Or How I Ate The Greatest Pizza Ever And Learned To Love Sweden…
So my mom and I decided to take a quick day trip to Sweden, home of IKEA and officially designated as the Buffer Zone that keep Norwegians in Norway but that’s not why we went, both fairly confident in the abilities of the proud Swedes to keep the Norwegians at bay.
No, we were after something completely different! But we had no idea what it was. Maybe just checking it out? Yes, let’s go with that!
A quick search on that net we call Inter revealed that a place called “Folkets Park” (the People’s Park) in Malmö was supposedly quite dog-friendly and since we had Anton the Traveling Doggo with us that was a big selling point so we set out, deciding to wing it from there.
It took us about an hour in the car to get there and then some random driving around, the sweat of panic forming on our brows as we were frantically searching for a place to park. It had to be close by since my mom isn’t walking too well these days but we finally managed to find a spot about 30 seconds’ walk from the entrance to the park.
I don’t know what I had expected from the park, probably just lawns and trees and a random statue here and there as that seems to be the most common trend in my native Denmark but Folkets Park was something else altogether. The first thing we saw upon entering was these big swings that would accommodate several people at a time and we quickly decided that young Anton the Doggo should try a new experience. As my mom stepped onto to the platform of the swing the thing creaked and Anton noped the fugg outta there! Except he was on a leash so it wasn’t far. I picked him up and gave him to my mom to whom Anton immediately latched on as if his life depended on it.
Now, you might think that he was scared of it, why bring him up on it and that would be a fair question but here it’s prudent to explain that the things that scare Anton the Doggo includes certain dog toys, newspapers, hats, magpies, his car kennel (but only from the outside) and kitchen drawers. He’s a sweet doggo, he’s cute as a button but he is not a brave doggo. Like, at all!
We got Anton unhooked from my mom and walked on. Right across from there was an enclosure that was fenced in and we got curious. Turns out there were two huge tortoises walking around in there! From the safety of the Other Side, Anton was quite interested in these two walking boulders and tried as hard as he could to push his small nose through the fence to get a better sniff at them.
We walked on…
Folkets Park turned out to be anything but your usual boring park as we explored it. All kinds of kid friendly areas with bouncy thingies and climby thingies and other playground-like thingies including a really big kiddie pool. There was also a whole host of small places that offered coffee, drinks, beer and light snacks which came in handy because I decided it was time for a coffee! I had only had one coffee in the morning because I wouldn’t be able to go pee on the ferry to Sweden, mostly because we were never on a ferry, so at this point I needed my latte! Got two lattes at Sallys Kafe and they were quite underwhelming. The coffee flavour was weak but the latte part was nice and creamy. It’s as if the milk is creamier in Sweden than in Denmark. But it was still a latte so that’s nice.
The one thing that annoyed me far more than the weak coffee was the guy in front of me who I immediately recognized as a fellow Dane and for some unfathomable reason he ordering his food and beverages in English! I wanted to hurt him. Danish and Swedish are really similar that it doesn’t require much effort to understand and that goes both ways. He also wore a gold bracelet which didn’t help the situation.
Some random walking and internet searching later we learned about a mall called Triangln not too far from there where dogs were welcome and each store then had a small sticker outside that indicated if dogs were allowed in the store or not. Naturally, they weren’t allowed in places with readily available foodstuffs like the candy stores and such which makes sense but honestly, there are people who should be barred from those stores as well.
It was a nice mall and Anton drew a lot of oohs and aahs as we walked around but truth be told, he is friggin’ adorable so that’s only natural.
Not being after anything in particular we just roamed the mall for a while before deciding to go for some lunch. Not finding anything that tickled our fancy inside the mall we ventured Outside once more and came across this place called Ciao (ciao.nu) in Friisgatan and decided to give it a shot.
First good sign was that the young waitress immediately asked if we wanted some water for Anton which we did and soon after that the waitress showed up with two plates of appetizers. Some toasted and delicious bread smeared with a bit of garlic and a side of a slightly pickled red cabbage salad. Also a bottle of water, all complimentary. That’s a great first impression.
Studying the menus we then decided on what to have. My mom went with “Veckans Kött,” a beef stew that came with roast potatoes and baked veggies while I decided on a vegetarian pizza with mushrooms and smoked mozzarella. And here came the surprise. That pizza was hands down the best pizza I have ever had, no contest! The sourdough crust was amazing! Full of texture, crunchy on the top and bottom with a new chewy consistency in the middle and these small charred spots that showed it had been baked at a really high temperature as pizza should. The toppings were amazing! The umami from the mushrooms alongside the smokey creaminess of the cheese was balanced perfectly against the tangy and rich flavour of the tomato sauce. Just writing about it makes me wanna hop on a train and go back for more but the train is quite expensive and far away from where I am now so I’m not gonna.
However, if you’re ever in the area it gets my highest recommendations. Like, Original Berliner Currywurst-level recommendations! (those who know, know).
I ended the meal with another latte much better than the first and I couldn’t have been happier!
The entire bill (two mains, a soda and a latte) came to just 280 SEK (€24.20 / $26.50) so that was definitely reasonable for a great lunch in central Malmö.
Full of pizza and happiness we strolled on…
But not for long. My mom has a bad knee so soon she wanted to return to the car but I had one last stop so while she went to sit down some more, I scurried on to Hemköp, a delightful surprise of a grocery store. From the outside I kinda expected a discount store but was pleasantly surprised with a lovely shop that had an amazing selection and even a deli counter with all sorts of meaty goodness! I couldn’t help but acquire 200 grams of their Schwarzwalder ham (34 SEK / 100 grams) because it just looked amazing and as it turned out, it tasted even better than it looked, but my real aim was finding the Swedish delicacy known as “Kalles Kaviar,” a fish roe spread that I’ve loved since I was a kid.
And I found it and a few other select items. I could’ve used a lot more time in there but Mazzy Mom isn’t burden by patience so I finished up and went back to the car.
One quick stop later to a big candy shop so my mom could satisfy her cravings since candy is a lot cheaper in Sweden than in Denmark. After that we headed towards the bridge and familiar surroundings.
The day ended with a light dinner of the ham, toasted walnut bread rolls with olive oil, Parmagiano Reggiano cheese and pistachios.
A very short trip for a travelogue but a trip nonetheless.
Thank you for reading, it’s much appreciated.
-Mazzy
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