Restaurants and Cafés

Here are some of the restaurants and cafés that we frequent, or enjoyed particularly. So far the list is short, but I hope to build it up gradually.

Nordgården, Snipen, Billdal.

	Nordgården -- a paradise for eye and gum -- is a renovated farmhouse converted into a craft centre and restaurant, within 20 minutes of Göteborg. The buildings cluster around a cobbled yard, with little shops selling crafts, antiques and delicacies on three sides (worth a visit in their own right), and the restaurant in the barn. In summer one can sit outside in the sunshine, while in winter the oil lamps and candles create a cosy atmosphere. The cuisine is mediterranean in inspiration, with salad and pesto in almost every dish; always fresh, always tasty. I ate Caesar salad with prawns for 85:-, our most expensive dish; note the pesto on my bread! A help-yourself dessert table and coffee in brass kettles complete the meal. Delicious! Nordgården has never disappointed: it always makes for a most enjoyable outing. Prices are reasonable at lunch time (lunch was under 100:- each), higher in the evening, which we have yet to try. Why not combine with a walk in Billdals Park? (2000-01-30)

Directions: Take the 185 south from Göteborg for Särö. After passing Askim, Hovås and Brottkärr, take the exit signposted Billdal and Lindome, and turn right at the T. After a few minutes you will reach the junction at Snipen, where a right turn leads north through Billdal, and the main road turns sharply left for Kullavik. Nordgården is directly ahead of you as you reach the bend: turn right (actually more like straight ahead) onto a tiny road and then left into their car park.

Café Trubaduren, Borgmästargatan 6, Kungsbacka. Open until 20:00 Monday to Thursday, until mid-afternoon Friday to Sunday.

Café Trubaduren occupies the foyer of the Kungsbacka public library, in Fyren, the house of culture. Picture windows look out over the river and picturesque old-fashioned wooden villas, while in the stylish café itself both leather armchairs and foreign newspapers are provided, or tourist brochures about Kungsbacka if you prefer.

We ate a light lunch of sandwiches. My prawn, mayonnaise and egg sandwich was well-filled on a white teacake, with good flavour and texture, and a bargain at 41:-. Mary took an egg and tomato sandwich on heavy black rye bread, topped with chopped red onions (22:-), while the boys ate rye rolls filled with cheese, ham, and tomato, all very tasty. Enormous café-au-lait topped off our lunch perfectly.

The café does offer more substantial hot food also, including baked potatoes and a respectable chicken burrito (45:-), which we have enjoyed on other occasions.

Overall: good food, in pleasant surroundings, and best of all, at prices which are on the low side of reasonable. Our favourite in Kungsbacka! (070499)

Directions: Borgmästargatan is the street that runs down the west side of Kungsmässan shopping centre. The café is in the library building on the west side of the road, just north of the bridge over the river.

Sollebrunn Gästgiveri (Sollebrunn Inn)

Sollebrunn Gästgiveri is several hundred years old, but renovated in the late eighties, and now contains a very fresh and light restaurant and café. The feel is old-fashioned, but comfortable. There is a separate non-smoking area. On week-days (when we were there) the food offered is Swedish `husmanskost´-- home cooking. We took the menu of the day for 55:-, which consisted of succulent roast pork with apple sauce and potatoes, a small salad buffet from which I took cole slaw and fresh walnut bread, a drink such as light beer, and coffee. The salad buffet is served on a cart, of all things! Overall: very tasty food at an excellent price. Definitely worth a detour! On Sundays a 3-course lunch is served...we look forward to returning for more!

Directions: Sollebrunn is on road 42, south of Trollhättan. The Gästgiveri is about 100m west of the main cross roads in the town centre. About 1 hour from Göteborg.

Laxbutiken (The Salmon Store), by the E6 exit 49, 10km S of Falkenberg. Signposted from the motorway. Tel: 0346-511 10.

Laxbutiken occupies a rather unpromising looking building close to the motorway junction, but inside it is light and airy. Inside the door is a delicatessen counter containing every imaginable salmon dish, cooked, smoked, or gravad, for sale `take away´. Beyond the shop area is a spacious restaurant serving many of the same items. There is an a la cârte menu at moderately high prices (150:- to 200:-), a bit too much for a family fill-up stop. But the `light meals´ menu is just perfect.

I chose `salmon puffs´ (65:-), a puff pastry envelope containing a hot salmon/sun-dried tomato mixture, which was delicious. Mary and John Desmond took `salmon Janssons´ (50:-), a kind of flan made from salmon, potato, and dill, held together with egg, which was also very tasty. Liam was delighted with herby `salmon balls´, like meat balls, a snip at 5:- each. Everything was served with a fresh salad and the same crème fraiche and roe sauce, and Liam's meal also included boiled potatoes.

Overall, our food was tasty, filling and much more refined than one would expect at the price. Laxbutiken is an excellent choice for a lunch stop on the motorway south from Göteborg. (070499)