Date Night: Smaka

Last May Steve and I visited Gothenburg to scout out neighborhoods and preschools.  We wanted to eat Swedish food for dinner, so our hotel concierge suggested a restaurant called Smaka, which means "taste."  It serves traditional Swedish food like your grandmother would make.  We sat outside on the patio and ordered their pickled herring tray (if for no other reason than to be able to say we've tried it). They serve the various types of herring with plenty of sauces and breads, so it's not like you're really eating it straight.  And fortunately it wasn't the notoriously pungent lutfisk.

For dinner I had the fish au gratin, and that made me want to eat more fish.  I rarely say this, but that fish was delicious.  Cook anything in butter and cream and I'm apt to like it.  The pretty stuff along the back is potatoes, another staple in the Swedish diet.

Steve had breaded pork (veal?) with mashed potatoes, lingonberries, and peas.  I thought it was funny how they served everything separately, even the peas' butter.

Little did we know this restaurant would be right around the corner from where we'd live.  It is funny/strange to go back through those pictures now and realize we were walking around places that were unfamiliar at the time, but are so familiar now.  The day after dining at Smaka we walked through a couple apartments that were representative of living in Gothenburg.  I took a couple pictures, like this one of the foyer, but I wanted to be respectful of the current occupants.  It wasn't until later that we were told this apartment would be available and I wished I had more pictures.

We even have pictures near the playground where we take our kids now.  Here is the same tree, a year apart.

April 18, 2014

May 14, 2013

Anyway, flash forward almost a year.  We have been living in Gothenburg for a month, and for our first dinner out together without the kids we chose Smaka again.  This time I ordered a pear cider to drink, and pork with cider sauce to eat.  It was cold and rainy so we sat inside and eavesdropped on the Americans at the next table.

Afterward we walked around the block to a coffee shop for an apple muffin and espresso, which is served with a square of dark chocolate.  Yay for date night!