Spangen is a Good Restaurant Choice for a Taste of Sweden

Part of my big 5-0 celebration weekend in Sweden was dinner at Spangens Restaurang. This restaurant is part of the Spangen Gastgivaregard hotel in Ljungbyhed, just a short drive from both the Soderasen National Forest and the zoo (Skanes Djurpark) in Hoor. The Swedish word for restaurant is restaurang, just so ya know that wasn't a typo back there...

Spangens has been around since 1846 and has a wonderfully historic feel to it with huge copper cookware pots and kettles hanging around the very inviting buffet (smorgasbord) table. That smorgasbord is available only for lunch, but I am told by other patrons that it is to die for. We came for dinner and breakfast, and based on those meals I have to believe what they say about that lunch.

Spangens doesn't have a regular menu. They serve one thing, which changes daily. The Saturday evening we went we were started off with a most excellent appetizer called Toast Edvard, named after Swedish actor Edvard Persson who filmed his movie "Kalle Pa Spangen" here around 40 years ago. This dish was a piece of toast just covered with the most delicious dill sauce ever, which was filled with tiny little shrimp. Cucumber, lemon, and various herbs surrounded the dish. It was so incredibly pretty when it arrived that almost didn't want to disturb the plate, but I did. Be careful with this one, though, as the serving is huge and almost a meal in itself and you do not want to fill your belly up just yet.

After the appetizer, we were brought out a plate of Flaskfilet (pork roast) accompanied by diced fried potatoes and a wonderful wine gravy. To be honest, flaskfilet is one of my husband's favorite foods. Since this was my birthday, we should have gone somewhere serving lobster or crab legs... but I do appreciate the thought and the effort on his part. In Sweden, people do not dine out very often, preferring home cooked meals, so he really had little knowledge on where to begin making reservations. Having said that, this flaskfilet was not too shabby. Actually, it was quite good, but my husband is a wonderful cook and I really like his better than this we had at Spangen's. Still. It was pretty tender and the flavor was very good. The sauce (gravy) was perfect.

We were shown a pretty extensive wine list, which was included in our weekend package, but I don't really like wine so resorted to my American proclivities and went with a Coca Cola. Sue me. Some habits die hard.

For dessert we were served strawberry ice cream with various berries. What made this special was how they arranged it. They put a bunch of hand-whipped cream in the center of the plate. then they took the hard-frozen ice cream and cut it into triangles. Two of these triangles were then stood on end into the whipped cream, and surrounded by blueberries, strawberries, and some little yellow berry that neither my husband nor I could identify. I mean, it was still ice cream, mind you, but it looked cool as hell.

The staff was very friendly through the entire meal, and we never once had to wait for a refill on our beverages. After the meal they served coffee, but all restaurants in Sweden are non-smoking and I was dying for a cigarette, so they offered to bring the coffee outside to the wonderful little gazebo next to the river. It was a nice evening weather-wise so this was just especially nice and romantic.

We stayed the night at the hotel part and went up for breakfast the next morning. This is a small serve-yourself buffet that is again entirely Swedish in its offerings. The buller (rolls) were very fresh, as was all the deli selections and cheeses. There are several choices of coffee, including Maxwell House for you Americans that can't handle the strength of regular Swedish coffees. Various juices are in abundance, as are breakfast cereal choices. You can eat all you want at this smorgasbord.

Whether you are staying at the hotel or not, I do highly recommend eating at Spangen's Restaurant. So many places serve food that is a mix of other countries such as England, Italy, France, Germany, and the United States. At Spangen's you are getting a true Swedish meal. All in all, it was a fabulous way to spend a birthday.

260 70 Ljungbyhed // Tel 0435 - 44 00 04 // Fax 0435 - 44 17 40 // e-post: info@spangen.se