Swedes like straightforward meals, simply prepared from the freshest ingredients. As a seafaring country with many freshwater lakes, fish dishes are prominent on hotel or restaurant menus.
Things to know: Once on the open road the traveller is well catered for with picnic sites on the way, often with wooden tables and seats. Top-class restaurants in Sweden are usually fairly expensive, but even the smallest towns have reasonably priced self-service restaurants and grill bars. Many restaurants all over Sweden offer a special dish of the day at a reduced price which includes main course,
salad, soft drink and coffee. Waiter service is common although there are many self-service snack bars. Wine, spirits and beer are sold through the state-owned monopoly,
Systembolaget, open during normal shopping hours. Before 1300 on Sundays alcohol cannot be bought in bars, cafes or restaurants. After midnight alcohol can only be bought in nightclubs that stay open until between 0200-0500.
National specialties:
•
Smörgåsbord (Scandinavian cold table. First pickled herring with boiled potatoes then perhaps a couple more fish courses, smoked salmon or anchovies followed by cold meat, pâté, sliced beef, stuffed veal or smoked reindeer).
• Köttbullar (small meatballs).
• Smoked reindeer from Lapland.
• Gravlax (salmon that has been specially prepared and marinated).
• Wild strawberries and cloudberries.
National drinks:• Snapps (a Swedish liqueur which is traditionally drunk chilled with
smörgåsbord, flavors vary from practically tasteless to sweetly spiced).
Minimum drinking age: 21 years, if buying alcohol in a shop; 18 years in bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Stiff penalties are enforced for drinking and driving.
Tipping: Hotel prices include a service charge. Service in restaurants is not usually included in the bill; around 10 per cent should be added. Late at night the service charge is higher.
NightlifeStockholm has pubs, cafes, discos, restaurants, cinemas and theaters. In the more rural areas evenings tend to be tranquil. From August to June the
Royal Ballet performs in Stockholm. Music and theater productions take place in many cities during the summer at open air venues. Outside Stockholm in the 18th-century
Court Theater of the Palace of Drottningholm there are performances of 18th-century opera.
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