Fika Cafe & Bistro

Poor disinterested staff spoils the dinner…
Fika Swedish Café has been on my radar for quite some time as I wanted to try Swedish cuisine in places other than Ikea.
Traditional dishes like the [b]Inlagd Sill, pickled herring platter ($ 12.90)[/b], usually served in Christmas, Easter with vodka can be spotted on the menu. However, that platter was not sharing-​friendly because the work of splitting the tough hard rye bread can be messy. The marinated fish was as savoury as smoked salmon, but did not bind well with other ingredients (eggs, sour cream, onions and chives). Would it be better if they were served in canapés style?
Since we wanted the Fika Swedish Meatballs and a dessert, the kids meal that came with a drink with the above at $ 15.90 sounded more economical. Portion might be smaller but sufficient. Similar to Ikea, in place of tomato gravy was creamy brown mushroom sauce that was not overly rich. The sweet lingonberry compote took the dish up a notch by balancing the meaty flavours. The meatballs have a slightly charred crust that trapped moisture within.
The dessert, part of the kids meal is truly one of its kind. The Swedish Raspberry Cream in cold milk is a semi-​molten huge dollop of raspberry jam jelly submerged in unsweetened cold milk. Instinctively, I mixed everything up like how I always played with the 80-​cent cup ice cream from mama shops and transformed it into an odd but delicious pool of gooey liquid.
Though not everyone will be used to Swedish food, it is fun and exciting to explore such unfamiliar cuisines as we may never know how it taste from the menu. However, the service was quite offending and harsh, a sharp contrary to the bright, inviting atmosphere.

Popped by FIka for dessert earlier in the week and ordered the swedish pancakes to share with my gf. I’m quite familiar with the food at Fika from their outlet at Arab Street and I was pleased to know that the food is just as good here.
The pancakes were served nice and warm with a delicious scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce all over. My friends had the affogato and that was really good too. The espresso was strong and it went really well with the cold and sweet vanilla ice cream.
Great that Fika have expanded!

The popular halal swedish joint recently opened a new outlet in Millenia Walk since April. The menu here doesn’t differ too much from the original though the space seems more spacious and open than the Arab st’s outlet.
Came here with a group of 8 friends. I made reservation the day before and had to increase the number of pax the next day, there was no problem adjusting my reservation. They called on the day of reservation to confirm my attendance as well.
I had the meatball (the usual favourite) and tried the potato and salmon skagenmix for the first time because a friend recommended. The skagenmix was a mix of cold salmon and salmon roe sitting on top of hot baked potato. If you’re a salmon fan, you’ll love what’s on top of the dish but the potato I felt was a little bland without any seasoning. They also kind of missed out on our order for the dish, we had to wait quite awhile for it, so that kinda dampened the mood. Food went well with the (non-​alcohol) pear cider though. Delicious soda which you could probably only find at Ikea’s food mart. Very pricey for a can of soda ($ 7++)!
We also had dessert — affogato and praline cake — nothing to shout about. The affogato had too much coffee and the praline cake tasted like its been in the fridge for awhile.
On the service front, I reckon the service at Arab st’s outlet is better because I remember being placated with a free soup when they forgot my order there once. Millenia outlet’s service is not at that standard yet, waiters are not as attentive.
Final verdict: It was a short & swede experience — considering there aren’t that many scandinavian restaurants in Singapore, Fika will have to do for now!