Ethiopian Restaurants in Sweden

Ethiopian Restaurants in Sweden

"Etiopiska restaurangar i Sverige", is the Swedish version of this title. My thanks to my reader Eva (one of that very select group that has found my blog) for correcting my original attempt. As promised, she is awarded my personal gratitude for her contribution. Eva, I am deeply grateful. and if you ever stumble here again, let me know if you have been to any of these places!

[The first paragraph previously read: "Etiopisk restaurangar i Sverige", my best guess at how I would write this title in Swedish. If any of my Swedish readers would care to correct me (if I am wrong, which I suspect I may be), I would be most grateful. In fact, the first five Swedes who write in with corrections will be awarded my personal, possibly life-long, gratitude.]

And now, on to the subject of this post. I am trying to compile a list of all Ethiopian restaurants to be found in lovely Sweden. (I also include Eritrean restaurants -- the cuisine and culture are quite similar. If you like one you will like the other.) So far I don't have very many, but my hope is that this list will grow, and again, feel free, my faithful fans (if any of you exist) to send me news of any that i may have missed.

Why am I compiling this l.ist? I am not in Sweden. In fact, I am now in Upstate New York. BUt I do love Ethiopian culture and food. And next year I hope to go to Sweden, and when I am there I hope to find Ethiopian food (and culture). So this is my way o getting started.

Jébena Eritreansk Restaurang, Jébena Restaurant. http://www.jebena.com
T-bana Rådhuset mot Kungsklippan, Stockholm
tel: 08-6504250

EthioStar restaurang. http://www.ethiostar.se/
Saltmätargatan 19A, 11359 Stockholm
tel: 08-305044
info@ethiostar.se

Restaurang Harnet, Kvarterskrogen Harnet. http://www.kvarterskrogenharnet.com/
("kvarterskrog" seems to mean something like "district (local) pub")
A young Swedette has visited Harnet, and has something to say about it here
Harnet appears to offer both Western food (pizza, salads and sech), and Eritrean.
Luleå is Northernissima Sweden, so bring your warm booties.
V. Brogatan 22
972 45 Luleå
tel: 0920-135 55
info@restaurangharnet.com

Gojo Fasika Etiopisk Restaurang & Bar. http://www.fasika.se
"Fasika" is Amharic for Easter, like "Paschal" or Pesach (Hebrew for Passover). "Gojo" means cottage. That's all i can tell you; I don't know the significance of "Easter cottage".
Ringvägen 161, 116031 Stockholm
tel: o8-6410496, 073-6108735

Abyssinia Etiopisk Restaurang. Two Locations!
http://www.abyssinia.se/
Vanadisvägen 20
11346 Stockholm
Tel: 08-330840, 07-02959494
http://abyssiniarestaurang.lunchinfo.com/
Ringvägen 105, Stockholm
Tel 08-6439991
(You can remember "Abyssinia" because it sounds like "I'll be seein' ya"... I mean, in case you were worried about how to remember it. )

Singapore Notes #1: Kampong Lorong Buangkok

These are photos from Kampong Lorong Buangkok, which is one of two remaining traditional villages (kampongs) in Singapore. (The other is on the small island of Pulau Ubin). The pictures were taken in Sommer 2004. The kids do not live in the kampong. They come on weekends to visit their relatives who still live there. They seem to enjoy the break from city life to become kampong children on the weekend. They took me on the grand tour of the village. They translated when I spoke with people in the village who didn't speak much English.

 

Swedish Notes #6: On the challenges of intercity transport

Here is the true story of my attempts to arrange travel from Göteborg, Sweden, to Trento, Italy. I was in Göteborg; I wanted to visit friends in Trento. This is not so unusual. You, gentle reader, may find yourself in a similar situation one day.

Train travel seemed to be the obvious choice. Trains are nice, and you can walk around, and you can go to the food car, and eat something, and breathe in the smoke, or you can go back to your seat and relax, and try to sleep, and breathe in the smoke. Moreover, trains in Europe are plentiful and run on time. Every city in Sweden (as in all of Europe) has a train station located conveniently in the center of town. So one goes to the station in Göteborg. The lady there is very nice and helpful with schedules but absolutely unable to tell me the ticket prices, except that it will be (and I quote her exactly): “Expensive.” Maybe I could just buy a Eurail pass, how about that? She is again very kind and helpful. She even has a little piece of paper to consult this time. On the paper are all the prices. Unfortunately, she is unable to sell me the pass. A Eurail pass can only be bought in Stockholm or Kopenhamn (Copenhagen). But in Kopenhamn you don’t buy the pass at the train station (of course), but at some little office that’s only open from 9-5 on weekdays. (This fact implies, with mathematical certainty, that I will almost surely be traveling on a weekend.) After some difficulty, I obtain the phone number for the Denmark train company. But they can book me tickets only for travel starting in Denmark. They can book my tickets from Kopenhamn to Trento, and from Trento to Kopenhamn, and even from Kopenhamn to Göteborg. But, strangely, not from Göteborg to Kopenhamn. And on the first train there are only smoking seats remaining, and very few of those, so one must make a reservation. Otherwise, so the Denmark train lady assures me, there is no other way that a human could possibly travel to Trento. Ever. No other way. I must take this train or I will be stuck in Sweden the rest of my life, with no hope. (Not necessarily such a bad thing by the way. It's not like being stuck in Detroit.)

This kind of thing makes me crazy. Already I have a lot of "issues" with the whole planning thing, especially so when things start getting complicated. My natural reaction at this point is to curl up in a ball and cover myself with a blanket and begin to moan quietly and not leave my room for a couple of days. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), one: (a) becomes hungry, (b) has to go to the toilet.

So a week later I have still not bought any tickets, and in fact I have made no progress whatsoever. But now it is more complicated because now, I am no longer in Göteborg. I am now on the lovely Swedish island of fair Visingsö, in the middle of Lake Vattern. And if it was complicated to travel to Trento starting from Göteborg, you can imagine how so much more complicated it is starting from Visingsö, where, in addition to everything else, one must take a bicycle to the bike-rental to drop off the bike, then walk to the harbor, then take a ferry to the small town of Gränna, then take bus and train, just to get to Göteborg. And as there is no train or train station in Visingsö, I must reserve and purchase my bus and train tickets by telephone. And I must pick up the tickets at some tobacco shop in Gränna. (Here in Sweden you must buy your tickets in tobacco shops, but only certain tobacco shops.) But the really interesting part is that the bus departs at 9am sharp, but the Granna tobacco shop opens at 9am (sharp), so there is no way to pick up the ticket on time. But why must I book the ticket in the first place? Because part of the trip is by a reserve-only fast train. Have I mentioned that they cannot tell me the name of the tobacco shop in Gränna or its phone number or even where it is located? Fortunately, I am able to call the Gränna tourist information and they tell me everything. But I really don’t want to make a special trip to Gränna just to pick up the tickets the day before, while the shop is open. But luckily it turns out that there is a taxi driver who lives in Gränna but works in Visingsö who might be able to pick up the tickets for me.

Time passes . . . .

Some days later, early in the morning, walking to the harbor to find the ferry to Gränna, I met a girl from Belgium. She communicated in an enthusiastic, non-stop, dialect that seemed to be a mixture of Swedish, Dutch, English, Gallic, and Indo-European, with a little Klingon thrown in there. It was somehow perfectly understandable, which just goes to show.) She was 19 and on a little tour of Sweden for a few days.

Here's the funny thing -- She was travelling “without planning”. She didn't make reservations at hostels; she didn't check ferry schedules or bus or train schedules. And the result: on a beautiful summer morning, we both end up on the same dock, waiting fo the same ferry. She didn't even wear a watch. She just woke up that morning and walked over to the harbor.

It is 7:55am, and the first ferry of the morning is not scheduled to leave at 8:25am. But the ferry drivers just wave us aboard and drive us across.

Wild Flowers of Upstate New York

These pictures were taken in Summer 2005 around the town of Salina, New York. Everything you see here was growing wild, depending for life and sustenance upon the bounties of nature, and the kindness and kind encouragement of friends and strangers. I don't know the names of most of these flowers of course. If anyone knows please tell me.


I don't know why a flower would evolve to look like this. But I'm glad it did.










This is not one flower, but many. In fact, it is part of a field of flowers, which I have photographed in situ. Also, the picture is sideways.


This is a daisy. The daisy is a very common flower, but this particular daisy is very rare, and in fact only found in a single field in Salina, New York. I won't tell you where. If you look very closely, you can see a creature on the daisy.


Queen Anne's lace. Look at the incredible patterns. Are they pentagons or hexagons?


Land Anemone. This is actually a kind of fish.


I don't know what this is. I'm not even sure it is a flower.




I don't know the name of this flower. But to me it looks a little too sophisticated to be a genuinely wild flower. I suspect it may be a poser, or a runaway. They do that sometimes.

Stora Delsjön, a Lake in Sweden (Swedish Notes #5)

Of Fair Visingsö (Swedish Notes #4)

Visingsö

There is a saying among the Swedes that: "He who has not seen Visingsö has not seen Sweden!" Actually I just made that up. I think the saying really goes: "He who has not seen Visingsö has not seen Visingsö!" (which can hardly be denied). In any case, Visingsö is a quiet, lovely little island in big Lake Vattern in the middle of Sweden. If you want a nice peaceful pleasant interlude, exploring a beautiful little island with surprisingly varying scenery, where you can take a swim in the lake, or a bike ride through a forest or on a country road, then this is a good place for it.

In the summer there are plenty of tourists on Visingsö. But they are mostly Swedish families or couples who adapt to the nice quiet pace of the island, cooking their meals, making little picnics, taking little horse drawn carriage rides, and fitting in fairly well. Tourism seems to be a big part of the of economy, but there are also farms, livestock, orchards, etc, so it seems to be a real place, especially the further you get from the harbor, though I suppose most of the farmers are just part time. I didn't see any Americans here. Come to think of it, I didn't see many Americans at all in Sweden, maybe just a few in Göteborg. I guess once they get this far North they just go to the cities. I asked a lady I met there if she ever sees Americans. She said of course there are plenty of Americans. For example, she remembers meeting an American from Chicago around five years ago.


The best way to get around on Visingsö is by bicycle. I rented my bike for 75 kronar/day from Öbergs Kafé and Hembageri. It is also possible to rent a bike for 50kr/day at the Piri Piri Thai Restaurant at the harbor. The bikes at both places are about equally bad, so I figured I might as well rent the more expensive one. The other advantage is that if I had rented from Piri Piri, then when I finally left the island I would have been able to ride almost all the way to the ferry with my heavy pack, but instead I had to walk three kilometers from Öbergs after dropping off the bike. All the bikes on Visingsö have three gears. I couldn’t get first gear to work, so I brought it back to Öbergs. The bicycle repair guy at Öbergs (I suspect he is also the chef) worked on it for a long while until finally second gear also wouldn’t work. Then he asked me what did I think about that? I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. He finally offered me a different bike. First gear also didn’t work on the second bike, but I took it and honestly felt much better about the whole thing.

I stayed at the hostel Fredängen on Visingsö. It was the nicest hostel I have ever been in. Clean, peaceful, friendly, inexpensive, with a view of Lake Vattern, and a beautiful breeze in the (summer) evening. Please stay there if you visit Visingsö. In fact, you ought to visit Visingsö just so that you can stay there: visingsovandrarhem.se/index.htm.


Visingsö is quiet these days. But you should have seen it 400 years ago, when Count Per Brahe the Younger was running the place from his castle. Then it was really swinging. You can see the remains of his castle from the harbor. I watched the castle as I left the island. Visingsö is a magical place. It appears deceptively simple, but it has great variety and depth and reveals itself slowly, so that each day it appears a little different and a little surprising.




Visingsö, a type of cow.