Uhe tradition of taking breaks in the day, up to seven times a day during the long summer days, with something to eat and drink, all in good company, has it all. And you don’t need to take a plane to discover this Swedish concept, all you have to do is push open the door of the splendid Marle hotel, in the Marais.
In the courtyard, the Swedish Institute strives to discover this custom in its café, to which it even gave its name: Fika. In our more generous tropics, there is no need to build up reserves on sunny days in anticipation of winter. Everything to our appetite, it will therefore above all be a question of being able to take “little breaks” with Swedish flavors all day long, offered in small quantities and at very reasonable prices. “The idea is that a Frenchman is not embarrassed and that a Swede rediscovers his flavours”, explain Caroline and Damien Nobilé, the two French caterers behind the place.
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“Tastes that you cannot find in France”
The Swedish chef Maria Printz Emond was commissioned by the couple to design the menu and to bridge the gap between the tastes of her native country and those of the French, whom she knows well – she cut her teeth particularly in the most French sector of gastronomy imaginable: the bakery. “Food is really a big part of culture,” she explains. We’re going to offer tastes that we don’t find in France, find ways of presenting it that suit the French public. In Sweden, too, we tend to eat certain things at certain times of the year. We don’t have all the goods all the time. It is very important and we would like to do that here. »
The menu varies according to the day but, “in a fika, everything can be mixed”, specifies the chef. For the morning fika, we give in to the gluttony of bullbars (3 euros), these Swedish brioche breads whose substitutes have invaded the stalls of our bakeries in recent years. She imagined a deliciously spicy version, with cardamom and sesame, especially for coffee. At the midday fika, we let ourselves be tempted by the different sandwiches (7.50 euros each, 21 euros for 3): Swedish flavors that smell good of the sea air (herring, anchovies marinated in Sweden, wild gravlax salmon from the Baltic ) are offered on rye bread. It is also possible to taste one of the emblematic dishes of Swedish culture: laxpudding (13 euros), a kind of potato and salmon gratin with horseradish and melted butter. For the fika in the afternoon, the munchies will be satisfied with a chokladbollar (1.50 euro), a small ball with melting and light oatmeal in chocolate or coconut, when the gourmands s will tackle småkakor, a kind of Swedish tea time which must include seven different kinds of cakes (1 euro each or 5 euros for 7), even if it is also possible to taste them separately. All in pretty ceramic tableware made especially for Fika by Anna Lindell.
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Maria Printz Emond also works to promote local products from Sörmland, “a veritable garden of Eden that nourishes Stockholm”, by calling on Swedish craftsmen, such as Lena Engelmark who works with forest products and produces in particular a spruce buds which dresses a bowl of red fruits with its vibrant woody and deep notes. She also intends to charm French palates on their own ground with full-bodied cheese, quite surprising, and Nordic charcuterie, which brings us back to familiar territory while destabilizing us. A charcuterie made from game, such as wild boar or elk. Enough to make you crave fika seven times a day.
Café Fika, 11 rue Payenne, Paris 3e. Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday evening until 8 p.m.