Tradition

Very homely traditional restaurant with lively swedish folk songs in the background. Was lucky to got a seat when I walked in at 6.20pm. It got really crowded with a queue by 6.50pm. Wanted to try the swedish sampler apettizer but it was only for 2 pax. The meatballs were good with accompanying pickles, lingonberries & mash potato by the side. Gravy was just nice — not too creamy. The smoked creamy reindeer with roe was awesome!

Came here last night for my last meal in Stockholm. Had a great time here grubbing on some Swedish fare with a modern twist. It’s not just meat and potatoes here– although many of the dishes are server with carbs of some type. I had read great things about Restaurang Tradition from previous reviews, so I knew I had to come try this place out while I was strolling the streets of Gamla Stan. Restaurang Tradition is situated in a cozy corner of Österlånggatan, right at the footsteps of the Stockholm Palace. Restaurang Tradition provides a cozy and friendly dining experience despite what you might expect being kitty corner to a royal palace (just kidding, there are no more nobility venturing these streets!).
When you first enter the restaurant, you feel warmth – both from the heat inside (heater and all the candles that are lot) and from the welcoming waitstaff. I didn’t opt for the tasting menu (which normally requires a minimum of two people, but the chef was willing for me to do the tasting menu even as a table of one). I ordered the smoked reindeer appetizer and the elk patty in mushroom sauce entrée — both of which were very delectable. This was my first time having reindeer, and it was surprisingly good as it offered various textures and tastes including a slightly creamy base with a mix of soft pillowy texture (from the accompanied bread) and crunch from the fish roe that was atop the smoked reindeer. I’ve had elk meat
before, and didn’t really think much of it. Here, the elk patty was really good here and tasted great with the mushroom sauce (which was akin to a stroganoff sauce). The elk patty was cooked medium well, so if you’re afraid of red meat, ask them to cook it longer. But with most meat patties, the longer you cook them the tougher they get. And I’m sure an elk patty is no exception.
Of note, the meal was reasonably priced (around 340 SEK — note, I also ordered a 40 ct beer!), comparable to what you’d pay in the US after tax and tip.
Overall, I had a great time dining experience here. The waitstaff were friendly and warm, just like the restaurant décor. I liked all the candles at each table and at the windows– definitely gave the restaurant a «hygge» (Danish for warm coziness) feel. Next time I’m in town, I’ll try to come back here and try the other dishes. :)

Headed off to Stockholm for a last minute trip with a friend and did ZERO planning in terms of what to see and do. Luckily, the night before I flew out, someone told me that I absolutely had to try Tradition in Gamla Stan so I made sure to bookmark it.
The extent of our Swedish food knowledge was meatballs and herring so we happily did the tasting menu to get a little taste of it all — this is the perfect option for those in the same boat, the portions were just right for us to try everything without being tied to entrée sized portions. I attempted to document the deliciousness of our meal in my pics, but just some of the standouts (in my opinion):
The shrimp toast (1^st course) was a perfect answer to the massive shrimp toasts we saw that day at the Östermalms Saluhall — I don’t think I can stomach one of those myself but this little bite was just right! The västerbottens cheese (2^nd course) with caviar was like the BEST nacho cheese sauce you’ve ever had (truly, this is a compliment). The breaded/​fried herring and meatballs (3^rd course) were amazingly flavorful.
We thoroughly enjoyed almost every bite of our meal — the only thing I couldn’t finish was the black pudding, it was so dense and I’ve had better bacon before (in Swedish cuisine, it’s called salted pork).
By the way, I would highly recommend making reservations — we just winged our whole day and didn’t want to be tied to a schedule so we showed up at Tradition around 6:30 and got a table immediately but everyone else after us were turned away. Don’t leave Stockholm disappointed, call ahead!
I’ve heard that Stockholm is a pricey town to eat in, but this was about $ 60 USD per person for the tasting menu and so worth it. The restaurant itself was trendy but not stuffy, and the staff were all so helpful. The only weird thing was that our waiter seemed to be ignoring us towards the end of the meal and we could not flag him down for the bill but it was not an issue enough to take off a star from this review.

On our first day in Stockholm we really lucked out to find Tradition, in Gamla Stan. What caught our eye was a vegetarian vegetarian dining option, rare in Scandinavia, so we went in at about 6pm without a reservation. This was lucky since they mentioned that all later seatings were taken but we were just under the wire (we noticed that other groups were turned away after us).
The waitstaff was very friendly and helpful. She steered us to wine selections that went with our meal choices.
We started with the cheese and meat plate. They were nice enough to add additional veggie choices like pickled chantrelle mushrooms and radish slices. Additionally there were tasty cured meats including reindeer (my first time!).
For dinner my wife had the potato dumplings (I tasted — very good) and I had the meatballs (with mash potatoes, lingonberries and pickled cucumber). The combination was delicious.
We capped it by two shots of aquavit, the traditional Scandinavia liquor. Awesome.
A full recommend.

Typisches schwedisches Restaurant mit landestypischer Küche (vorherige Reservierung empfohlen). Empfohlen wurde uns der Laden von der Angestellten unserer Unterkunft in Stockholm. Unser Wunsch war ein Preis/​Leistung attraktives Restaurant. Nur vorweg: Günstig in Deutschland ist nicht gleich günstig in Schweden. Dementsprechend waren die Preise vollkommen in Ordnung und die Gerichte sehr lecker. Nur das Ambiente hatte etwas von einem IKEA Möbelhaus. Deswegen gibt es einen Stern Abzug. Die Bedienungen waren sonst durchweg freundlich und hilfsbereit.

The concierge at our hotel recommended Tradition. We started with the smoked reindeer which was excellent. I had the cod, and it was divine. My daughter had Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes. She loved them. The atmosphere is casual.

The food was wonderful. I had the vegetarian dish, roasted cauliflower which came with a lovely presentation and cooked to perfection, the black bread served before the meal was amazing. The waiter was knowledgeable about the food and able to help all members of our party find something that they truly enjoyed.

I would recommend this restaurant to tourists but not to swedes. I think they represent Swedish tastes and ingredients quite well (though a bit bland and boring at times) but for me (a swede) it’s just not quite right. But since I can’t treat you all to the perfect Swedish meatballs (found only in my mother’s kitchen at christmas) I suppose this could do. I would however recommend walking on to Bakfickan (by the opera) for a better experience.

Can you say REINDEER?
…
We stopped in because of the amazing reviews on Unilocal.The restaurant was empty as we were eating at 4:30, but others started pouring in throughout the meal. No reservation was necessary, but several people walked in trying to make a reservation for later and they were sent away as the restaurant is completely booked after 7pm.
I think my favorite thing about the restaurants was the waitstaff. She was absolutely delightful and lovely to chat with. Great demeanor, which was very useful because the menu had so many delicious items on it that I had a lot of trouble deciding what get.
Of course we got the raindeer. And my partner was singing christmas carols all through ordering. It was a little scary looking for me when it came out (a dollop that looked like a spicy tuna-​ish dolluo — not solid meat) but delightful to eat, sort of tasting like bacon and mayonaise. They put roe on everything here, so it also came with a dollop of bleak row on top (the yellow kind).
We also got the pork and vegetarian version of the same meal, for which I felt slightly ridiculous. After ordering, we realized we should have split one, we didn’t come close to finishing either. I prefered the pork one to the veggie one, but that is because the veggie one ended up being mushroom, which I very much dislike. However, the beets were absolutely amazing. If there is anything that is a must have in this restaurant, I would say it is the beets. A few items come with them, but if I came back I would beg for a side of their beets.
The meal comes with bread and the wonderful butter spatula that I love that everyone serves, but the butter is not as spreadsble as other places I have been to. The free bread was ginger bread (maybe?) which was a unique treat, but a bit too sweet for our tastes. I did help myself to the classic unleavened bread (found everywhere), and enjoyed «painting» my bread with the spatula.

Für schwedische Verhältnisse ein Restaurant im mittleren Preisniveau. Das Essen war hervorragend, vor allem die gebratenen Heringe in brauner Butter ein Gedicht! Der Service war super und der Wein lecker.

This is a restaurant in the Old Town area that serves modern takes on classical, Swedish food: husmanskost. We decided to take an international friend there for dinner to give him a chance to experience some local food. Traditionally we have used the beer hall Pelikan for that, but decided to try something new. We got there at 7pm and were the first to arrive. The restaurant has a very nice interior design in bright, birch tree interiors.
We tried there reindeer starter (bye Rudolf!), a modern version of veal with dill (dillkött), and desserts (rose hip soup, apple crumble, and chocolate cake with cloudberries). The food was excellent and greatly prepared. Some in new styles but with classical flavors
A big plus was that menus were in both English and Swedish so it was easy for our guest to follow along and select the food he’d want to try. Our waiter did a good job in helping us select or explain. I think though that a tad stronger ability in helping us pair drinks with the food had been needed (and hence a 4 star, not 5). Now it really became up to us to pick a beer among a dozen we didn’t recognize and that were especially sold at this restaurant.
Yes, on a similar occasion, I will definitely consider bringing a guest there again to have them try Swedish flavors. And it is good to know that there are some good restaurants in the area that aren’t poor quality and a rip off.

Let’s start at the start. The bread. The dark, rich, soft and amazing rye bread with soft butter that comes down as soon as you sit in your chair. Where every bite is just as amazing as the last. Maybe more so. Alright, more so. Every bite gets better.
This bread was so good, I asked them to wrap me up a loaf to take home. I carried a brick of bread wrapped tight throughout the rest of my day in Stockholm. And it was worth it.
But Tradition does not gain a solid five stars for the bread alone (although it might). This cute little green café is damn perfect. The staff is friendly and greets you at the door. I was sat right away and walked through the menu. There’s a nice mix of traditional items (obviously) with new flavours. It’s a very casual spot, where you can sit with friends and enjoy.
I started with the salmon, which was melt in your mouth perfect and came with onions, toasted bread and amazing mustard. And then for my main, I asked for a recommendation, and he lead me to the salt beef which was perfectly tough and tasty with a fantastic sauce. Oh man, I made myself hungry just by thinking about it.
They didn’t have great (or any) wifi when I was there but they said they were working on it. They may by the time you go.
And go for sure. One of the better meals I had in Sweden.

I was only in Stockholm for one day and boy is this city beautiful. I was with a private tour group (just my family) and unfortunately, the tour was basically going to take up the majority of our time at the city before we had to head back to the ship.
Our tour guide briefly mentioned that this restaurant Tradition was bringing back traditional Swedish food; The city appears to be opening more and more «ethnic» cuisines such as Italian and Japanese etc… I guess there is a renaissance of Swedish food now.
For me however, local eats are such a big part of my travels so my parents and I decided to stay behind while the rest of the group moved on. It was the BEST decision ever.
There is a lovely patio to the side of the restaurant which is private and quiet. Because this restaurant is located near the Royal Palace, it was nice to get away from the throng of tourists. We were quickly seated outside and we ordered a local beer which was SOOO refreshing. I finished 3 glasses before the waitress took our order!
Before our lunch, we were able to sample home-​baked Swedish Bread (which is a hard Rye-​like bread) but with a little salted butter, yum! Then, there were the Swedish Crackers which, let’s just say, is really like cardboard.
I started off with the Grad Lax (Salmon with a mustard sauce and some crispy bread). The first bite is something I will never forget: the Salmon was so soft and buttery, and with the sauce and bread combo — this honestly was the most heavenly dish. All the ingredients worked PERFECTLY.
For mains, I had another Salmon dish (because I have this image of Wild Salmon in Scandinavia swimming through fresh Fjords where the Vikings were and I can’t get enough). THIS IS HOW SALMON SHOULD BE COOKED! The flesh was still a gorgeous, organ, pink and as soon as I put my fork through the buttery flesh, I could see droplets of juice running down. O.M.G.
My parents had the Beet salad with Goat cheese and both had Swedish Meatballs which were small, bouncy, balls with BIG flavour.
We didn’t have time for dessert, but I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Stockholm and wants to try local food. This location is hidden and is definitely a local gem. Service was amazing and our waitress took the time to explain everything. If I ever go back to Stockholm, I am determined to come back here for a full and complete meal.