A Swedish wedding lunch: so Nordic, so nice

2006 is definitely a good year for weddings. I've got no less than six wedding invitations this year, and have agreed to attend four of them. I already missed one in Estonia, as I was travelling to Sweden (sorry, Eve & Risto). I've decided to skip the one in Colombia in December (apologies, Sara-Jane & Hernan), as last time I went to a wedding in Latin America, it was called off in a true telenovela fashion just two days before. So far I've been to two weddings already - the one in Santorini at the end of June, and Annika's & Ben's wedding near Stockholm in early July. Two more to go - one in Brussels in August, and another in Tallinn in September..

Here are some pictures of the Swedish wedding lunch, which, let me tell you, I enjoyed immensely. I felt like I'm at home in Estonia, which, suddenly, is a very delicious prospect... It was a small, intimate affair with some 55 guests from Sweden and the UK (the bride was Swedish and groom British, and they both work and live in the UK). The wedding ceremony itself took place next to Djurönäsets Båthus or boat house (above is the picture taken of the girls on the pier) in Stockholm Archipelago, less than hour's drive from Stockholm city centre. The lunch and party afterwards were at Seregården restaurant at the nearby Djurö Kursgård.

The Starter:


A slice of toast with "löjrom" (vendace roe*, Coregonus albula) and garnish. I'm not a big fan of caviar - probably ate too much of it as a child growing up in the Soviet Union:) I find caviar usually too, well, fishy, and way too salty. I must admit I was somewhat disappointed when the starter was brought to the table. But I decided to put on a brave face and wear my foodie hat, squeezed some lemon juice over the tiny orange-pink eggs and reluctantly had a forkful. Hmmm. Not bad at all, I thought, and had another. And then another. My plate was spotlessly clean just five minutes later, and I ordered a löjrom dish in a fancy restaurant in Estonia just a few days later.

Sometimes it pays to overcome one's prejudices :)

The Main Course:


Pan-fried trout fillet with steamed green asparagus, dill sauce and boiled new potatoes. Lovely and very summery.

The Dessert:

Flaky butter pastry with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. Served with a glass of honey-coloured cloudberry liqueur (on the right). Absolutely divine (both the dessert and the liquer:)

I must give special thanks to bride's cousin Yann for being so nice and swapping his dessert for mine. He had at least twice as many strawberries than I did on his dessert plate, and he quickly realised the unfairness of this. Such a gentleman;) Tack så mycket, Yann!

The Wedding Cake:
An impressive-looking five-tier chocolate mousse cake with raspberries. A bit too sweet for my liking, but delicious nevertheless. This was a small, intimate wedding, with just about 55 guests, but the cake was finished very quickly.

The lunch and cake were followed by joyous dancing and some more food (buffet-style, including tacos with chilli and a choice of toppings, various Swedish fish dishes, as well as wraps with reindeer meat) just before midnight.

From Stockholm, I flew straight home to Estonia, so I start looking for wild strawberries and cloudberries. Lovely..

* There is some confusion about the correct English term for that fish. The room service menu in my hotel translated löjrom as 'bleak roe'. I'm relying on a very comprehensive Finnish source, Raholan syötäviä sanoja. The site claims that löjrom isn't roe from a fish known as 'löja' in Swedish (Alburnus alburnus alias bleak, also known simply as 'whitefish', or powan or lavaret, which is the French term), but from 'siklöja' (or 'mujka' in Finnish-Swedish), known as Coregonus albula in Latin, Maräne/ Zwergmaräne/ Marenke/ Zollfisch in German. How would you translate this popular caviar, dear Swedish bloggers?