We're Alex and Marko, the Vagabrothers
And this series is about new Nordic cuisine
We'll be travelling across three Nordic capitals
Exploring the culinary revolution thats turned this region into one of the most dynamic food destinations on earth.
Along the way, we'll be meeting locals
eating
drinking
and having a great time.
Hope you're hungry.
In episode four, we're going from Stockholm to Helsinki
Good morning! Good morning!
We are in Stockholm and it's a beautiful day in a wonderful city
but we need to have some food ,because like any good humans, breakfast is the key to starting your day perfect.
So we're going to start off by exploring one of the more traditional aspects of Swedish and Scandinavian culture
which is coffee here in Sweden.
Coffee break is called "fika" and usually they eat cinnamon rolls with it.
This is true, you have. And it's not a normal cinnamon roll from what we've heard.
No it is a normal cinnamon roll. Our version in America is different.
Okay fine, fine.
Its a Swedish cinnamon roll and its not exactly the same as what we're used to back at home,
but it supposedly goes great with coffee.
and I'm in the mood for caffeine and sweets.
So we're going to go into this bakery right here called Brillo and go check it out, learn how to make a cinnamon roll.
And then eat it.
Lets go
Alright guys we are going to go have a quick chat with Hakan Johansson
he's actually the winner of the world baking championships so he's like bakery all-star.
It's very popular in all of Sweden and also in Norway and Denmark
so its like national bun.
We do it with a wheat dough with a lot of butter and sugar
and then inside the filling is cinnamon and also mixed is cinnamon, cardamon, almond paste
and a lot of butter
and then you twist it together and you put egg on top and then
and just sugar.
See if we can make these ourselves.
That's nice.
And now we're going to take the dough out roll it out with this machine
and then we're going to put the filling in.
Is it weird that I kind of want to cover myself in that?
Ya
Ya is that alright?
And we're going to roll the bun, and shape it and then afterwards we put in the proof box over here, and then we bake.
Gonna turn this into this
Never rolled a bun before but I've rolled plenty of other things.
Think I can do this.
Twist it around like this, over, under
Like that?
Almost
Perfect! That looks beautiful
It's beautifully imperfect, just like you
Do you think you can roll a better cinnamon bun than me?
I know I can.
What have you ever baked?
I'm doing this totally backwards, it needs to go through here, and come back here.
That's not a bad first attempt, is it? I did alright, it's okay.
That one is perfect
And these are our messed up attempts.
Rebecca was kind enough to ask if this was my creation.
That lonely little pile of disregarded dough.
It could have been
Nailed it!
This looks good.
Wow! Even better straight out of the oven.
I could eat a fika all day long.
Alright well we're going to take these guys on the road
we're going to have a stroll through the old town.
And then its time for lunch.
it's just a never-ending feast. I'm having the best week of my life right now.
Thank you so much!
I really appreciate that.
Hey, keep doing what you're doing.
So we're going to wander the old town here
this is the most central of the islands in Stockholm, it's not that big
Just going to get lost in these cobblestone streets.
I really love the architecture here,
this is a beautiful city.
A lot of cities in Europe were destroyed during World War One and Two
but Sweden escaped unscathed
A lot of neo-classical architecture is painted beautiful, brightly.
And capped in these sort of copper awnings
which have turned verdgris - a greenish color from the weather and it just looks gorgeous.
Okay so where are we?
We are in the burnt square, which is this tiny little place in the heart of the old town.
There used to be a house here, and that burned down in 1720
And they didn't replace the house nor did they rebuild it.
So they just kept this as an open place and its a really popular place
both for Stockholmers and people to come here and visit
So we are in the big square, and its the main square in the old town
and behind me are two of the most photographed houses in Stockholm.
This is the Stockholm bloodbath square, correct?
Right yeah so Sweden was invaded by Denmark back in the day and all the nobility that resisted were executed here
But they were invited to dinner first.
Were they?
That's why it was a bloodbath. They were all invited in
And then they were all murdered, promptly.
And very efficiently.
Never trust a Greek bearing gifts - Virgil
Never trust a Sicilian, especially in games of wit. - The Princess Bride
And never get in a land war in Asia! - The Princess Bride
I found my favorite store in the world
I'm obsessed with old maps and look at the name
of this building.
Literally it's called Old Maps, Antique Maps.
I'm going in.
Okay so now it's lunch time we are in the neighboorhood of SoFo
and we are going to eat at Meatballs for the People.
It actually has a sign that says we love balls.
So why not, lets go feast on some balls, okay?
I can't wait to eat them.
Allright guys we're sitting down with Donna from Meatballs for the people
and shes going to tell us more about Swedish meatball culture.
The Swedish meatball started off as something really good
and has kind of been made into something not so good.
Whats the difference between an Italian meatball and a Swedish meatball?
Italian meatballs are big and are full of herbs and flavors
and Swedish meatballs are very simple, it's small.
Do you guys do it in a classic way or do you have a twist on it?
We currently have 99 different flavors of meatballs.
What do you guys think about bringing out for us today?
Classic, a rooster, a moose, and wild boar.
Super good.
With the lingon berries and the salt, we got that sweet salt flavor the Sweds like.
So the lingon berries are something we dont get so much in the U.S
Whats more common is the American dingleberry, but thats a whole different thing.
So we just finished an execelent lunch at Meatballs for the People
and now we are at Urban Deli down the street.
So Sweds are the number 3 biggest coffee drinkers in the world by cups.
"Per-Cup-ita"
Danes, fourth biggest coffee drinking country.
Sweds, number three, Finns, number two
and if you can get one, you get a thumbs up from us in the comment section.
We're sitting outside on this beautiful day, enjoying the SoFo neighboorhood.
My buddy Nick and his girlfriend Kabi are going to come over and hang out with us and maybe some of our fans from Stockholm.
My name is Drake from America
Mila, I'm here from Sweden.
Guys, nice meeting you, thanks for coming out.
The place is cool its like a Swedish Deus Ex Machina, they make motorbikes, and they have surf culture it's a pretty stylish place.
So we're going to maybe pick up some new threads.
Alright we'll were walking down Gotgagan St and supposedly this is the "hipster catwalk."
So it's time for us to catch our ferry so we gotta say goodbye to Nick and Kabi.
Goodbye Stockholm, you've been fun! Hello Helsinki.
So we don't really know what this is going to be like but apparently this ferry is a party ferry,
its going to go through the beautiful Swedish archipelago on the way to Helsinki
across the Baltic Sea, its an overnight ferry so it's a beautiful sunset I think
some nice food and wake up in Finland.
There he is! Yeah! Woo!
Well we just finshed an epic slumber, we were totally exhaused after
some serious fun over the last couple days. We're about to go to
Helsinki for the Flo festival too.
We're going to finish these beers and crash out early
Even though there is a nightclub downstairs, and a casino.
We have an amazing trip lined up for us, when we get to Finland, so make sure you guys tune in for those videos.
If you enjoyed this one make sure you give it a thumbs up, share it with your friends and subscribe to Vagabrothers for new videos every Tuesday.
And maybe more.
As always, in the mean time, stay curious, keep exploring, and we'll see you guys on the road.
More specifically, Helsinki, Finland.
Peace!