6 Tasty Skane Food Experiences

Skåne in Southern Sweden has a rich culinary history. Join us as we check out Malmö restaurants while exploring food and wine in Skåne. Yes, you read that right – Swedish wine.

We were hungry after taking a four and a half hour train ride across the massive country of Sweden, from Stockholm to Malmö; however, we can’t say the same about our return journey just two days later.

Our exploration of Skåne, the vibrant province on the bottom tip of southern Sweden, was full of great food. Perhaps we ate a bit too much, but we have no regrets. And, hey, isn’t salmon healthy?!

Scandinavian writer Hans Christian Anderson famously said that “to travel is to live”. We like to think that Andersen spent some time in Skåne where he would have surely lived through the food. Skåne, nestled in deep southern Sweden, is known as the breadbasket of the entire country.

Much of Sweden’s produce is grown here, and the area is also a mecca for seafood and other fruits de mers. The culinary richness that permeates the culture is integral to the daily life of the province.

Skåne Food Experiences You Can’t Miss

1. Eat Lunch at a Castle

2. Visit a Vineyard

We were justifiably skeptical about wine in Sweden until we visited Hãllåkra Vingard and tasted the excellent wines being produced at this vineyard in the southernmost part of Sweden. It turns out that Skåne, with its long days and moderately cool weather, has a climate that is conducive to growing grapes.

The vineyard transitioned from a farm to a winery in 2003 and is now one of Sweden’s biggest wine producers with 10,000 vines growing grapes like Rondo, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. For such a cool climate, some of the wines, like the Rondo, made from merlot hybrids, possess surprising muscle and fullness.

During our visit, Karl Sjöström guided us around the vineyard and, in addition to the Rondo, poured us a white wine made with the winery’s Solaris grapes and a Pinot Noir rosé. As we sat in the garden sipping wine with new friends, our skepticism dissipated into the fragrant air with each satisfying sip.

3. Dine at a Farm

Just 21 kilometers south of Malmö, Ängavallen is a unique farm where everything in its family-run restaurant and farm shop is organic and grown on-site. The Nordström family and their diligent staff make every effort to treat the animals with the highest level of respect and kindness.

At Ängavallen, our excellent meal started with a bright gazpacho seasoned with tarragon and kept flowing with dishes like salmon with a fennel emulsion, risotto with ramps, pulled pork ragu, sausage with whiskey sauce, flavorful pork saddle (pictured above) and rhubarb soup with buttermilk sorbet.

As much as we enjoyed the food, we loved the wine pairings even more including viognier from Ardèche, Syrah from South Africa, Malbec from Argentina. Our generous hosts at Ängavallen pulled out all the stops (not to mention the corks) on a varied range of wines produced by boutique wineries around the world.

4. Enjoy Lunch on the Harbor

Skåne was part of Denmark until the 17th century, but many locals we met relate closely to their Danish neighbors, partly due to the region’s storied history and partly due to proximity. To put it in perspective, the train to Stockholm takes over four hours, but the ride to Copenhagen is just 35 minutes. We appreciated the figurative and literal closeness as we strolled on the Öresund’s sandy beach with Denmark on the other side of the Nordic strait.

5. Experience a Michelin Dinner

We had high anticipation for our dinner at one star Michelin restaurant, Ambiance à Vindåkra. After stepping into the charming 19th-century farmhouse, sipping on champagne and enjoying the first bites of Ambience’s heavenly cherries filled with foie gras, we knew that our expectations would be more than met.

Ambience’s solid, French-inspired, modern cuisine displayed the high level of skill and craftsmanship we expect from a kitchen that’s just across the strait from Copenhagen’s world-class dining scene.

Each course of our lux five-course dinner offered an exciting take on French cuisine prepared with local ingredients grown in Southern Sweden. The young chefs cooked and plated the food in the open kitchen just feet from our table. The ending results were as artful as the many paintings decorating the restaurant’s stylish interior.

As cheese lovers, we appreciated the generous cheese cart filled with mostly French tommes. We got to pick our cheeses of choice, including one of our all-time favorites – Époisses de Bourgogne.

We’d be remiss to not give a special shout-out to the fabulous desserts served toward the end of our epic dinner.

From the pre-dessert of mango and passionfruit with a vanilla twill to the parade of berries, petit fours and macarons that marched their way to our table, our senses were both overwhelmed and happy. This happiness continued the next day when we ate the petit fours that the staff kindly bagged for us.

6. Take a Malmö Food Tour

Malmö may be the third largest city in Sweden, but it’s second to none when it comes to gastronomy. Benefitting from its closeness to food-centric Copenhagen as well as its agricultural bounty, the city is a serious player on the culinary front. We visited a solid sampling of local favorites during our visit and can recommend the following establishments.

Blå Hoddan

Salt & Sill Deli

Kaka på Kaka

Gastronomi & Harmoni

Original Publication Date: September 26, 2016