The 13 best restaurants in Stockholm

An open fire is the focus at Michelin-starred Ekstedt, a master purveyor of New Nordic cuisine, where everything is cooked without gas, electricity or microwaves. Ekstedt’s a haven for Scandi design fans, with compact wooden tables, a rustic stone bar and exposed tungsten lights dangling from a mesh ceiling. In February 2023, Ekstedt got an expansion, which was apparently primarily to expand the restaurant's wine list. So you're visiting at a good time. 

Sweden’s only three-star Michelin restaurant, you can’t know what you’ll get to eat at Frantzen. The menu will be a total surprise, but as a hint, previous dishes have included Swedish pork marinated for a week in soy and mirin, smoked for 24 hours and hung to dry for 100 days, and a Rubik’s cube-inspired dessert with rows of colour-popping garlic and lemon peel, arctic bramble, brown cheese and liquorice. An equally opulent interior, calm music (from the moment you step in the elevator) and impeccable service seal the deal. Unsurprisingly, all of this comes at a (hefty) price.

The most famous food in the Nordics is brought up-to-date at this edgy yet homey restaurant which has built its entire menu around the humble meatball. If this is your first Swedish meatballs experience (Ikea doesn’t count), go for the classic beef balls served with buttery mash, lingonberry jam and a creamy broth. More adventurous variations include moose, reindeer and even bear. There are vegan and vegetarian options too.

A major redevelopment of the former slaughterhouse quarter of southern Stockholm will see it transformed into the city’s answer to New York’s hip Meatpacking District over the next decade. Solen is an outlier for the sort of stylish new restaurants to be expected there, with its vaguely Bond-villain esque exposed concrete open-plan interior, centred around a circular fireplace with an enormous cylindrical steel chimney. The menu is inspired by the ‘food of the sun’, and features flavours, dishes and ingredients from the Mediterranean, South America and the Middle East (think posh pizzas and tacos plus loads of small sharing plates). Charcoal-grilled and smoked dishes like fired seabass and charred chicken soleil are also a theme (hence the big fire). 

The tasting menu here comprises a selection of decadent, globally-inspired small plates. It begins with a scoop of caviar dolloped straight onto your hand, alongside a shot of vodka. The interior couldn’t be more opposed to fine dining; the walls are crumbling, and there’s a smoke machine filling the room with a nostalgic mist and Lego to play with between courses.

The gastronomic delights on display at Aira aren’t merely dishes, they’re practically edible works of art. It may almost seem a shame to eat them, until you take your first taste of lumpfish roe with potato emulsion and chives, or geisha bon bon with hazelnut nougatine and gianduja, and your tastebuds delight. Chefs Tommy Myllymäki and Pi Le’s Djurgården restaurant is one of just a pair in Stockholm to boast two Michelin stars. Combining unassuming seasonal Swedish produce with food craft so dextrous it looks like it’s been done under a microscope, it’s a feast for all the senses. The waterfront location’s not bad either.

There are just five main courses to choose from at Häktet, a trendy, ultra-modern restaurant inside a former 18th-century jail for petty criminals who couldn’t afford to pay their bail. Think classic European flavours with a contemporary twist, with a menu that typically changes several times a year to make the most of seasonal ingredients.

The sleepy southern suburb of Hägerstensåsen isn’t the first place you’d go looking for one of Stockholm’s coolest new eateries, which is just one of many things to love about Slow Hands Café. Opened by twin brothers Fran and Martin Baxter from Liverpool during the pandemic in 2021, there’s a commitment to keeping it local and humble at this creative hub, which us focused on vegan food, wine and music. The menu is simple, unpretentious and all about quality sustainable ecological ingredients – think hand-made pasta, curries, soups and stews. They regularly have guest DJs spinning records, and host special wine events with micro producers from around the world. Great coffee too, naturally.

Exposed red brickwork, low-hanging metal lampshades and daily specials scrawled on paper posters set the tone for this neighbourhood restaurant in the Vasastan district with a Michelin Bib Gourmand recommendation for good quality, good value cooking. There’s a short seasonal menu with a strong focus on Nordic root vegetables, fish and seafood, like lobster with celery and ginger, slow-cooked pork accompanied by cauliflower, or chanterelle mushrooms with elder and buttered turbot.

In just a few short years, Indian Street Food has morphed from a buzzing street food truck into several popular restaurants in central Stockholm. Both of their Vasastan branches are open until late – and you’ll find the exquisite likes of mild and creamy curries, samosa wraps with mango dips and naan bread with Västerbotten cheese from northern Sweden. There’s also a cocktail and craft beer menu that stays local and affordable, while the décor and atmosphere feel much fancier than the prices.