely Antonia advised I try the roe and she would order the scallops and swap if I didn't like. No chance of that though, it was delicious!

VARMRÄTTER / MAINS

Steak CalleSteak frites med grönsallad och tryffelsmörSteak frites with mixed greens and truffle butter

This wasn't the best steak I've ever eaten but it was really good, and much more reasonable than I expected for Stockholm! I asked for it Medium and as you can see, it's pretty damn rare, but it was tasty and soft and the butter was incredible.

DESSERTER / DESSERTS

Glass / SorbetIce cream / Sorbet

After dinner we moved on to another area and met the tech team from the company for some drinks. It was great getting to meet and see the faces of people I speak to via email and Skype everyday and the tech guys are a lot more fun than expected! I can't tell you how many times I was referred to as Emma Watson, just for my English accent, but I can't say I'm upset by the comparison!

The next day was a day of sightseeing so we from the Malta office and a few from Sweden went on a boat trip around the archipelago and it was the best way to spend our morning. We got to see Stockholm from the water and eat a delicious traditional Swedish brunch. I forgot how beautiful the colours of Autumn are- we don't have much greenery in Malta and where we do have greenery we don't really have seasons so I miss the beautiful browns and golds and reds and ambers.

After the boat trip we had a wander around the old town which was so cute and quaint. The weather was absolutely freezing, much colder than I was prepared for, but the sun was shining so everyone was cold but happy!

And to round off the perfect work trip Antonia and I went for a delicious dinner at Godot for our last night. I'm just realising that I ordered pretty much the exact same dinner, except instead of the passionfruit sorbet for dessert, I had a passionfruit cocktail to start!

STARTERS

Kalix bleak roe with toast, red onion and Smetana

MAINS

Steak frites

The cocktail was in-freaking-credible. The roe and the steak was perfect and the music, atmosphere, service and company could not have been better.

In all, I had a super rushed, super busy, but super awesome (did I just say super awesome? Cringe!) trip. I could not handle the cold in Sweden for more than a few days but it's definitely somewhere I intend to go back and visit again and again.

Skål!