james test

May 29-June 17, 2016 My last two weeks in Stockholm were light on the blog-worthy eating - I enjoyed return visits to Maxos and Greasy Spoon , but didn't hit up too many new places. I managed to take a quick lunchtime jaunt down to Hornstull to visit Seyhmus , a veggie buffet place recommended to me by Jess . It's really only open for lunchtime (or a very early dinner), but it's definitely worth the trip. 110kr ($18) buys you access to a very impressive array of hot dishes and salads. The  hot dishes included a fantastic spinach curry, a couple of different beany stews, some falafel balls and a delicious spinach and cheese pastry, while the selection of salads, dips and breads was just out of control (the chilli marinated mushrooms were probably my highlight). Herman's has a better view, but this place wins the battle of the buffets hands down. My other blog-worthy meals were at Reggev Hummus , a teeny little restaurant right by my apartment that serves exclusively hu...

May 15-28, 2016 Between our joint trip to Helsinki and Cindy's sneaky side-trip to Denmark, the last couple of weeks of May didn't turn out to be massively exciting food-wise in Stockholm (at least until the 28th!). Cindy made sure she got to sample Sweden's own mock-meat invention, Oumph! (pictured below). It's a soy-based product with a pretty impressive range - we had the thyme and garlic version, stir-fried to serve alongside a quinoa salad. It's a decent attempt - a chicken-y texture and some nice flavours make this a rare mock-meat you can eat without added sauce. Good job Sweden. ____________ We tried to drop in to Herman's to show Cindy the view one Friday night, but the line was too long and we gave up. With Cindy's time in Stockholm fast running out, we wound up heading back on one of the few non-sunny evenings we've had here lately, which slightly dampens the experience. The buffet (120kr/$20.05 per person) remains a solid dinner optio...

May 1-14, 2016 Weeks 3 and 4 of my Stockholm trip were split by Cindy's arrival and our long weekend in Basel . Before we met up I ate my way through a big pile of leftover Singapore noodles and squeezed in a couple of quick outings. I worked at home on Wednesday and wandered the neighbourhood in search of lunch, settling on Bengali street food at Gossip . It's run by the same people who run Shanti (see below) and was buzzing at 12:30 on a sunny Wednesday. I nabbed a seat in the window and ordered the Monsoon rain sabji from the lunch menu - it's a combination of veggies (carrot, zucchini, sweet peas, pumpkin), lentils, papaya and a mildly spicy sauce, served with salad, rice and a fried egg. The standard lunch also includes a mango lassi and at 90 krona ($15), it's pretty decent value. That evening I met up with some work friends for a speedy bird photography outing to Djurgården and we continued on afterwards for dinner together at Calexico's in Hornstull. It of...

April 23-30, 2016 Week 2 in Stockholm involved a little less eating out - I cooked up a few old favourites in the kitchen at home, but still found time to get out and about a bit. I took advantage of a gloriously sunny afternoon on Tuesday to revisit Herman's - a classic stop on any veggie tour of Stockholm. The key attraction is the beautiful view over the harbour, but the 120kr ($19.70) buffet is excellent value as well. I had two full plates of deliciousness, including a couple of different curries, some pizza slices, lasagne, salads, veggie sand some weird little sweet mock-meat cubes. There's nothing fancy about the Herman's dining experience, but there's a huge range of food and the prices are very reasonable (at least when you approach with the two-plate enthusiasm that I did). Wednesday I had a gap between work and netball, so I dropped by Lao Wai to see if it was still as excellent as I remembered it . It's definitely still as popular - even turning by...

April 16-22, 2016 I'm spending a couple of months in Stockholm for work - a good excuse to add another country to our restaurant review map . Most of my meals out so far have been lunches, with work colleagues picking out some highlights around the centre of town and me doing a bit of weekend exploring further afield. The food scene seems very veg-friendly - everywhere I've gone has had prominent vego/vegan options, and there are a decent number of totally vegetarian places. I had my first meal of the trip at Hermitage (Stora Nygatan 11, Gamla Stan), a vego restaurant that Cindy and I visited way back in 2006 . Its buffet-style lunch of old-fashioned vego food powered me up for a big day of walking, with a mock-meat and chickpea stew, a big chunk of vegetarian lasagne, potato salad, bread, rice and some hummus. For 120kr (~$20) with a coffee, this is pretty decent value for money as far as Stockholm lunches go. I went back for seconds to make sure I really got my money's w...