Not long ago, choosing the vegetarian option often meant making do. Happily, things have changed: today, some of Sweden’s most talked-about restaurants can deliver a meat-free meal that feels considered, generous and genuinely exciting. Here are five outstanding places to start.
“We forage as much as we can locally, from the surrounding countryside. The rest comes from producers in the Halland region,” says sommelier Eva H. Tram, who opened Knystaforsen with her husband, Nicolai, five years ago in the tiny hamlet of Rydöbruk.
Since then, the restaurant’s hyperlocal tasting menu—once described as “a subtle study in the science of fire,” thanks to its extensive use of open-fire cooking—has won admirers in all the right places. Michelin included: it holds a star. The regular menu might feature fallow deer and pike, but with advance notice the kitchen has no problem offering vegetarian alternatives.
At two-starred VYN, in the bucolic Österlen region of south-eastern Sweden, dinner is as much about choreography as it is about satiety. Service is calibrated to the smallest detail: wine pairings, textures, materials—even the precise siting of your table to make the most of those Baltic Sea views.
Only after 18 courses—just in time for the digestif—does anything resembling a menu appear: a list of the ingredients used throughout the meal. The line-up will sound familiar—elderflower, seaweed, duck egg, chanterelles, fermented oats, grilled tomatoes—yet each bite feels distinct. That is chef Daniel Berlin’s skill and, when the season allows, it is also expressed through a vegetarian tasting menu.
South-east Asian cuisines often give vegetables and bold flavors pride of place—far more than many European traditions. The cooking can be time-consuming, too, with veg treated as the main event rather than a side dish. That sensibility runs through Farang in Stockholm, whose menu draws on Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“So, we’ve never seen vegetarian food as a complication,” says owner Kim Öhman, adding that the satay peanut sauce is perennially popular. Choose the vegetarian nine-course tasting menu and you will get to try that sauce with aubergine, Brussels sprouts and lime. Other dishes might include yellow curry with momendōfu (cotton tofu), cauliflower and coriander.
French food is not usually held up as a template for plant-based dining—quite the opposite, given its classic reliance on butter, foie gras, duck à l’orange, bouillabaisse and coq au vin. Which is exactly why Brasserie Godot in Stockholm feels like such a pleasant surprise: vegetarian fine dining, delivered with unapologetic French flair.
Expect tomato consommé made from Swedish tomatoes, Marcona almonds, seaweed caviar and garden cress, followed by fried Jerusalem artichoke with pea purée, asparagus, shallots, hazelnuts, Dijon and herb vinaigrette. Finish with chocolate mousse topped with berries and almond brittle.
At Gothenburg’s KOKA, vegetables have long taken the lead. That is hardly surprising, says chef-owner Björn Persson: sustainability runs through everything at this one-star establishment.
“We made an early decision not to exclude anyone who, for whatever reason, doesn’t eat meat or fish. It simply means thinking differently, putting vegetables centre stage and building the menu from there,” says Persson, adding that KOKA may not be “the most luxurious of Sweden’s Michelin-starred restaurants.”
However, “we still think it’s pretty luxurious to be able to offer someone with a vegan diet an eight-course menu including snacks and sweets, just as easily as we serve our standard menu.” Hard to disagree.
