Swedish Parker!

A weekend in the Swedish Sun with Jay, Jess and the infamous Buzz Killington.

WITH my very good friends in Dublin on a junkit this month, I was lucky enough to have them drop into Stockholm for the weekend.

Following an emotional trip to the footy shortly after their arrival, Jay, Jess and I headed into town.

Obviously I had to show them “Stureplan” aka the very fancy, very fashionable, very beautiful, and very snobby nightclubbing district of central Stockholm.

We headed to the relative safety of one of my favourite Stockholm bars, Utecompagniet.

Despite being smack-bang in the middle of Stureplan, it’s one of the few places you don’t pay $30 to get into, and you actually can find some pretty cool people there.

Though all we found this night was Buzz Killington (see further down for more details about this illustrious creature).

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We spent the days wandering the beautiful streets of the city in some brilliant weather (we all even managed to get sunburnt – not bad for a trio of Gold Coasters in Scandinavia).

We stumbled across the city’s most colourful bar. And despite it being full of Buzz Killingtons and having bar staff that looked like angels, it couldn’t have been more relaxing.

Did the customary visit to Iron Boy:

Headed out to my favourite restaurant, PetSounds Bar, spending most of the evening trying to guess the famous musicians on the wall (in between reminiscing about the incredible Buzz Killington we saw the previous night).

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Looking back 18 months, I can’t imagine any of us having predicted we’d soon all wind up in Stockholm, a year since having seen each other.

So we basically just spent the weekend soaking up the good weather, and the bloody good times.

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Buzz Killington

Above: Stockholm’s most illustrious Buzz Killington

How To Spot a Buzz Killington:

- has blonde, medium-length, swished-back hair with a part in it
- looks like a wealthy douchebag
- acts like a wealthy douchebag
- most likely wearing a collared shirt with jacket
- alternatively can be wearing polo shirt, so long as it has a large, luxurious crest on it (popular with daytime Buzz Killingtons)
- Buzz Killington won’t be wearing jeans (that’s far too casual)
- socialises within swarms of other Buzz Killingtons – a Buzz by itself is quite weak, but in a pack they’re strong
- unlikely to be seen socialising with any non-Buzz Killingtons
- will be seen drinking champagne (never beer)
- in the evening Buzz Killington will look like he’s just come from dinner at the yacht club
- during the day Buzz Killington will look like he’s just come from lunch at the yacht club
- occasionally you may see the rare, female-Buzz Killington, “Emelia Bedford Forthington Chesterhill” (though Buzz and Emelia can never mix, that’d be like world’s colliding…)
- Buzz Killingtons almost exclusively frequent Stureplan
- locals here in Stockholm would simply call Buzz Killington a “Sturebrat,” or the more affectionate, “Brat.”

…

My third visit to Tennstopet – fast becoming my regular for traditional Swedish cuisine.

Absolute gold.

For a restaurant in Stockholm it’s “decently” priced.

Tennstopet, aka the Pewter Tankard, been around for decades (yet apparently just coming back into fashion).

Either way, it’s brilliant.

I had the “Wallenberger Game” – some sort of giant Game meatball with creamy mushroom sauce, potatoes and lingon berries (heavenly).

While Amanda went for the breast of duck (came with a bunch of fried potatoes/potato-cake-things, sprouts and “stuff”).

Also a part of the “Classy” book…

Unfortunately we opted for both a starter (their classic “Three Plates”) as well as a dessert, each.

Well worth it, but we each felt like death upon leaving the restaurant.

However the fact that the cloakroom-guy (official title) put Amanda’s coat on for her more than made up for it (in her opinion, anyway).

Personally I think Tennstopet is a brilliant Stockholm restaurant, I’ll just order one or two less courses next time…

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…