The Return of Johanna: Open Fire and Rooftop Views in Gothenburg

A familiar name has reappeared above Gothenburg's rooftops. Johanna opened this spring on the seventh floor of Södra Hamngatan 49, borrowing its name from a classic restaurant once run nearby by two of Sweden's most celebrated chefs, Leif Mannerström and Crister Svantesson. A tribute that was, fittingly, Mannerström’s own suggestion. The new Johanna is built around open fire, a serious bar, and views stretching across the rooftops of central Gothenburg.

The ambition, as restaurant manager and sommelier Nora Juraskovic describes it, is “luxurious, but relaxed”. Guests should feel equally welcome dropping in for a drink or sitting down for a full dinner. The bar leans into its martini programme, with house signatures alongside the classics, while the wine list is built to hold its own alongside what comes off the grill. None of it is incidental.

The grill is where that promise begins. Head chef Alexander Stärnerz has worked in renowned Swedish kitchens including Grand Hotel Marstrand, AG and Rolfs Kök, and came to Johanna to help build something from scratch. He also came with a conviction about what Gothenburg was missing.

Meat is the menu headline, from house-aged beef on the bone and entrecôte to flank steak and Iberico presa, arriving with fries, béarnaise, tomato salad and Johanna’s steak butter. But fish, seafood and vegetables come off the same grill, treated with the same seriousness. Before all of that, there is “Gothenburg’s smallest shrimp sandwich”, made with hand-peeled prawns, vendace roe, egg crème, crown dill and pointed cabbage. A quiet nod to the west coast before the fire takes over.

Two months after the restaurant opened, Johanna expanded upward with a large rooftop bar on the same seventh floor. It catches sun from morning to sunset, open to uninterrupted panoramas across the urban sprawl. Even the cocktails lean into the view, named after the Gothenburg neighbourhoods visible from the large terrace.

It is, as it happens, a city with a lot going on right now. Gothenburg has seen a return of appetite for classic restaurant formats lately. Traditional à la carte is making its way back after years dominated by smaller plates. Bistros and neighbourhood spots are gaining new energy, and more openings are backed by experienced teams with genuine conviction. Juraskovic is watching that shift with enthusiasm. “It's really exciting that the classic restaurant is finding its footing again,” she says. “It creates a restaurant culture where what is local and genuine gets more space.”

Johanna is staking its own claim in that landscape. “We want to be serious but not stiff,” Stärnerz says.