Inauguration of Christmas Lights

16 November 2024

Today, I saw the inauguration of Christmas lights in Stockholm. It was so beautiful when the lights were lit up. The ceremony was held in Kungsträdgården (The King's Garden) and there was a short concert for about 20 minutes with very lively music from pop singers Lili and Susie. They have the vibe of 80s music. There were people distributing gingerbread cookies, postcards and a map of the location of the Christmas lights. I had 4 gingerbread cookies! Yums! There are 40 places in Stockholm lit up with different types of Christmas light decorations. 

Tastebud : Chapter's Bar & Steakhouse

8 November 2024

I usually bring lunchboxes to work but this week, I did not have enough lunchboxes. So, I had lunch set at Chapter Bar & Steakhouse. There are 3 options to choose from - entrecote and french fries, salmon fillet with sparris and potato croquettes, and the vegetarian dish which I don't know remember what it was. I took the fish option as I don't eat fish very often as it is expensive.

My lunchset comes with salad (one can choose the different types of salad from the salad bar), a glass of water infused with lemon (one can choose other juice for example lingonberry drink), coffee and a piece of dry butter cake. SEK145. I am not used to eating outside so I was very surprised that lunchset costs SEK145 today. I remembered paying SEK125 last year. 

Tastebud : Sangria Tapas Bar

7 November 2024

Today's dinner is tapas - Spanish food. Since the name of the place is Sangria, I had Sangria. I seldom have alcohol or drink anything else than water when I dine outside. But today, I make an exception. I chose red wine sangria (SEK125). Sangria is wine mixed fruits which makes it a refreshing drink. Typically, it is chopped oranges. Mine has chopped apples and oranges. 

If I were to come back here again, I will just have the sangria. There were many customers in the restaurant who were there for the sangria only.

The two of us shared tapas. I had 3 tapas while my boyfriend had 7 tapas! We tasted each other's foods too. Total food came to SEK991. Small portions. I think some are overpriced. For example, padrones, chorizo, paella, nachos and ole mexico. 

We had:

1) Paella SEK135. The menu described the dish as 'with mussles, giant prawns, squid rings, rice and aioli'. Then, my dish came with ONE mussle, ONE giant prawn and ONE squid ring. Gosh, that was super misleading. This I am disappointed with. The dish is nothing extraordinary. 

2) Quesadillas de pollo SEK80. Wheat tortilla bread filled with chicken and cheese with garlic sour cream. I have always enjoyed quesadillas. 

3) Datiles con bacon SEK97. Dates wrapped in bacon in honey and goat cheese. This I liked.

4) Chorizo con tomate SEK94. ONE spicy Spanish chorizo sausages in tomato sauce. (not in photo). Chorizo is a bit spicy but chorizo sausage has always been a spicy sausage.

5) Solomillo de Ternera SEK125. Grilled beef tenderloin (oxfile) with spicy red wine sauce, pickled red paprika, ONE padrone and rösti potatoes (coarsely grated potatoes that are boiled and fried)

6) Ensaladilla espana SEK110. Manchego cheese (Spanish cheese made from sheep's milk), salad, artichoke, basil dressing, pomegranate and sea salt. The cheese is tasteless to me.

7) Padrones SEK92. Green paprikas with sea salt. Nice with the hint of salt.

We were still hungry and we ordered three more dishes instead of getting dessert.

8) Ole Mexico SEK75. Wheat tortilla filled with fried chicken strips, guacamole, sriracha mayo, tomato and salad. Tasty fried chicken strips.

9) Nachos SEK84. Nacho chips, tomatoes, melted cheese, jalapeno, guacamole, salsa with fresh red onions. 

10) Bruschetta SEK99. Grilled sourdough bread, tomatoes, napoliton salad (mix of spinach, rucola, and red leaf salad), serrano ham (smoked ham from white pigs in Spain), basil and cheese. Grilled sourdough bread was delicious. 

In front of me is solomillo (5) and green padrones (7).

Next row after that is the dish in the black cast-iron plate is paella with the ONE type of seafood (1). Next to it is ensaladilla (6).

Final row is quesadilla (2) and bacon-wrapped dates (3).

Bruschettta (10) in front of me. Nacho chips (9) in front of the bruschetta. The dish sticking out is Ole Mexico (8).

The menu is in Swedish. No 20 is Paella and you can see what I mean if see the description. It is plural - musslor, jätteräkor, bläckfiskringar.

Tastebud : Kanto Bistro

31 October 2024

Today, I had a very yummy dinner - Filipino food at Kanto Bistro. The menu is the owner's interpretation of some popular dishes from the Philippines, as written in the menu. Regardless, the portion is worth the price. Usually, I complain about how the food is expensive and the portion is small. But not this place! I am satisfied with my dinner. 

My friend and I shared a dinner platter for SEK690 where it consists of the 3 appetisers - fried spring rolls or lumpia (in Filipino language) which we chose shrimp and chicken mix as fillings, crispy garlic and butter prawns, and deep fried breaded chicken, and 1 main - we chose pork belly (lechon kawali in Filipino language). Individual appetisers cost SEK165 except for the prawns that cost SEK185 and the main cost SEK255. The main dish came with rice and side salad. 

4 pieces of fried chicken.

4 pieces of prawn. 

The main on the sharing platter - the pork belly. It is not crunchy but it has that nice amount of fat which melts in the mouth. Yummy.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the large plate. 

Spring rolls on the other side of the plate which I could not take a photo of but my friend could. There are 4 fried spring rolls. 

For dessert, we chose ube cassava SEK110 and mango sago SEK110. Ube is a local Filipino plant which is purple in colour. I was very surprised when I saw the purple dessert as I know cassava to be a light yellow dessert. Malaysia has a dessert made from cassava known as kuih bingka so I was confused when I saw the purple dessert with the custard layer on top. Hence, I researched on this Filipino dessert. Mango sago is refreshing with the mangoes inside - made from coconut milk and tapioca.

Tastebud : XOI

18 October 2024

Dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant - Xoi. This place used to be a cafe, I think. I remember passing by this place everyday from school when I studied Swedish at Hermod's School. So, I was very surprised that it is a Vietnamese restaurant now. I had rice with marinated pork tenderloin, cucumber and salad for SEK159. It was a lot in the plate. Happy that my tummy is full.