Restaurant Pelikan is a classic restaurant in Stockholm you’ll love for authentic traditional Swedish food.

It was my very first day in Stockholm, and I wanted to get a real taste for Swedish home-style cooking, and so I knew I needed to eat at Restaurant Pelikan.

Keep reading this blog post for all the details about eating at this amazing Swedish food restaurant in Stockholm.

Restaurant Pelikan
Outside view of Restaurant Pelikan

Restaurant Pelikan

Restaurant Pelikan is a legendary restaurant in Stockholm that has been serving Swedish cuisine since 1733. Now that’s impressive!

They started off in the center of Old Stockholm, and they’ve been at their current location since the 1940’s, although, as our waiter told me, the current location has been a beer hall and restaurant since 1904.

Restaurant Pelikan has some some serious history to it, and you can tell immediately as you walk in; Everything from the checkered tiles on the floor to the antique tables. I also really liked the high ceiling, giving the restaurant a Swedish food hall style feel.

Bread basket
Start of with a basket of bread

The Menu

Having a look through the menu, almost everything sounded good to me in my state of hunger as I arrived.

On the menu you’ll find a good list of traditional Swedish dishes, ranging from appetizers to giant main courses and desserts. I knew I wanted to try the Swedish meatballs, one of the most well known of all Swedish foods. I had tried Swedish meatballs like this before, but never had I tried the meatballs like they serve at Pelikan.

Also, a couple of other things on the menu at Pelikan restaurant stood out to me, including the steak tartare and reindeer steak, and there was nothing I could do to talk myself out of them.

Swedish steak tartare
Steak tartare (råbiff)

Steak tartare (råbiff)

I have a little bit of a fascination with raw meat dishes from Thai sok lek to Ethiopian kitfo, and so when I see steak tartare on the menu, it’s nearly impossible for me to pass up. Råbiff is the Swedish version of steak tartare.

råbiff
Råbiff in Sweden

The råbiff at Restaurant Pelikan came elegantly decorated with the minced meat in a patty formation, topped with a raw egg yolk, mustard, and surrounded by capers, red onions, and thin shoestrings of what I’m pretty sure was horseradish.

Swedish food
I mixed all the ingredients before eating it

I’m not totally sure the correct method of eating råbiff, but I mixed all the ingredients together before taking my first bite.

The minced beef melted in my mouth, and the crispness of the onions, plus the sharpness of the horseradish (that just slightly went up my nose), was beautiful.

If you’re a lover of minced raw beef that melts in your mouth, the råbiff at Pelikan is a starter you don’t want to miss. It was outstanding.

Swedish meatballs
Swedish meatballs (köttbullar)

Swedish meatballs (köttbullar)

Even if you know very little about Swedish food, the one dish you’ve probably heard of are Swedish meatballs – and Swedish meatballs I think is the only real Swedish dish I had tried before traveling to Sweden.

So on my first meal in Stockholm at Restaurant Pelikan, I needed to order their special köttbullar, Swedish meatballs.

Swedish food - meatballs
The meatballs were huge and delicious

At Pelikan the meatballs were huge in size, not quite tennis balls, but at least billiards.

They came neatly stacked in a pyramid formation, covered in gravy, and alongside lingonberries and pickles, and with a side of mashed potatoes.

The meatballs were smoother in texture than I had previously imagined. They were densely packed, and the sauce was slightly sweet and had a sticky texture to it.

Since the meatballs were also quite salty, the sweet lingonberries complemented each bite of meatballs extremely well.

Additionally the mashed potatoes were delicious. They were so smooth and silky, with a wonderful buttery taste.

Reindeer steak
An incredibly juicy reindeer steak

Roasted reindeer steak

One of the reasons I love to travel so much is to taste local foods, and I also love nothing more than trying something I’ve never tried before.

When I noticed the reindeer steak on the menu at Restaurant Pelikan, just like the råbiff, I absolutely had to go for it.

The reindeer proved to be insanely delicious and juicy. On the bottom of the plate was some kind of a strip of mashed potatoes I think, but they had been seasoned with possibly some sour cream.

Swedish food
It was the highlight of my meal!

Then on the top they placed a generous helping of strips of roasted reindeer, cooked just perfectly so the juices were running, and it was slightly pink in the middle. I think my reindeer was about medium cooked.

What surprised me most about the reindeer was that it was so tender, and it had a definite livery taste to it, slightly irony. The reindeer meet was also extremely lean, and normally lean meat has potential to be tougher, but it was actually nearly disintegrating tender.

The reindeer was the highlight of my meal at Restaurant Pelikan. It was so good, and if you’re looking to try some Swedish reindeer when you’re in Stockholm, it’s a must.

Watch the video

If you have a few minutes, watch the video of eating all the food at Restaurant Pelikan. The part of this video at the restaurant starts at 10:21.

(If you can’t see the video, watch it on YouTube here)

Prices at Restaurant Pelikan
Our total bill

Total bill

For my wife and I, we ordered these three dishes at Restaurant Pelikan and shared everything, and we didn’t order any drinks.

Our total bill came to 668 SEK ($78.19), and we left about a 10% tip, although in Sweden it’s not mandatory to leave a tip.

Restaurant Pelikan is not cheap by any means, but it’s the type of restaurant that though you pay a lot, you feel good about it because the food is great quality and servings are decently big. Stockholm is an expensive city to eat out in, but there’s great food available.

Restaurant Pelikan
Outside view of Restaurant Pelikan, Stockholm, Sweden

Conclusion

Restaurant Pelikan is a classic heritage restaurant in Stockholm, and it’s an amazing place that you can eat authentic traditional Swedish food.

Along with serving excellent food, the ambiance of the restaurant, with its decor that looks like it hasn’t changed in decades, is part of what makes a meal at Pelikan so special.

Related: Check out my Stockholm Travel Guide

The dishes I tried were fantastic, and as much as I enjoyed the Swedish meatballs, I have to give it up for the råbiff (Swedish steak tartare) and the incredibly juicy reindeer steak.

In Stockholm, for a classy Swedish meal, Restaurant Pelikan is a fantastic choice.

Restaurant Pelikan – Stockholm, Sweden

Address: Blekingegatan 40, 116 62 Stockholm, Sweden
Open hours: Monday – Friday from 4 pm – 12 midnight, Friday – Sunday from 12 noon – 1 am
How to get there: I took the Stockholm Metro to Skanstull station, walked up the main road for about 5 minutes, and made a right turn on Blekingegatan, and it’s right there.

32 comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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  • vishal kaushik

    3 years ago

    Keep it up.

  • Justin Kelly

    3 years ago

    Is there any place or restaurant that you have never been to on this planet. You are really blessed to have a travelling and eating life that everyone envies. God Bless!

  • VapeSpring

    3 years ago

    Very nicely written content. Awesome Information.

  • Julia Mia

    4 years ago

    Thanks a lot for this awesome article.Keep Posting

  • Julia Mia

    4 years ago

    Thanks a lot for this awesome article.

  • Whitney Kjeldsen

    6 years ago

    I’ve heard great things about Stockholm, but never about the food. Looks like good Sweedish comfort food at Pelikan- I’ll be sure to eat there when I visit Stockholm.

  • Helena Sannangelo

    6 years ago

    Dear Mark,
    Since I don’t like liver, offal and intestines, I wouldn’t eat certain dishes. I can appreciate that you like eating this kind of food! I wouldn’t eat raw meat because I think it is dangerous and if you have long-term health problems you eat with care. It doesn’t mean I am boring! Helena.

  • louis

    6 years ago

    thanks !! I’m going in 2 weeks, and i happen to stumble on your site. while doing some research online on what to eat in stockholm. and now that i see you, i was recently in a thai restaurant and they were playing one of your videos from when you were in thailand. you ate a dessert that happen to be on the menu of the restaurant we were at, so we ordered it and loved it!! can’t wait to try pelikan in sweden. l too love to travel for food!!!!!

  • Tracy

    7 years ago

    Sweden is absolutely beautiful, but I can’t say I had quite that type of food experience in Stockholm. Granted, we were looking to keep it purposefully cheap and maybe weren’t quite as educated on what we should be eating there. This is an awesome post – we’ll have to do things differently next time we’re in town!

  • Doni

    7 years ago

    Your posts really open your eyes, especially when you get to know this wonderful city.
    Congratulations, keep giving us your tips.

  • Scott Fitzpatrick

    7 years ago

    You’re onto something really good with your blog, website, store, etc…They say find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life. I’m an airline pilot, so I had a chuckle over your critique of “airline chow” lol…
    Great job, Mark and I agree 110% in better diplomacy through food and sitting at the table together…

  • Milan Michael

    7 years ago

    I Love Swedish food! Am a great fan of it!

  • Katrin

    7 years ago

    I’ve lived in Stockholm (ok, just outside of the city) my whole life but never been to Restaurant Pelikan, can you believe that? But it’s really nice with a restaurant that has been around for such a long time, since restaurants here not seldom are shortlived. Glad you coiuld find a nice place to enjoy some genuine Swedish dishes 🙂 Maybe I’ll treat my son, who lives in the neighborhood of Skanstull, to dinner at the Pelikan someday.

    And welcome back!

  • John Smith

    7 years ago

    Love your videos. They are amazing!

  • Waty

    7 years ago

    Awesome trip for an authentic traditional Swedish food!

  • Dwayne

    7 years ago

    Hey Mark,

    loving the round the world trip so far, huge fans from New Zealand!!
    me and my partner are travelling to Thailand within the next week ( mostly inspired by you ). hopefully we see you around wile we are testing out the street food haha, so excited!!

    best wishes to you and Ying and cant wait to watch more videos!!

    • Mark Wiens

      7 years ago

      Hi Dwayne, great to hear from you, thank you very much. That’s fantastic that you’ll be coming to Thailand soon, would be great to bump into you! Hope you have an amazing trip.

  • Remsun Debbarma

    7 years ago

    Oh dude, I would just like to have that roasted Reindeer steak in front of me. It looks so yummy 😛 😛 😛
    This content is really mouth watering content.

  • Kristen

    7 years ago

    What mouthwatering food … might have to make a dog leg up to Stockholm on my European travels next year!

    • Mark Wiens

      7 years ago

      Hey Kristen, thank you for reading, hope you can make it to Stockholm!

  • Rick james

    7 years ago

    Great article! Thanks

  • Nimish

    7 years ago

    I’ll be honest. It was only to see the photographs that I clicked on the story. But reading about the Pelikan restaurant and the various foods you tried was good information. The only thing about Swedish food I know is meatballs, but was interesting to see some new items such as the tartare and of course the reindeer steak. I was expecting reindeer to have a hard texture, but it’s otherwise according to your post.
    Happy travels.
    Regards,
    Nimish

    • Mark Wiens

      7 years ago

      Hey Nimish, awesome, thank you for checking out the photos and reading the post. I was also expecting the reindeer to be much tougher, but it turned out to be so tender. Thanks, hope you’re doing well!

  • Thomas

    7 years ago

    There should be some producer out there to make food shows with you. The passion and commitment you show is amazing.

  • Carl

    7 years ago

    Hi Mark,
    Sat on pins and needles while watching your Stockholm video, filled up with feelings of responsibility for you to enjoy your stay here.

    Do you have more material from Stockholm that you will release? I know we are many swedes that would love it.

    Hope you and your wife are well.

    //C

    • Mark Wiens

      7 years ago

      Hey Carl, thank you very much. Yes, I will be publishing a few more videos, and also a few more blog posts as well. Thank you for your support, hope you’re doing well.