Toast Skagen is a signature dish of Sweden; we have verified places to eat it in Gothenburg and Stockholm.
Toast Skagen · Gothenburg
Sweden's most loved prawn appetiser: cold-water prawns mixed with mayonnaise, creme fraiche, dill, and lemon, mounded on a butter-fried slice of white bread and topped with bleak roe.
Toast Skagen was created by Swedish restaurateur Tore Wretman in the 1950s, named after the Danish town and fishing port at the tip of Jutland. The classic dressing is hand-peeled small shrimps, mayonnaise, dill, lemon and a dollop of bleak roe on a slice of butter-toasted white bread. Gothenburg's seafood-rich version became the city's signature lunchtime starter at Bhoga, SK Mat och Manniskor and Bar Bulot, paired with a glass of cold Riesling or a Pilsner.
Where to eat in Gothenburg:
- Bar Bulot
- SK Mat och Manniskor
- Bhoga
- Bistro Odette
- Feskekorka
Where to eat Toast Skagen in Gothenburg: the editor picks
Toast Skagen · Stockholm
Toast Skagen is shrimp tossed in mayonnaise and dill on grilled white bread, topped with bleak roe (löjrom) and lemon, the codified Swedish smörgåsbord starter at every Stockholm brasserie.
Tore Wretman, the Stockholm restaurateur who modernised Swedish cuisine, improvised Toast Skagen in 1956 on a sailing trip to the northern Danish port of Skagen and named the dish for the harbour. He introduced it to the public at Riche in Stockholm in 1958, then carried it across to Operakällaren after taking over that restaurant. The dish became the codified Swedish smörgåsbord starter and now appears on every brasserie menu. Sturehof and Lisa Elmqvist both cook the canonical version with bleak roe (löjrom) from Bothnian-coast fisheries; the lemon and dill garnish is the universal finish.
Where to eat in Stockholm:
- Sturehof
- Lisa Elmqvist
- Wedholms Fisk
- Operakällaren
- Den Gyldene Freden
Where to eat Toast Skagen in Stockholm: the editor picks