Swedish Parker!

Pet Sounds Bar, Stockholm.

Absolutely brilliant.

Amanda had planned to meet some friends from back home in London for dinner while she was visiting me in Stockholm.

Seeing I was the Stockholm “local”, I was entrusted with choosing the restaurant. I’d just bought a xmas present for a friend entitled “Classy: Restaurants and Cafes in Stockholm”. But considering she hadn’t come to collect it yet, I figured I’d make good use of it.

So I flicked through trying to find a place that combined both “classy” and “reasonably-priced-for-a-bargain-hunting-Aussie”.

One of the few places that matched both was PetSounds Bar.

Initially this place appealed to me because the review suggested Ryan Adams was a fan.

That’s all the reason I needed to book a table…

Fortunately for the four us, uber-cool-indie-rockstars apparently have good taste, because Pet Sound Bar is bloody awesome.

It’s across the street from the Pet Sounds record store – something of an institution in the indie-music-loving Södermalm (“South area”) of Stockholm.

I drank three double vodkas and a glass of Scotch at Gerard & Mark’s hotel room before we went out (so I was in a generally good mood regardless), but as soon as we arrived at Pet Sounds I knew it was going to be a good night.

Pet Sounds Bar is a bar/restaurant. It’s best described as a “cosy/Buddy-Holly-esque” venue <– according to Amanda.

I’d say its “classy AND retro at the same time”. (Think pics of old-school musicians and gigs all over the walls).

All four of us opted for the Five Course Set Menu.

Gold. I can’t even remember having a “five” course meal before.

The food and service seems far classier than the exterior (/interior) of the restaurant suggests. In the book (“Classy”) it suggests Pet Sounds Bar offers the same quality of a Stureplan restaurant at almost half the price.

I’d have to agree. Our five course meal was a mere 450 krona per person (about $80 Aussie dollars) <– pretty good for Stockholm. Plus the food was absolutely brilliant…

But hey, considering I’d had the aforementioned vodka/scotch plus my more-than-fair share of two bottles of South African red wine at the table, I wasn’t exactly in a fantastic position to judge the quality of the food.

However Gerard & Mark were. And they told Amanda & I it was their best meal in Stockholm so far – and they’d already dined at the uber-wanky “Pontus!” as well as inside the exclusive “Grand Hotel”.

So that alone should be enough of a testimonial…

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2007 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Stockholm's Night, Sweden, bars, restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.