(meat)Ballin' in Malmö

Mabel Kang
Aug 24, 2016
4 min read

Fun fact about Malmö: It's the third largest city in Sweden!

Malmö

I've travelled out to Malmö twice which is about 40 minutes from Lund by bus. The train, however, is much faster but more expensive too. The train ticket from Lund to Malmö is about SEK48 (SGD8). Public transport is quite expensive in Sweden as compared to Singapore - a bus trip just within the city costs about SEK20 (SGD3.20) with the Jojo card which is already a discounted price. Isn't public transport supposed to be cheap?! So yep, I'm spending a lot over here. :(

My small and super expensive starbucks drink

Anyway, back to Malmö. It's much more bustling and city-like as compared to Lund! Of course, the tell-tale sign of city-life and civilization to me is *cue angel voices singing* STARBUCKS!!! It was therefore a very natural reaction for me to try the Starbucks here (read: I'm a Starbucks addict) - I just had to try it! Even though it was chilly outside, I ordered a Banana Yogurt Frappucino cos it was new and it looked yummy. Instant regret when I paid for it because a just a tall size cost SEK40 (SGD$6.40). I heard my wallet cry a little.

Look at how small the drink is! It's probably not wise for poor exchange students like me to get Starbucks here again. In case you are wondering what the Banana Yogurt Frappucino tastes like, I found it quite tart with a strong yogurt taste. It tasted somewhat like an icier, thicker banana yogurt drink.

Another thing I love about Malmö is the food stalls along Södergatan street. There are stalls selling churros, gelato, popcorn, langos and other kinds of yummy street food and also stalls that sell accessories like hats and bags! And here's a customary touristy shot of us.

Despite being quite a bustling city, Malmö also has its charming rustic-looking areas such as Lilla Torg - a pretty cobblestone town square which it even has those cute colourful flag bunnings that are hung up (see bottom left) which I AM TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH. Like how cute are these little flags in this cute place??? It looks like a town that came out of a fairytale book!

Another huge highlight of Malmö is ... you guessed it! IKEA!!! The IKEA here is HUGEEEE and it's easy to get lost in there (or maybe it's just me). It might be silly to get excited over IKEA over here when there's an IKEA back home too, but hello!? IKEA comes from Sweden so it's like going to THE ORIGINAL IKEA you know what I mean?

So I was really excited to take a photo with the huge IKEA building and with the gorgeous walk-in closet set-up and it kinda ended up looking a bit like an advert for IKEA. (Quote mabelxikea for 20% off maybe?)

After wandering around, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything because everything in Sweden looks better, it was time to try my favourite Swedish meatballs from IKEA!!! And. It. Was. AWESOME.

I had the baked salmon fillet with garlic hollandaise sauce, served with vetekornspilaff for SEK65 (SGD10.40). The salmon was just the right amount of moist and the sauce was heavenly - it was thick, creamy, buttery, smooth and garlicky. Mmm I wish I had the recipe so I could make the sauce myself and put it in everything. SO GOOD.

However, the vetekornspilaff? I had no clue what I was eating, I don't even know what vetekornspilaff means. The white bean-looking bits had a texture of barley for some reason, and maybe it is barley for all I know. I thought the big whitish-yellow chunks were potatoes but I felt so cheated to find out that they weren't because they tasted rather vegetable-like and not the starchy texture of a potato i was expecting. The vetekornspilaff was an entire mystery to me. Do enlighten me if you know what vetekornspilaff is!

My friend had the breaded fish fillet served with boiled potatoes (aren't they so cute and small and round!), peas and tartar sauce (pictured below) for SEK65 as well and we both shared the classic 8 pcs Meatballs served with cream sauce, cranberry jam, green peas and mashed potatoes for SEK29 (about SGD4.80). Correct me if I'm wrong but I think IKEA food is cheaper over here in Sweden and wayyyy more delicious right down to their peas!

Swedish meatballs (called Köttbullar here) are very prevalent in Sweden and apart from IKEA, you can find them almost anywhere. They even sell these meatballs in supermarkets and hotdog stands. And if you're thinking "Singapore also has meatballs" - NO it's different! I'm not talking about the normal frozen food meatballs that you can buy from Yong Tau Foo stalls, I'm talking about these yummy, juicy Swedish meatballs that can also be found in supermarkets here that taste just like IKEA meatballs! So you don't have to go IKEA to eat their meatballs because you can find them almost anywhere here in Sweden! But since I love the IKEA meatballs so much, I bought a frozen package of the entire meatball dish - with the mashed potatoes and cream sauce from IKEA for SEK22 (SGD3.50) so that I could cook it back at my hostel.