Slussporten opened beneath Stockholm’s Guldbron on 11 February. Conceived as a tribute to Stockholm and the life around Slussen, one of the city’s busiest waterfront crossroads, it has quickly become one of the capital’s most talked-about restaurant openings this spring.
For head chef Jacob Davidsson, that sense of movement has shaped the restaurant from the outset. “Slussen is a very vibrant part of Stockholm,” he says. “It’s a place in constant motion, with a lot of people, where things never really stand still.” He wanted that same rhythm to run through the menu: creative, seasonal and always in motion, with dishes evolving over time so that guests “can come back and always find something new when they visit us.”
The setting beneath Guldbron has informed the restaurant in more literal ways, too. Davidsson says the location has “shaped the whole”, from the choice of materials to the mood of the room. During the day, light was a key starting point, with surfaces chosen to catch and reflect it softly as the surroundings shift. In the evening, the perspective changes. “The idea is that the restaurant should almost function like a lighthouse,” he says, “a warm and lively point beneath the bridge, visible from the quay and from the water.” Inside, the ambition is to create something calm and welcoming, despite the pace of the location outside. “A feeling that everyday life stops outside. There is no stress; it’s cosy and caring. Your new living room in Stockholm,” he says.
On the plate, Slussporten begins with a Swedish foundation but allows itself to look further afield. As an example, Davidsson points to one of the restaurant’s desserts, simply called Semla. Inspired by the classic Swedish pastry of cardamom, almond paste and cream, the dessert “tastes exactly like a semla”, says Davidsson. Its structure, though, is borrowed from an Italian tiramisu, with coffee- and spirit-soaked biscuits, mascarpone mousse with amaretto, almond paste scented with cardamom and salted milk sorbet.
Drinks, meanwhile, are not treated as an afterthought. “It’s what ties dinner together into a whole,” Davidsson says. As in the kitchen, the bar starts from a Nordic base but draws on wider influences, often working with ingredients more commonly associated with the stove than a cocktail shaker. Rather than relying on the familiar structure of lemon and sugar, the team works directly with acidity and sweetness within the ingredients themselves, creating what Davidsson describes as “a much cleaner and stronger experience of the raw ingredient itself.”
Another part of the project is Gästrummet, a separate space for temporary takeovers and visiting collaborators. Davidsson wants it to introduce something that Stockholm — and perhaps Sweden more broadly — does not already have: “something changeable, where contrasts collide and come together.” His hope is that it will become “a living organism within our four walls, where creativity has no limits.” Asked about a dream event, he does not think small: a joint guest appearance by Michelin-starred Taquería El Califa de León and Harry’s Bar in Venice.
Asked what distinguishes Slussporten, Davidsson points to what he sees as its defining quality: a sense of ease. “It’s rare to step into a completely new restaurant and feel that it has always been there,” he says. For him, the appeal lies in how naturally everything comes together — the place, the setting, the guests, the team and the flavours. “All you want is to become a regular.”
