eating out - vegan brunch at radisson blu royal park hotel stockholm

Finally, as mentioned, I too have tried the plant powered Sunday brunch at Radisson Blu Royal Park Hotel (near Hagaparken in Solna, Stockholm). And it was overall a great experience. There's textures and flavours for every tastebud.



As I most likely have written before, eating buffets isn't my thing, mainly because I can't eat that much thus I feel it's a waste of money. I much rather pay for exactly what I eat. Also the amount of food waste from buffets, which is vast I'd say, is also a serious concern. Of course it's not nearly as heartbreaking as it is when animals have died to end up on somone's unnecessary plate and then is just thrown in the trash anyway, when it's plantbased. But still, wastefulness with food bothers me. A lot.



That said, this was a brunch I've been wanting to visit since they made it a regular weekly thing, I think about a year ago. It's simply brilliant that a well-known big hotel go all in plantbased for brunch, kudos galore. So, every Sunday between noon and 4 pm you feast your eyes and fill your tummy on a fantastic spread of vegan delights.



Just the fact that you can eat everything (if you have no specific food allergies) without making sure there's no sneaky animal derived ingredients in any dishes, or not losing your appetite because you still have to see dead animals displayed on non-vegan plates, that's a much welcome relief and bliss in itself.



There was such a variety of food it wasn't even physically possible to sample everything, and then there were stuff that I never eat like cold cuts and such. But most every thing I put on my plates were very enjoyable.



Freshly baked bread with cashew cheese, parsnip soup with coriander, chia pudding with banana and almonds, strudel with spinach and onion, miniature seitan burgers, pickled red onions (favourite garnish of mine) and other pickles, coleslaw, root vegetable gratin, chili, springrolls, American pancakes, cookies, chocolate balls, pannacotta, freshly squeezed orange juice, sticky cinnamon buns...



What I missed on the buffet were carrot-heavy salads, fresh fruit salads plus a better tea selection. And miniature pizza slices and pies would have been nice. But it's not at all as I was leaving hungry or not satisfied...



The few food items that wasn't up to the overall excellent quality were these -
- the croissants, too heavy and tasted of yeast, inedible really
- the pannacotta with liquorice, too much sugar and liquid
- the burger buns were dry



This was by far the weirdest dish/snack - spirulina popcorn. Not too bad, but not something I'll crave again either.



I wish I would have been able to eat more than one American pancake. It was a lovely one. With whipped soy cream, raspberry jam, chocolate sauce and a dollop of the most delightful crunchy peanutbutter. And I wish I hadn't been too full to try the icecream.



I'm thinking of treating little mum to the brunch on her birthday in April, during Easter this year, but she isn't a big eater either so maybe it would be better with another type of celebratory meal. Although it is a pretty special experience. Did I mention there was a little live jazz trio playing too?



Radisson Blu Royal Park Hotel
Frösundaviks allé 15, Solna, Stockholm
Tel +46 8 624 55 60

Food - 4/5
Service - 3/5
Ambiance - 3/5 
Value for money - 4/5
Sunday plantpowered brunch price -
395 SEK pp, children 6-12 195 SEK, children < 6 eat for free

eating out: vegan brunch at green peas

Today I enjoyed an excellent vegan brunch at Green Peas, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Stockholm that has obviously flown under my radar.

Green Peas has apparently a restaurant at Stockholm University - lucky students! We most certainly weren't spoiled with vegetarian or vegan choices when I was a student there alas - but now this one in the city too. 

The restaurant is situated in the premises of what I remember as once an American muffins cafe, the interior simple and understated, the food too but also flavourful and fresh.

I had a lovely lunch there earlier in the week and realised it would be perfect for today's lunch meeting. Which turned into a brunch.

The earlier lunch was this great chipotle-quinoa burger with avocado, aioli and potato wedges.

Today's vegan brunch was a tad pricy, but very nice; corn chowder, a plate with miniature burger with pulled jackfruit, filled avocado, fresh springrolls with tofu (awesome flavour and texture!) and a miniature pannacotta with rhubarb cream. Plus elderflower cordial and green tea.

I highly recommend you visit, the food is great and reasonably priced. The restaurant is opened for lunch from 11 am Mon-Sun. The vegan brunch is served on weekends.

Green Peas

Fridhemsgatan 3,

Stockholm

Mon-Fri 11am - 2pm

Sat-Sun 11am - 3pm

See evening opening hours at their website - www.greenpeas.se

eating out - älskade traditioner

Today I spent my morning in a lovely place - a newish cafe in Stockholm called Älskade Traditioner (Precious Traditions) - in lovely company - my old school friend with whom I rekindled a couple of years ago - pre-birthday celebrating with a vegetarian brunch. Her birthday is on the 24th, mine on the 25th, we hadn't seen eachother in ages and instead on just going to one of the usual spots I decided to find something new and special.

I was recommended Älskade Traditioner via Yelp, it sounded really good and I have to say it was love at first sight! Übercute interior á la 1950ies diner, very hipster, very Stockholm Söder (but in a good, unpretentious, service-minded and friendly way).

The food selection is lovely, specialize in wraffles (food and waffle in one, savoury or sweet) but we opted for the 'small' breakfast (tea or coffee - juice or yoghurt or smoothie - sandwich). Turned out they used oat milk with berries for their smoothie so I changed my mind from juice to smoothie and then we got a half half instead, a smaller glass of each. Sweet.

The sandwich was absolutely delicious and so much more than your average breakfast cheese sandwich - a generous amount of salad, pickled onion and cucumber, mustard and cheese on a freshly baked rye bread.

The tiny little blueberry cookie was lacking a decent amount of sugar, but the bobs enjoyed it all the same. They have, for obvious reasons, a special fondness for smallsized food.

Yup, even the toilet was adorable. (I want that waste bin!)

It was so lovely to catch up with my friend - not to mention discussing the pros and cons of running your own freelancer business. A good reminder that you are not alone when it comes to annoying, weird and wonderful clients. - and hopefully it won't be as long until the next time.

And I can't wait to visit Älskade Traditioner again, wraffles anyone?

a fine way to spend a sunday...

... visiting a favourite cafe,
having a little kind of brunch,
getting a seat in the greenhouse before the thunder,
rain and lightning struck.





Me concluding that the rhubarb pie
was the best thing I ate during this day,
M feeling the same about his cardamom bun.





Some weekends are just very very slow,
the perfect way to spend them when
the week has been a busy sort of one.
Us introverts treasure that.



And summers, glorious summers
open up to so many more possibilities
of simple yet wonderful pleasures.

Eating Out - Brunch at Saimi Brown

I'm not much of a brunch person, sleeping late yes, but that's never followed by a combined breakfast and lunch in a more substantial meal. Breakfast as usual and a later lunch/dinner instead. So the times I've eaten a brunch style meal out can definitely be counted on the one hand fingers.

But I think this will change, because I've found (through a seemingly incidental mention in a newspaper, though nothing seemingly about it I'm sure...) a place that serves a rather nice and wholesome version of brunch. The wholesomeness of course depends on whether you chose the vegetarian brunch and the possibly side orders...

The place doesn't look much and the proprietors very obviously lack interest in making a place look homely or snazzy, the interior is very basic and bare. As should be clear by now is that I like places for food to be cosy and comfy, though if the food and service is alright I might be willing to adjust. Hence I adjust here.

The brunch comes in three styles, English, American and best of all vegetarian. It's basically a full English breakfast, with the American omitting the (garlic infested) mushrooms and including pancakes with blueberries instead. The vegetarian one has a couple of very nice vegetarian sausages. Freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee/tea of choice included. You can also omit things and make side orders. I thought the brunch lacked something fruity for a nice round off so next time I'll get the fresh fruit side order.

Basically this brunch equals a full English breakfast - something I never eat unless on a British isles holiday of course - and from a Swede's point of view that makes for a nice middle of the day meal. A bit too much with both scrambled eggs and the fried one, the toast is nice with the beans but who wants butter/marmalade for lunch/brunch?

The size of the meal was perfect, I felt full without feeling stuffed afterwards, ingredients and preparation felt fresh. The orange juice was divine (though it would have been nice with a larger glass...) and the latte I had was great. M had tea and it was served in a generous (cosy!) cup.

These are the American pancakes - and yes there was maple syrup too, yuk... - that comes with the American brunch version. M said they were just perfect. Myself I don't like these types of pancakes at all, but if one does they're available as a side order.

Name and location of this place for brunch, served Sat-Sun 11-16 (also open for breakfast, coffee and cake, dinner all week) - Saimi Brown, Borgmästargatan 7, Stockholm

EDIT - as far as I know sadly Saimi Brown seized to exist as a restaurant - place for brunch some time in 2009.