An adventure to Fäviken Magasinet

Last October, Geoff and I went on a lovely adventure to the north of Sweden to visit the two Michelin starred Fäviken Magasinet. I can't imagine a more beautiful time of year to visit northern Sweden, as autumn leaves turned the forests shades of orange and red, and frost coated the grass on misty mornings.

Beautiful Jämtland

Making a booking

Getting a table can be hard - my suggestion is to stalk their website and check the time and date that bookings become available. Then book the moment they come out. All the places are taken almost immediately, so you'll need to be fast, especially if you want to stay at the restaurant hotel.

Getting there

We flew from Stockholm to Östersund then hired a car to drive the 1 hour and 15 minutes to Fäviken.

Misty morning at Fäviken

Where to stay

We stayed at the accommodation offered by the restaurant. It was a simple room, and everyone shared bathrooms and showers as well as a sauna. It's pretty basic but I found it lovely and cosy. It's probably a good option if you are fond of wine because there is really nowhere else to stay nearby, and I have no idea if there are taxis to and from Fäviken - it's really in a beautiful forest in the middle of nowhere.

If you can't get a room at Fäviken, or you'd prefer to stay elsewhere then the ski resort of Åre is only a 30 minute drive away with plenty of hotels.

 

Dinner at Fäviken

In true Swedish egalitarian style, before dinner we were seated with other guests for drinks and some food, which was a really nice way to meet new people. Then it was time to move upstairs to the main minimalist Scandinavian dining room.

There were around 16 or so courses ranging from moose to lamb tongue to an ash coated egg. Geoff enjoyed the scallop (pictured above). One enjoyable surprise for me was the brown cheese pie (brunost), which when I originally read the menu sounded a little too savory for what I was hoping for a dessert, but in fact tasted like caramel. It was served with very sour gompa, which is a traditional Sami dish made from the herb angelica.

After dinner we were ushered back downstairs by the fire with our new pre-dinner friends and we spent the rest of the evening enjoy wine and some final little dishes with them.

Breakfast perfection

This might be blasphemy, but one of the highlights for me was breakfast the next morning. Sometimes in life you really can't beat the simple beauty of good quality ham, cheese, butter and warm bread straight from the oven. It was topped by a warm hallongrotta, which is incidentally my favourite Swedish biscuit of all time - think shortbread with a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle.

All in all, diner at Fäviken was a memorable experience and a beautiful end to our time in Sweden (for now). I felt as though we were being taken on a journey through Sweden experiencing local produce and dishes I hadn't tried before, but sadly it wasn't always delicious. If you wish to see an absolutely stunning part of Sweden and have a dining experience unlike any other then it is worth the adventure there but if you only have time for one Michelin dining experience in Sweden then Frantzen in Stockholm is still my favourite by far.

 

What else to see in the area

If you come in winter then this part of Sweden is very popular for skiing - very near by is the ski resort of Åre. Åre Glashytta, where the beautiful hand made glasses at Fäviken are from can also be found here.

Östersund where we flew in was quite cute and was worth exploring for a couple of hours. If you are interested in history, you can see the Frösö runestone on the nearby island of Frösön.

This area of Sweden is basically beautiful forests sprinkled with lakes, so it's just lovely to drive through and explore a part of the world that is quite untouched and peaceful.