City, Scandinavian Restaurant Guide

2024 Review: Soren Jessen’s “slick, Nordic cafe in the City of London” occupies part of the Bloomberg Arcade and contributes to the development’s renown for offering “good food in the dry desert of the Square Mile”. It majors in Danish smørrebrød (rye bread with toppings): “nice for a change”, but “you can rack up a fair bill eating these delicate one-bite-and-they-are-gone appetisers” (though “there there are decent main courses such as fish, schnitzel and venison fillet”). On the downside, results can end up seeming “not as Scandi and varied as expected” – “I prefer IKEA meatballs, even if they are not as prettily presented!”

Down a cute Covent Garden alley, this tiny Scandi café with a handful of seats outside in summer is sweet in more ways than one: “the renowned Princess Tarta is criminally delicious and can be personalised to order… 100% authentic too!”

“Smoke and fire are used with pinpoint accuracy” at Stockholm star-chef Niklas Ekstedt’s live-fire dining room, and the effect is “so subtle and inventive”: “unique food that’s amongst the most underrated in London” creating a “really interesting and thought-provoking meal” for “a wonderful night out”. Only positive views were registered this year, and if there was any criticism, it was a desire for a more eventful interior. Options begin at the ‘Journey to Scandinavia’, four-course menu for £95 per person; or you can opt for the six-course ‘Immersive Journey to Scandinavia’, at £120 per person. New in 2025 and limited to 7 guests at a shared table is a new Chef’s Table Experience at £150 per person.

2022 Review: “Still turning out wonderful cinnamon buns and coffee” along with some “excellent Scandi sandwiches”, this Nordic fixture in Soho remains “well worth a visit”.

2024 Review: “Tasty and authentic” Scandinavian dishes including “excellent fish” are on the menu at this “surprisingly cosy and stylish” Nordic outfit in Islington, where “attentive service” ensures an enjoyable meal. Top Menu Tip – “the venison meatballs with lingonberry sauce deserve a special mention”.

“Really splendid open sandwiches” (smørrebrød) to eat in or take away are the most eye-catching items at this Nordic café in Fitzrovia from a Dane (Bronte) and a Swede (Jonas), who also import and distribute food and groceries from Scandinavia. After 18 years they opened a second café, ‘SK Vicky’ near Victoria station, in spring 2025. Top Tip – “the Shrove Tuesday Fat Buns look astonishing”.

2023 Review: “Great coffee and an always-buzzy vibe” make it worth remembering this attractive, all-day Marylebone deli/café, which serves a mix of patisserie, cakes, soups, salads and sarnies from breakfast onwards.

Chef Adam Simmonds – whose long career includes numerous top kitchens and Michelin stars – has redefined the food offering of this dining room within an ambitious, small boutique hotel, bang opposite King’s Cross station (previously trading as Magenta, RIP). Much of the Megaro has a quirky steampunk aesthetic, but the Voyage dining room itself is an elegant high-ceilinged space whose exposed ducting and air conditioning creates a post-industrial vibe. He has taken the cuisine in a Nordic-inspired direction, and limited initial feedback in our annual diners’ poll gives it a strong all-round thumbs up. The same was true for the Guardian’s Grace Dent, who – in her April 2025 review – enjoyed the “stridently finickity” Scandi-style cuisine she found on a tasting menu of “painstakingly prepped gastronomical visions”. Top Menu Tip – celeriac cooked in five different ways.

A headline act in Harrods’ pitch to be a gastronomic destination – this Nordic two-year-old is overseen from afar by a three-Michelin-star chef from Stockholm and occupies a striking, purpose-built, double-height space on the fifth floor. All reports agree its wide-ranging menu provides a “terrific blend of Scandinavian and Asian food” and the extensive array of wine-coolers at the edge of the room showcase a heavyweight wine selection. One or two reporters find the lower dining space “a bit moribund”, but you can always head upstairs to the “lovely rooftop, with terrace” (which is covered and heated even in the winter months).

“Conveniently close to Finsbury Park tube and the Picturehouse Cinema and Park Theatre”, this “modern and stylish Scandi mid-century-inspired café is comfortable” and “spacious”. But ratings have slipped a tad since it opened two years ago: “Frame Café frustrates me, as it started off brilliantly, but I feel it just slightly misses the mark now: recommended for the convenience of its location and the quality of its food, but prices are on the steep side for the area”.