Tastebud : Monster Chicken (Östermalm branch)

22 March 2026

Today, I had lunch at Monster Chicken in Östermalm. This Korean restaurant has several branches. I did not know it was a Korean restaurant until I saw a poster in the restaurant for a Korean culture festival held last year. Then, I noticed the person at the bar who might be of Korean descent. I am unable to differentiate between Japanese and Korean. Then, in the menu, it was described KFC as Korean Fried Chicken. 

I am so thankful I cycled here because the portion is so huge and I could burn some of the calories or feel less full when I get home. But no, I am still full. No kidding with the name of the restaurant - Monster Chicken. I had the signature dish - Monchi first crush SEK169 which is gochujang paste. Very sticky and I had to drink lots of water. There were 6 pieces of chicken fillets and came with fried potatoes and pickled radish. Good thing there was pickled radish to open the appetite. I was full at the 4th piece. The last two pieces became not tasty anymore. There are medium and large. Medium has 6 pieces and large has 9 pieces. Gosh. 

Tastebud : Lisas Grabb

21 March 2026

Today, I had lunch - caviar and egg sandwich at a small cafe. In English, this cafe is translated as Lisa's son. When my lunch companion suggested this place, I asked who Lisa is and I was confused that this is the name of the cafe. Well, it is not a joke. The place is really called as such. So, Lisa is the mother who had a cafe before but it was closed down later. Her son opened a new cafe. Lisa, the mother, had the best semla in town for 10 years ago - a newspaper article on her was laminated and hung in the toilet. Yes, I used the toilet and read the article.

My caviar and egg sandwich is SEK65, and a cup of brewed coffee for SEK36. Reasonable price, I suppose. The caviar is from the egg of cod fish, not the sturgeon fish as caviar ought to be. Caviar is widely eaten in Sweden, even sold in tubes. Like a toothpaste tube.  The sandwich was sloppily served but it is okay since everything is home-made. The son bakes everything by himself, including the sourdough bread that the sandwich is served. There is also an array of sweet buns and cakes (that the son baked) on display but I did not take any photo. The son and his wife manage the cafe. 

The cafe is small and it got full pretty quickly. Many customers were retirees and I guessed that they were from the neighbourhood. This cafe is not located on a main road and I doubt tourists or any others who are not from the area knows this place.

Tastebud : Ping Sakura

11 March 2026

Not a recommended restaurant to have hotpot. The initial reaction was negative from my friend when we waited 45 minutes for the food. One is only allocated 2 hours sitting which I do not understand the logic behind it because there are no free refills. Even the sauce. Our dissatisfaction was also echoed by other diners when I read the online reviews. There was a change of owner and the regular customers were not pleased at all. 

One can choose between hotpot or grill. As it was a gloomy weather today, we took the hotpot to warm us up. We chose sukiyaki and kimchi broth. Each protein costs SEK299 and comes in 200g. Each person is given a bowl of rice, a large bowl of vegetables and a small bowl of sauce. The waitress told us that refill of sauce costs SEK35. Wow. I could not help but compare with Happy Lamb Hotpot where there are free refills of vegetables, seafood and sauce. Dinner at Happy Lamb for weekend and weekdays cost SEK298 and includes 3 types of protein (pork sirloin, lamb and entrecote) as per writing. It is an obvious choice with Happy Lamb.

One got wet towels and pickled vegetables in the beginning. Very sad portion of pickled vegetables for two persons. I would prefer a bigger portion of food than wet towels. We chose two types of 200g meat - pork belly and chicken breast. The meat was not marinated so it was just tasteless. The kimchi broth was tasteless. The sukiyaki was sweet. My friend added the sukiyaki broth into the kimchi broth to get some taste. I did not drink the soup. I had water. We paid SEK299 per person just for the meat. 

I chose spicy sauce that came with chilli and lime. I could not taste any sourish lime. 

Bowl of vegetables - some pakchoy leaves, chinese cabbage, onions, carrots, radishes, enoki mushroom and glass noodles. 

This is me in proportion with the size of the food.

Tastebud : Cafe Albert

27 January 2026

After my dinner at Kapibara Östermalm, we headed to Cafe Albert for dessert. It is a bakery with quite expensive cakes and drinks. The displayed menu on the ceiling and cakes behind the glassed counter were without prices which is of course, a red flag itself. We shared a slice of oreo cheese cake and I had a warm chocolate drink. I did not order marshmellow and whipped cream to my chocolate drink and neither was I asked if I wanted it and my drink came with it. Of course, I had to pay for it. In total, SEK158. I suppose it is a pricey place when the cafe is located in the same row as brands Prada and Chanel. Not coming back here again. 

I don't like whipped cream. 

Tastebud : Kapibara Östermalm

27 January 2026

Today, it is Japanese food for dinner. My friend and I shared a side dish of glazed chicken SEK99 which was chewy. Took quite some time to chew through it. There were 6 pieces in the bowl. The glaze is gochujang sauce, according to my friend. Odd to have Korean meal in a Japanese restaurant. 

I had Tonkatsu SEK198 which is panko-breaded pork chop that came with a bowl of rice, tonkatsu sauce and cabbage strips as salad. I was extremely full from the meal. I think the pork chop was huge for me. My friend had ramen and the broth was not as flavourful as the one we had at Tan Tan Dan. It was sort of bland. So, we decided that we are not coming back here again.

See, that is a really large pork chop.