Kung Carls Bakficka

I booked a birthday brunch for 5 people for the 12^th June. They confirmed via email. I was to be given a table at 14.00. So far so good. When we arrived the restaurant was deserted and I was informed by a very nonchalant waitress «Oh no we don’t do brunches in the summer». No apologies, nothing despite me showing her my confirmed reservation. The restaurant has not got back to me with an apology or attempted to contact me in any way. We went to Restaurang Sturehof instead! Much, much better and the service, food and ambience were fantastic.

Located in the heart of Östermalm in Stockholm city is Kung Carls Bakficka («bakficka» means the rear end pocket on a pair of jeans). Me and a group of friends went there for brunch the day after a long evening of fun, food and drinks, and this was a great way to get back up on top. The place is quite vibrant in the early style of 1900’s and feels both warm, genuine and relaxing. In my opinion, a brunch has an easy way of becoming ‘just another hotel breakfast’, but fortunately that isn’t the case here. Walking in, we were immediately seated (I did have a reservation), they took our drink orders and quite fast came out with our freshly squeezed orange juice for the entire table. The juice was fruity and flavorsome, very nice indeed. They also rapidly exchanged the water bottle at the table when it was empty. The ambiance in the place, depending on where you’re seated can vary quite a lot. We had our table in «salongen» that is quite near the hotel reception area and thus a bit more loud than other parts. For me, that didn’t matter, as we had a lot to talk about and at times a bit loudly and thus we didn’t bother any other guests at adjacent tables. The food then I must say had great diversity and selection. From smoked salmon, avocado crème with prawns, Caesar salad, pickled vegetables, French tomato casserole, scrambled eggs, spicy chicken drumsticks and much more. They even had a dessert table with homemade apple cake, strawberry smoothie, rhubarb tartlets and well, you get it… a lot of different dishes.
Most of the dishes were really nicely prepared. Ribs were succulent, sticky and meaty paired perfectly with some hot sauces. The downside on the hot plate were the chicken drum sticks. Not charred enough and for being advertised as ‘spicy’ they were extremely plain and to me without spice. Most of the dessert table was also great, the only let-​down was the rhubarb tartlet. The meringue on top was too soft and not baked enough. The sweetness of the meringue and tart should have been balanced by the acidity of the rhubarb, unfortunately they were also too sweet thus making it a bit too over-​powering on the sweet side. But those are actually the only two negatives, apart from that this place puts up a really good brunch with a definitive value for money. The waiter was also very swift with cleaning the tables and making sure we had everything we needed, despite it being a lot of people they never seemed too stressed and completely in control. In short; we had fun, we had a full stomach and we had a really good time. For brunch, this is a good choice in downtown Stockholm after a night of debauchery!

We came here for our 2 year «anniversary» and it was wonderful. At least it started out wonderful.
We were treated to some delicious food.
For a starter we had carrot soup and it was generously portioned. I didn’t think carrots could taste so good.
For main we had American Steak on a bed of truffle mushrooms. I hate mushrooms, however I could eat these buy the bucket load.
We finished on a kladkaka with what I assumed was handmade vanilla ice cream. The food was heavenly.
You must be wondering why the 3 stars.
Well apart from the food the wait staff were rather obnoxious. Maybe it was the time that we ate or maybe it was their normal attitude however I was not impressed.
I personally did not like the décor. I thought it felt ‘Grandma’s Cottage’ somewhere in a hillbilly community.
Everything was reasonably priced for such an establishment.
I would recommend this place for your cosy night with a significant other or perhaps a small group of friends. If you want to experience grandma’s divine cooking. Just kidding.
Next time I have the chance to visit this restaurant it will be earlier in the evening so that I get to experience the wait staffs professionalism.

kind of french style restaurant. quite good main dish. good service

Das Lokal gehört zum Hotel Kung Carls, kann aber auch von auswärtigen Gästen genutzt werden. Das Buffet kostet pro Person 165 SEK und bietet eine reichhaltige Auswahl von verschiedenen Speisen. Die Lage in den Hallen des Hotels ist sehr einladend.