A Little about Sweden, and Linköping’s landmarks and Food, including … Mexican!

I had the opportunity to visit Sweden last month.  My husband had some work to do in the city of Linköping, so I tagged along, and we stayed there for two weeks.  He took some time off afterwards; we moved to Stockholm, and explored the capital city and a couple of nearby places for an extra week.  After our stay, I can completely understand why Sweden is amongst the world’s best countries to live in, with beautiful landscapes, a thriving economy, excellent public transportation and other social programs, and a drive for constant progress, while always caring about the environment (click on any image below, for slide show): 

Linköping is the capital of Östergötland County, and one of Sweden’s oldest and largest cities.  The earliest sections of the Linkõping cathedral date from the 12th century, as does the neighbouring building called Linköping castle, originally built as a bishop’s residence.   Both structures have been expanded and continuously remodelled over the centuries, still standing strong.  The Castle is now a museum, where the history of both buildings, and an impressive collection of their religious artefacts may be seen.  In the photos below, entrance to the museum (left), and a museum brochure, showing an aerial view of the cathedral and castle buildings:

The Cathedral still functions as a Lutheran church, and is also open to visitors during the week.  In the photos below, from left (click on pictures for full image) East side of the cathedral; central altar, featuring a medieval crucifix, and a three-panel altar piece painted between 1934 and 1936 by Norwegian artist Henrik Sörensen; The tree of Life, gold, silver and glass artwork designed by Carl-Gustav Jansson, Jan Ostwald and Torbjorn Vogt: 

In 1937, under the threat of an imminent global conflict, The Swedish Aeroplane Corporation – Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget  (SAAB) was first founded in Linköping, and  commissioned to design and build combat aircraft and components.  Although Sweden remained neutral during WWII, their proximity to Germany and the then USSR prompted the country to continue this activity, still afraid of invasions and colonist campaigns. This accelerated the city’s development over the rest of the 20th century, and currently stands as a hub to address the growing demand of high-tech and science research and development, so much so that the city’s motto is Linköping – där idéer blir verklighet (where ideas become reality), and the Linköping University was founded in 1975, now with two campuses in Linköping, Valla and University Hospital (latter, photo below), plus two others in Norrköping and Stockholm.   

SAAB‘s headquarters are now located in Stockholm, but their main domestic development and manufacturing operations are still in Linköping, so it is justifiable that the city is also home of the Swedish Airforce Museum (Flygvapenmuseum):

Other landmarks in Linköping include the Kinda Canal, the beautiful City Gardens, the regional Östergölands Art and Design Museum, and Old Linköping (Gamla Linköping):

During our two-week residence in Linköping, in addition to the wonderful sites, we enjoyed all sorts of Swedish and other ethnic food, from Indian and Middle Eastern, to an English style pub, French and … Mexican!  Some highlights were: 

Smak Sak (Stora Torget 7, Linköping), which offers a nice selection of traditional Swedish dishes, served in a contemporary fashion.  My husband tried their Wallenbergare, a veal meatloaf, served on mashed potatoes, with peas and lingonberry sauce, and I had their Classic Östgötta Raggmunk (traditional potato pancakes, served with fried pork belly and lingonberry sauce:

Brasserie Bouquet (Tanneforsgatan 8, Stora Torget, Linköping) gets its inspiration from French and other cuisines.  They have a comfortable four-seasons patio, and an extensive bar selection.  We were treated first by my husband’s colleagues, and we liked so much, we returned on our own on our last evening in town.  The dishes we tried were:  Sandre en Cravate, a perch or pike fillet baked wrapped in paper, with browned butter, dill and fennel, topped with pickled red onion and black lumpfish roe, and served with a potato cake, lemon and chive crème fraîche:

And a pleasant surprise, CABO (Platensgatan 5, Linköping), a Mexican restaurant with contemporary twists:

We also liked it very much, and went back for dinner a second night on the same week.  Both times we ordered an appetizer of CABO ceviche, prepared with tuna and white flounder marinated in lime juice, mixed with mango and pineapple, dressed with pickled onions, seaweed caviar, cilantro, radishes, green onions and red chili peppers, with a side of yucca chips:

 This recipe had a perfect balance of all the flavours in the ingredients; savoury, sweet, sour and spicy were masterfully combined.  The use of fruit and “seaweed caviar” (basically seaweed flavoured jelly bubbles) were a welcomed novelty, and the choice of fresh and pickled vegetables just delicious.  I do not have a recipe for ceviche on this blog, mainly because it is very hard to find sushi-grade fish in my location.  I might try to get some frozen tuna steaks or something similar, which should be ok, especially if I chop them small, and let them marinate in lime juice long enough. Stay tuned for that …

Our other dishes were their blue mussels, right from the Baltic Sea, cooked in white wine, with garlic, lime, cilantro and mint, served with flat bread on the side, and their Signature Chili, shredded prime rib, slow cooked in a chili and chocolate sauce, served with tortilla chips and sour cream:

The mussels were reminiscent of a “mojo de ajo” (garlic and butter sauce).  I have a recipe for fish al mojo de ajo, but I should try cooking some mussels this way, soon.  The Signature Chili was very well executed, but the name was a little confusing for me; “chili” made me think of American Tex-Mex “chili con carne”, a ground beef dish, often seasoned with cumin and red peppers, but this dish had shredded meat, and the seasoning promised a chocolate flavour, which would be considered a mole.  In the end, the shredded beef and sauce reminded me more of my tinga de res, so I would keep the recipe, but change the name to “Signature Tinga.”

The second time around, we shared a Taco Trio, as seen at the top of the post, consisting of, from top to bottom: birria (slow-cooked primer rib in a red sauce, topped with cheese and cilantro, served with a side of consommé); al pastor (shaved pork loin cooked on a skewer, with red spicy sauce and grilled pineapple); and fish (battered white flounder, lime aioli, seaweed caviar, and fried herbs):

The birria was nice, but the crumbled cheese on top did not contribute in any way to improve the finish; nowadays, it is trendier to add a layer of crisped cheese instead.  The al pastor was nice, especially with the grilled pineapple, but the sauce was too smoky, and just not close to Mexican al pastor; having the fresh lime from the fish taco, though, saved the day by adding some acidic touches of lime juice.  The battered fish was good, and the toppings were a refreshing twist on the taco (except for the dill, I removed that).  Finally, the tacos were served on wheat tortilla, and I found out too late, a part of the menu not translated to English seemed to indicate that corn tortillas were an option, so I would have requested that for sure. Overall, very good contemporary Mexican food, good quality ingredients, friendly service, and although we did not order any, apparently their Margaritas are a great addition to their meals. I have already shared stories and recipes for all three flavours. Click on the highlighted text to check my Restaurant Style Birria Tacos, How to Make Tacos al Pastor without a Spinning Vertical grill, and my Baja Style Fish Tacos. 

---

I am sharing my post at Thursday Favourite Things #674 with Bev @ Eclectic Red Barn, Pam @ An Artful Mom, Katherine @ Katherine’s Corner, Amber @ Follow the Yellow Brick Home, and Linda @ Crafts a la Mode.

---

I am joining Fiesta Friday #551 with Angie @ Fiesta Friday.