If you want to buy alcohol from a store, you've got to go to the Systembolaget. That is, if you…read moredon't want to drink 4% beer from the grocery store. Oddly enough, this Systembolaget had a quite large selection of beers from California. But they also had some harder to find breweries like Brew Dog. Make sure you get there before they close!

*Note that my rating is based on comparison with other Systembolagets, since that's the only thing…read morethat makes sense in the context of the Swedish market. I consider this a "normal" systembolaget. You don't have to memorize/write-down/take pictures of the bottles of wine, or liquor that you want (Högdalen), and you don't have to take a ticket to talk to a personal consultant (Sankt Ericsplan). It seemed to have a good selection of wine, but I don't know, maybe they all have the same exact selection. It's close to the Fridhemsplan stop, which is convenient. They seem to have plenty of cash registers so it shouldn't get too busy if people are working there. I'm not sure what else I can rate them on honestly! They don't allow your hound in the premises, so leave him outside! When I visited there was a small child in the breezeway yelling to someone inside the store, so maybe they don't allow small children either, hah.

Who knew the Swedes are not allowed to buy wine in a grocery store? Probably everyone in Sweden,…read morebut not us. But no matter, the Systembolaget (which is Swedish for "very clean, even sterile, snack-free liquor store") is right next door. Some things we noticed: one of us (Englishwoman) was a bit taken aback by the man with no shirt on gleefully purchasing booze. Others of us thought the prices were very reasonable. And yet others found the nice young guy with the perfect English who appeared not to actually drink surprisingly helpful -- everything he recommended was very good. Overall a deeply satisfying cultural experience, just what we came to Sweden for.

This is the self-service liquor store in Huddinge…read more When I was there the service was fast, efficient, and it was easy to find what I wanted (a bottle of Pol Roger as a gift - hey, if it was good enough for the Queen Mom, it's good enough for me!). I was actually pleasantly surprised to see a pretty large, well-equipped department of sparkling wines and champagnes.

Mikkeller was an unexpected "wow" moment for this week! What started as a trip to an old sushi spot…read moreended in a serendipitous encounter with the awesome experts at Mikkeller who cunningly sucked us in and convinced us to give it a try - despite the fact we were originally jonesing for sushi. We started with an amazing passionfruit sour and the chicken, lemon, and leek croquettes small plate, moved to a delicious and SUPER fresh salmon smørrebrød, and finished with pan fried mushrooms and goat cheese paired with the smoothest cherry wine I've ever tasted. The mushrooms were a tad too salty to be honest, but considering it was on the house due to one of our croquettes being a little undercooked, we couldn't complain. I'd give the food and drink a solid 4 stars but would give it 10 stars for service and concept if I could so I rounded to 5. Thanks for an awesome spontaneous dining experience!

Off the beaten place, Mikkeller provides an inviting atmosphere with plenty of beers to go around…read more 24 beers on tap and a selection of traditional Danish open faced sandwiches. The pricing of the beer is typical for Stockholm but the variety is unique. If you like trying new beers, this is the place to go. The bartenders speak English and are very helpful in making you feel welcome.

One of my dreams when moving to Europe was finding a local butcher to buy all my meats. Lucky me--I…read morefound one in Stockholm!!! We've gotten the small meat box a few times and they're always great, packaged in nice portions. Sometimes things are vacuum sealed, other times just in a plastic bag--but always sealed with a label of what it is. Sausages (~140-180kr/kg) and minced beef (100kr/kg) are amazingly fresh and flavorful. If you want to try the meat pies, the beef and smoked bacon one was quite quite tasty. Chicken breasts are of great quality; onion/bacon/beef burgers delicious. Love the steaks too. We've gotten a whole cornfed chicken from France once (125kr/kg) and the meat was tender and super flavorful. Carcass made an amazing soup. Basically everything we've gotten there has been fresh and excellent. We got the cooked ham to glaze during Xmas, and it was the best ham I think I've ever had. They didn't have hams less than 2kgs, but nonetheless took the time to open a prepackaged one and slice the amount I asked for (then vacuum seal it for me!). If you're looking for other English/Australian things, you can find Cadbury chocolates, Vegemite and other things. Staff are always helpful at the store, even by email they are quite efficient. Prices are reasonable for the quality you get. If you're looking for something they don't have, they encourage you to call in ahead of time so they can order it for you. Highly, highly recommend this butcher!

Taylors and Jones is a great example of what's disappearing in the very critical supply chain of…read morelocal, sustainable food culture. A neighborhood butcher in Kungsholmen, these guys hail from Ireland and have impressed upon the Swedes what good, quality, and local meats are. The quality of the meat is outstanding, and the service was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Most importantly, they understand the importance of locally grown meats, and they provide many options to their very loyal clientele, including meat boxes which provide a diverse selection of fresh meat, on a regular basis, delivered to your door at incredible prices (far more affordable than ICA or any other supermarket in Stockholm). You're doing yourself, your health, your community, your environment, and the future of the food industry a disservice by not buying all your meat here.

Needed to get some presents for a group of folks and was recommended this shop for spirits. It's…read moreequivalent to a Beverages and More that we have in the states but more refined. Landed a solid selection of. Mikkeller beers, which i must say made my recipients very happy. Turns out the guy right behind me was thinking the same thing getting some Mikkeller as well. So we proceeded to beer geek out as we left the store!

Found this pub in Old Town Stockholm when we went to watch some weekend football matches (European…read morenot American). The pub itself had a good vibe where everyone was friendly and genuinely enjoying themselves. The decor of the pub was a lot of a lot of pub signs and usual things that you would find in a pub. It has a small but pretty cool layout when you could go down some winding stairs and find yourself in another seating area. Because of the pubs popularity and game time it was very packed in the bar area but the bar tender did a good job of attending to everyone. As for the food I enjoyed the fries we had and the vegan burger was alright. As you know my ratings go off of the expectations of how the place rates against similar places so as old school pubs go this was good, but do understand that typical old school pubs aren't well lit, don't have all balanced tables, and great seating in the entire place to enjoy the game. So if you're looking for those things you might want to check out some other places.

An incredibly fun place in Gamla Stan!…read more Spread over two floors, the main one at street level has the big TVs for watching sports and the Jameson Cellar at the basement level is AMAZING! it's like a maze of sorts with a lot of nooks and little alcoves for quiet conversations. Even though the main area where the band sets up is a tight squeeze, it helped us to make friends with locals fast and had a great time. The FREE music is awesome too. I hated the fact that the bartender measured my gin when I asked for a G&T, but what the heck! this is Scandinavia right? I need to pre-game at the hotel next time before going out.