Gro
Just over a year ago, chefs and former colleagues Henrik Norén and Magnus Villnow realised their dream of opening a small restaurant serving simple, honest, almost exclusively local food where grönsaker (vegetables; literally "green things") are the stars. A dish of cauliflower, bacon and cress, for example, uses cauliflower five different ways: puréed with brown butter, roasted florets, raw shaved root, raw leaves and pickled stem. Lunch is chalked up on a blackboard daily with four choices (100 SEK/£9 each). Dinner is currently served once a week, on Thursdays.
• Four-course lunch for £43. Sankt Eriksgatan 87, grorestaurang.se, +46 8643 4222
Nook
Claes Grännsjö's fusion cooking takes inspiration from all over the world, but you'll notice a particular nod to Korea – the country of his birth – at newly opened Nook. You'll find Korean blood sausage on the menu, alongside reworked classic Swedish dishes such as Torskrygg, ägg, sardeller, parmesan, gröna ärtor (cod with egg, sardines, parmesan and peas). Dishes are available as set menus or individually, but the set menus are better value and provide more of a chance to appreciate Grännsjö's superb cooking.
• Dinner only. Two three-course set menus at £26 and £35. Åsögatan 176, nookrestaurang.se, +46 8702 1222
Oaxen Slip
For many years Oaxen Krog – one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, according to Restaurant magazine – and its sister restaurant, Slip, were located on a remote island an hour outside Stockholm. The founders, Magnus Ek and Agneta Green, have now moved them to a much more accessible waterfront location in the city. The Krog is the fine-dining side, but the adjoining Slip is more affordable and fun, serving what Green calls "Nordic bistro food" – enjoy smoky, delicate röding (arctic char) from Piteå or grilled pork chops with anchovy butter and crispy rind in Slip's large, bright dining hall, with boats hanging from the ceiling and friendly, chatty service.
• Two-course à la carte dinner around £35. Beckholmsvägen 26, oaxen.com, +46 8551 53105
Nytorget 6
The guys behind Nytorget 6 have got the formula right with this local brasserie on hip Södermalm. A warm, intimate dining room, well-executed classic Swedish food with the odd nod to warmer climes, knowledgeable bar staff and all main courses under £17. You won't find well-hung entrecôte with chips and béarnaise sauce this good anywhere else in town. It's the kind of place you could come for a bowl of porridge and apple compote in the morning and find yourself still there, eating råraka (crispy grated potato pancake with bleak roe, red onion and sour cream) at 11pm.
• Three-course à la carte dinner around £32. Nytorget 6, nytorget6.com, +46 8 640 9655
Meatballs for the People
This Södermalm temple to the most Swedish of dishes is really more of a deli than a restaurant, but it's worth a mention as a great place to sample the mighty köttbulle (meatball) as it should be eaten. A million miles from the mass-produced versions found in supermarkets and certain furniture stores, the köttbulle of Hampus Rosenqvist and his team are lovingly handmade from impeccably sourced meat, game, fish and fowl. Try moose meatballs with dill and fennel seeds, served with mashed potato, cream sauce, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber.
• A 450g take-home pack of meatballs from 80 £7, eat-in lunch £11. Nytorgsgatan 30, meatball.se, +46 8 466 6099
Speceriet
Finding a reasonable restaurant in the well-heeled district of Östermalm isn't easy but, luckily for the ladies who lunch, the chef duo behind Michelin-starred Gastrologik, Jacob Holmström and Anton Bjuhr, decided to diversify from fine dining to fun dining. Their bakficka ("back pocket") sister restaurant serves walk-in lunch and dinner at communal tables (a challenge, apparently, for reticent Swedes ...) The focus is on great-quality seasonal Swedish cooking at accessible prices. All main courses are under £17, for example: fried pickled salmon on crispbread with potato and caper mayonnaise, or beets with grilled lamb brisket and goats cheese.
• Snacks £4 to £7, main courses under £17 and desserts £2-£8. Artillerigatan 14, speceriet.se, +46 8662 3060
Råkultur
Thai/Swedish chef Sayan Isaksson may only have visited Japan for the first time recently but that hasn't stopped his Japanese/Nordic fusion restaurant Esperanto from winning countless accolades, including a Michelin star. Råkultur is his no-fuss, no-reservation sister restaurant, which serves stunning sushi combining Japanese skills with Scandinavian produce, at realistic prices. An 11-piece sushi moriawase (combination platter) costs £12, or treat yourself to a few of the exclusive nigiri, such as Arctic char fired up in straw, meltingly tender 48-hour short ribs, or halibut cured in beetroot (£5 for two pieces).
• Kungstensgatan 2, rakultur.se, +46 8696 2325
Lux dag för dag
Head off the beaten track to the small but central island of Lilla Essingen, where Henrik Norström's well-established restaurant Lux reopened last year in a new, more relaxed, and more affordable guise. The menu changes daily and is based on the best seasonal produce from small local producers; in autumn there's plenty of game, often hunted by Henrik himself. The dining room is warm and cosy in a refreshingly un-Scandinavian way, and in summer you can eat on the waterfront terrace.
• Main courses 150 to 250 £13 to £22, daily lunch or dinner special £10. Primusgatan 116, luxdagfordag.se, +46 8619 0190
There aren't many restaurants in Stockholm's financial district where you can rock up without a reservation, let alone make the pleasing discovery that all main courses are under £17, but another bakficka, this time of star chef Pontus Frithiof fills a much-needed gap in the city centre. A fun, buzzy atmosphere courtesy of cheery, speedy staff and dashes of bright yellow, the eatery has a menu consisting of unfussy Swedish classics with Mediterranean touches. There's always a dish of the week such as lenrimmad lax med dillstuvad potatis (cured salmon with creamy dill potatoes) for £16.
• Norrlandsgatan 31, pontusfrithiof.com, +46 8510 25400
Lilla Ego
"For me, fine dining is dead," says chef Tom Sjöstedt. And if the roaring success of Lilla Ego since it opened last November is anything to go by, he and his business partner, Daniel Räms (both former chefs of the year), have their finger firmly on Stockholm's pulse. At their unpretentious bistro, which focuses on food rather than frills, specials are scrawled on torn-off bits of paper stuck on the walls and Ikea tea towels serve as napkins. But their exquisite cooking – seasonal, simple and heavy on the vegetables – speaks for itself and is the reason it's fully booked three months ahead. Drop-ins can chance a seat at the bar.
• A two-course meal costs around £39 but a sausage and a beer at the bar can be had for under £22. Västmannagatan 69, lillaego.com, +46 827 4455
