Etikett: english

augusti 1, 2020 In English Post a Comment

The best coffee places in Gothenburg

Are you going to visit Gothenburg for a weekend or for an exchange year? Then we think you should try some of the amazing coffee places in the city. We’ve been visiting a lot of fika places in Gothenburg and below we’ve listed our favorite places.
Café Husaren
Café Husaren is maybe one of the most famous coffee places in Gothenburg. The cafe is located in the district Haga (an old district with a lot of small wooden houses) and is most famous for serving gigantic cinnamon buns called ”Hagabullen”. We haven’t tried the gigantic cinnamon buns yet but we can promise that the rest of the pastry assortment is good.
 
Brogyllen
Brogyllen is located near the central station and is a classic confectionery with really beautiful and well-tasting pastries. Here you can find both traditional Swedish pastries (as cinnamon buns) but also more modern pastries as mousse cakes.
Mr Cake
Have you been longing for cakes with a taste of America? Then you’ve to visit Mr Cake. Here you can find a fusion of different cultures, for example, the red velvet croissant is a fusion of the American-French kitchen. Many of the pastries at Mr Cake are a fusion between Swedish-American pastries. Mr Cake is one of the most creative cafes in Gothenburg and here you always can find exciting pastries to try.
Berzelli Choklad
Berzellii Choklad (Berzellii Chocolate) is a place for all chocolate lovers (and I promise, we’re many out there) where you can find luxurious chocolate pralines and chocolate pastries. A bit expensive but if you want to eat delicious chocolate: this is the place.
Språkcaféet
Språkcaféet (the language cafe) is an international meeting place in Gothenburg where you have the opportunity to find friends with the same (or a different) language as you. In the evenings you can participate in language teaching there. But you don’t need to be interested in language exchanges to visit Språkcaféet: that’s a normal cafe with normal coffees and pastries. We think Språkcaféet is an excellent place for self-studies and freelance work: of course, you can find free Wi-Fi here.
Junggrens Café
Junggrens Café is located at Avenyn (the biggest parade avenue in Gothenburg that also are the biggest shopping district in the city) and has been there for over a hundred years. If you want to enjoy traditional fika this is the place for you. Or if you want to take a break in the shopping in some of the stores at Avenyn.
Kafé Magasinet
A hipster cafe with great coffee and a spacious area (if you want to work or stay there for a long time). We haven’t tried their breakfast yet but we think the breakfast looks very yummy at Kafé Magasinet.
Botaniska paviljongen 
In Gothenburg you can find a botanic garden and there is also the cafe Botaniska paviljongen located. We recommend that you visit the botanic garden in the summer and if the weather is good it’s a fantastic experience enjoying a fika outside at Botaniska paviljongen. One of the most beautiful places to enjoy a coffee in Gothenburg.
Biscotti
A White-Guide nominated cafe (we have written about White Guide in the end of this entry) with a nice coffee and a nice interior.
Konditori Kampanilen
A high-class confectionery with really good pastries. The pastries almost look like works of art.
Matería
How does that sounds with coffee beans from a micro brewery and raw food-pastries? Of course, you can also find ordinary non-raw food pastries at Matería. A cozy cafe with a modern thinking.

And…

…Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and on our Facebook page for more fika-related updates.
…Read our other entries written in English.
…Leave a comment below if you have any questions about either coffee shops in Gothenburg, Swedish fika and anything else!
juli 2, 2020 In English Post a Comment

What’s the deal with Swedish fika?

 

Have you heard about the famous Swedish fika? In Sweden we have a fika culture with regularly fika breaks at our workplaces, fika at our events (as weddings, birthdays parties, and so on) and we also love celebrating yearly days in the calendar as the day of the cinnamon bun. By the way, you haven’t missed that the cinnamon bun is the Swedish pastry number one? 

 

But actually, what’s the meaning of fika? When we’re talking about fika we are meaning a sweet pastry and we often enjoy the pastries with a cup of coffee. Actually, Sweden is one of the countries with the biggest coffee consumption per capita (but our neighboring country Finland is topping the list). Traditionally we had a tradition in Sweden of “sju sorters kakor” (seven kinds of biscuits). During the 1800s and forwards it was a norm to serve seven different kinds of small biscuits at social events. It was a question of manners, of at social etiquette. Today it isn’t quite usual with seven kinds of biscuits at events, but the term “sju sorters kakor” is still alive.

 

Swedish pastries you can’t miss:

 Cinnamon buns. Picture source. 

  • Cinnamon buns (kanelbullar) are sweet rolls with a filling of butter and cinnamon. A variant of cinnamon buns is cardamom buns which are buns filled with butter and cardamom. In Sweden we traditionally eat our cinnamon buns without the white frosting that’s common in other cultures

Semlor. Picture source. 

  • Semlor. A semla is a bun sliced into two pieces that’s filled with almond mass and whipped cream. Traditionally semlor are eating in January-March. We’re celebrating the day of the semla at the Shrove Tuseday (the day before the Ash Wednesday). 

 Småkakor. Picture source

  • Småkakor. As mentioned earlier, we have a tradition of “sju sorters kakor” in Sweden and what we normally count as “småkakor” are small little biscuits. Often småkakor is baked with shortcrust pastry. It’s really easy to bake småkakor because they often don’t contain many more ingredients than butter, sugar and flour. 

 

In Sweden we also have a capital of town of fika: Alingsås. Alingsås is located in western Sweden, near Gothenburg, and in Alingsås you can find a lot of cafes. Many of the cafes in Alingsås are mentioned in White Guide. White Guide is a guide to the best fika places in Sweden (it has similarities with other guides, for example  the Michelin GUIDE). If you’re in Sweden och really want to try some authentic Swedish fika, then we recommend a visit to Alingsås. Ask us for recommendations.