Tastebud : Ärla

27 May 2026

Today, I was treated for dinner. Team activity. Eating. Sounds like a good activity to me. Haha! Sometimes, I feel out of place at work and a team activity has less significance for me so I don't mind going for a food event as at least I feel happy enjoying good food even if I am left out. Oh, I am used to it now so I don't mind writing it out. We had dinner at Ärla, a Bib Gourmand-recognised restaurant by Michelin which means it serves high-quality food at a good price. I like trying new places! So I am grateful I get to come here without paying. Yay!

I got intrigued by Michelin recognition and I researched about it. Michelin is a tyre brand but is also recognised for restaurants' ratings. These ratings are given by Michelin employees that are selected to taste the food without annoucing who they are. An ex-employee revealed that some ratings were given due to tradition and nothing to do with the food. After reading that, I got annoyed about Michelin ratings. What a scam! Besides, one person's tastebud differs from another. 

Back to my dinner experience. We had the tasting menu for SEK795. It includes snacks (world's tiniest food  - you can see from my photos), bread, three asparagus, a small piece of ling fish, four slices of duck breast (the best), and strawberry for dessert. So, I described it too simply, very much simplified from the elaborated menu. I am usually skeptical of fine dining as I don't get full from it because portions are really small. We had fine dining as a team activity in Fotografiska Museum last year and I was still hungry after the meal. 

For drinks, I chose cider which turns out to be canned cider from France SEK89. It tastes of apple. I wanted sour beer but they have that in 750ml only. Oh my goodness. 

Snacks came first. Check out my finger next to the snacks. A piece of ham, middle is cucumber with puffed rice and the yellow snack is a tartlet filled with an ingredient that I cannot remember now. It is not on the menu, unfortunately.

Then, the main dishes came in. I did not realise there were three main dishes. First, came the three asparagus served with walnut ketchup, salad cream and sprinkled with crispy chicken skin. Chicken skin did not taste like chicken. They are so small that I think it is almost negligible in the dish. Walnut has its own taste but I don't taste any walnut. However, the asparagus is good as it is. Warm and easy to chew. 

Next, ling fillet with white turnip puree, miso, a slice of orange tomato, and fried bread crumbs. The fish tastes good as it is. 

I was surprised to get a third main dish so I was full after the third dish which made me happy. This is my favourite, per menu - Challandaise duck, spring onion, spinach, rhubarb puree, Sichuan pepper gravy. Here is what it means to be a Challandaise duck - a premium French breed from the Vendée and Pays de la Loire regions. It is renowned for its tender, juicy meat and rich, slightly gamy flavor. 

I totally agree that the duck is tender. I usually find duck meat chewy and not enjoyable. But this was very different. I am glad that the sichuan pepper is not obvious in the gravy. The triangular-shaped crispy dough is filled with duck confit - duck legs cooked in its own fat. 

Well, I was also full thanks to the warm bread that we received. The bread is sliced in quarters and each gets two quarters. 

For dessert, strawberries with yuzu cremeux, red tea consommé, and sorrel granita. I know only strawberries. The waitress did not explain what those extras are. She just named them. Not very helpful. I can read that from the menu myself. 

AI explains sorrel granita as a semi-frozen, crystalline dessert made by blending fresh sorrel leaves with sugar, water, and sometimes lemon juice, then freezing and periodically scraping it. Sorrel is a leafy green herb and vegetable belonging to the knotweed family, known for its bright, intensely sour, and lemony flavor. 

A yuzu crémeux is a rich, velvety French pastry cream flavored with yuzu, an aromatic East Asian citrus fruit that tastes like a fragrant hybrid of a lemon, mandarin, and grapefruit.

A red tea consommé is a rich, clarified savory broth made by infusing a classical consommé base (like a rich chicken, beef, or roasted tomato stock) with red tea—most commonly rooibos. I don't think chicken or beef would be used in a dessert? 

So, after reading the explanations given by AI, I know which are them in the dessert. For me, the dessert did not taste spectacular despite the additions. I would have appreciated the dessert better if the waitress could have explained how the additions were prepared. Strawberry and ice-cream would have been good too and at least, I would know which ice-cream taste it is. 

Tastebud : Maiz Mexican (2nd time)

14 May 2026

A second visit to Maiz Mexican. The first visit was in 2013. Today is a public holiday and we played boule before having dinner at the mexican restaurant. During my first visit, I had nachos plate and we shared chicken wings. The nachos plate has increased by SEK10 to SEK169 today. For today's dinner, I had 3 types of tortilla bread with fillings of shrimp taco, crispy fish and shredded beef chuck marinated in chilli (not spicy) for SEK199. Beef chuck is a cut from the shoulder and neck region of a cow. All tortilla bread comes with coriander, pico de gallo (tomato salsa with chilli and onion) and chilli mayonnaise. The food was delicious. The sauces that came with the dish were homemade salsas. Salsa is a spanish word for sauce. 

An individual tortilla bread costs SEK95. Three was sufficient for me. 

Crispy fish is the filling in the last tortilla bread. Nothing special here. 

Shrimp is nothing special too. I should have chosen shredded meat, either pork or beef. 

Tastebud : No 17 Palace (6th time)

9 May 2026

Back at one of my favourite affordable Chinese restaurant. This time, we had fish in lemon and sour cabbage SEK289, fried rice with chicken SEK168 and a repeat dish, fried aubergine with fish flavour (I suspect fish sauce) SEK198. A bowl of rice is included.

The fish dish came with bite-sized chunks which I think were too small and I could not taste much of the lemon but there was a lot of Sichuan pepper which I do not enjoy. The dish had a tea candle under it to keep it warm which was a good idea otherwise it would not be fun eating cold food. We could not finish up the fried rice so we took it home. I saw a couple diner opposite us who could not finish a fried chicken dish that came with chilli. I know it is not common for most people to take away the unfinished food unless you are Chinese.. Hehe...  I looked back at my posts for No 17 Palace and I read that I had fried aubergine during my first visit and the dish then looked lighter and SEK10 lesser - that was February 2025, slightly more than a year. 

Tastebud : Canto Papa

8 May 2026

Dinner at Canto Papa today. I chose this place randomly as my friend and I were going to a theatre to see a stand-up comedy after dinner. I looked in the map and picked this restaurant as it located opposite the theatre. I think I made a good choice. This food is delicious and I was very thirsty after dinner. I think there is some MSG going on inside here. Probably explains why the food is so delicious?

We shared 2 small dishes, eggplants SEK99 and pakchoy SEK99, two main dishes - wonton (shrimp and pork fillings) noodles SEK225 and hong shao rou (braised pork berry) SEK250. The main dishes come with a bowl of rice except for the wonton noodle because it is a noodle dish. The portion was sufficient for the two of us. Our favourites were the eggplants. It is crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. 

Although the braised pork belly is a main dish, it is as small as the pakchoy and eggplant dishes. The bowl that carried the pork belly is deeper though. Anyway, braised pork belly did not melt in the mouth, like the dish I had at No 17 Palace. Even some of the meat was chewy.

Pakchoy leaves could be bigger. They were small. My boyfriend said that the small leaves are young leaves and tastes better. I disagree. I want big leaves.

Valborgsafton (Walpurgis Night) 2026

30 April 2026

Just like last year, we went to Ulriksdal castle's park to see a bonfire. On this day, there are many locations around Sweden that set a bonfire to welcome spring. I like this location as it is a park and there is a large space for everyone. I saw some photos from Rålambshovsparken and it was so crowded. 

The Scouts were there to sell warm boiled sausages with bread, coffee, tea, packet drinks and sweet buns. We got the warm sausage 25kr. Same price as last year. Yay.

One receives a coupon after paying and we give the coupon to the responsible scout. 

This is a giant boiler to cook 1800 sausages! Of course, not all 1800 at once.

Even the mustard and ketchup bottles are huge! How clever it is to hang them upside down and we just squeeze the tubes. 

We found a spot to sit and waited for the scouts to come out with the fire torches. This year, they have pails of water placed a distance from the bonfire as the border between the people and the fire, as well as, I am sure, to put out the fire if necessary. Some adults were not very smart and walked out of the border and the scouts had to tell them to get back behind the pails. One elderly woman said that she could not feel the heat.. Gosh, how ridiculous she sounded. The scout told her to put on a jacket if she feels cold. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to get the idea that the pails are the border. 

At the 8.32pm, the bonfire was lit!

We went nearer the fire and the heat was intense. We stayed on until 9.30pm. The fire was still going strong but smaller. This year, it was warmer than last year. Last year, I had a beanie and a thick coat. This year, no beanie but two down jackets (under me is a sleeveless down jacket) because I know it will get cold once the sun sets.