Stockholm

Miss Clara by Nobis has been on my hotel wish list since opening in 2014 and finally the dream became a reality when we stayed for a few nights on our recent visit to Stockholm.

Miss Clara is a stunning design hotel housed in a 1910 Art Nouveau building on a corner of Sveavagen boulevard in Stockholm’s central Norrmalm district. It’s a hotel with an interesting history, as it was the private Ateneum girls’ school for over 40 years. In fact, the school’s popular headmistress Clara Stromberg was the inspiration behind the hotel’s name.

Part of the renowned Nobis Hospitality Group, Miss Clara is the more accessible younger sister of Stockholm’s luxurious flagship Nobis Hotel, but with the same high end touches.

Design

Swedish architect Gert Wingardh was entrusted to renovate the building, preserving many of its original features, including its arched windows and the sweeping main staircase where you can imagine unruly schoolgirls scrambling down at the sound of the bell. These institutional interiors are elevated with striking contemporary photography, including Max Modén’s ethereal ballerina series.

Arrival

On arrival, we were warmly welcomed by the lovely, chatty staff who very kindly upgraded us to a beautiful Deluxe Room on the first floor. Having spent the previous night at the idyllic, peaceful Hotel J – another Nobis hotel with a fabulous waterfront restaurant – I did wonder if our room might be noisy in comparison, but for such a busy area there was no disturbance at all.

The Room

Our room was very spacious and bright with high ceilings and lots of natural daylight coming in from the arched windows. Tasteful and restrained in style, all rooms at Miss Clara have a simple palette of white, brown, grey and black, with well-chosen Swedish furniture, touches of natural tanned leather and dark parquet floors. There are also home comforts like a large flatscreen TV, a window seat with storage space underneath and a brown suede chaise-longue for curling up on.

We found the king-size bed extremely comfortable and plush, with a bent wood headboard by Swedish company Gemla, a laptop table for eating or working on and a gorgeous herringbone wool throw. A quirky touch is the single chair back at the bottom of the bed, of which we imagined a number of different uses.

The white tile and limestone bathroom was truly impressive with a walk-in rainfall shower, enormous bathtub, thick cotton towels and bathrobe and slippers. An extra perk for guests is the holy grail of bathroom amenities – a full set of beautifully-scented Byredo Bal d’Afrique products. For that extra spa touch, you can also take advantage of Miss Clara’s 24-hour gym and dry sauna.

Dinner at Pizzeria Giro

For dinner, stay close to home and grab a table at the hotel’s two destination restaurants. Miss Clara’s Restaurant, overseen by Executive Chef Daniel Guest, has a modern bistro menu and is hip and seductive with dark corners lit with glowing pendant lamps, plus an exclusive terrace for watching the world go by.

Meanwhile next door, Pizzeria Giro is an exciting collaboration between Nobis Hospitality Group and the world-renowned L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. This relaxed, walk-in only pizzeria has a fun vibe and its Neapolitan pizza is definitely the real deal.

We stopped by for dinner and found the menu surprisingly extensive, from the classic Marinara to the luxurious Tartufo, as well as calzone and pizza bianca. We ordered a typical Margherita and a Diavola topped with spicy salamella toscana – both were exemplary with springy, blistered dough, lots of juicy organic tomato sauce, creamy fior di latte, parmesan DOP 24 month and organic extra-virgin olive oil.

On Sunday morning, we treated ourselves to breakfast in Miss Clara’s Restaurant (at a reduced rate for residents) and it was truly spectacular.

Breakfast

From a generous buffet we enjoyed the most creamy scrambled eggs and crispy bacon, smoked salmon, local cured meats and cheeses, home-baked rolls, mini pastries and kanelbullar, cupcakes, chia pudding shots and yoghurt. We also loved the make-your-own waffles with a choice of sauces and the tea bar with plenty of high-quality loose-leaf blends.

Location

If you need any more persuading that Miss Clara is the hotel for you, I can tell you that it’s a two minute walk from Hotorget metro and within easy reach of shopping gems such as Acne Archive and the upscale Nordiska Kompaniet department store. You can also eat well in this neighbourhood with authentic Mexican tacos at La Neta, exquisite patisserie at Art Bakery and the fabulous Urban Deli just a few doors up.

Miss Clara Hotel is the perfect city bolthole with lots of style, atmosphere, personality and home comforts. I’ve definitely fallen in love with Stockholm and am dying to return and experience the iconic Nobis Hotel or this summer’s new opening, Blique by Nobis.

For more information and booking, visit: www.missclarahotel.com

All photos by Chérie City

Stockholm is a destination that really surprised me with its cuisine. I knew that the kanelbullar would be amazing (who doesn’t love fika?) and there would be plenty of interesting restaurants, being the capital city, but the quality of the produce and expert cooking really impressed.

During our long weekend, we grazed on premium Swedish grilled steak, authentic Mexican tacos, summer truffle corn on the cob and an indecent amount of traditional spiced pastries. In fact, there wasn’t one meal that fell short, so I’ve included every single one.

Here are some fantastic places to eat and drink when visiting Stockholm…

Fikabaren

Södermalm, the island just south of historic Gamla Stan, was named by Vogue as one of ‘the 15 coolest neighbourhoods in the world’ in 2014, so of course you can expect a multitude of cool coffee shops. Fikabaren in SoFo (south of Folkungagatan) is bigger than most indie cafes, set across a few rooms with minimalist concrete and wood interiors and great photography on the walls.

It serves coffee from independent and sustainable producers, as well as home-made sandwiches and Swedish cakes. Our Matcha lattes were made with high-grade green tea and farm fresh milk – the perfect refuel.

Urban Deli

Another foodie beacon in Södermalm is Urban Deli, a fabulous food store and restaurant. This boutique chain has a few locations across Stockholm and you can find everything from Swedish pastries and take-out coffee to locally-produced gourmet cooking ingredients.

It’s not as pricey as you might think, with plenty of offers on products, and the Urban Deli in Norrmalm even has its own hotel attached!

Art Bakery

A new addition to Stockholm’s upscale NK. department store in Norrmalm, Art Bakery is the vision of celebrity baker Johan Sörberg. It features contemporary artwork and exhibitions in a large industrial-style bakery and cafe and the creativity runs through to the food.

Art Bakery’s exquisite patisserie takes centre stage, however you can also make a meal of it with salads, sandwiches and even ramen from the dedicated Japanese food counter. Not only are the cakes out of this world, but it’s a stylish, tranquil place to watch the world go by.

Sänkdalens Glass Bar

A tour around Gamla Stan in the warmer months wouldn’t be complete without ice cream. Bypass the tourist traps and check out the petite Sänkdalens Glass Bar, where you can find delicious Swedish ice cream in natural flavours, using organic milk and fruit from its own farm.

Highly recommended is a scoop of blueberry and rum & raisin.

Miss Clara by Nobis

Breakfast was a highlight of our stay at Miss Clara, a fabulous design hotel that’s part of the trend-setting Nobis Group. Of course, you don’t have to be staying at the hotel to enjoy this copious, high-quality buffet breakfast in its restaurant (but you will pay a little more as a non-resident).

We feasted on Scrambled eggs loaded with cream and grilled bacon, pancakes, mini pastries, fresh yoghurt and cured meats and local cheeses. There’s even a self-service waffle iron with fresh batter and sweet toppings, which was a real treat.

La Neta

Mexican food is big in Stockholm and one of the most authentic, fun and affordable places for a taco fix is La Neta. Named ‘the real deal’ in Mexican slang, La Neta is a colourful, unpretentious taquería with outposts in the City and Södermalm, another in Täby and two in Copenhagen. They only use premium ingredients and make the tortillas and salsas from scratch in-house – you can even buy them online or at Urban Deli.

We both went for a mix of five tacos for 110kr, so we could try a little of everything. They all hit the spot, but our favourites were Pastor (marinated pork with pineapple), Suadero (slow-cooked beef) and Carnitas (pulled pork confit). Guacamole con Totopos was also fantastic with crispy, bubbly corn chips and smooth guac that had an unexpected chilli kick.

The tacos were moreish and subtly flavoured – you can load them with as much fresh coriander, onions, sour cream and salsa as you like at the dining room counter. I long to go back for more tacos and hope they might expand further across Europe.

Restaurant J

On our first night in Sweden, we stayed at Hotel J on the idyllic island of Nacka in Stockholm’s urban archipelago. Also part of the Nobis group, this stylish, New England-influenced hotel has an old school resort feel and its waterside Restaurant J is undoubtedly the place to be, whether it’s a glass of wine on the sun terrace or an indulgent dinner of steak, daily catch or fresh lobster.

We made the most of the sun sitting on the terrace and enjoyed the most wonderful Swedish sirloin minute steak with crispy kale, veal gravy, smoked ramsons butter and Caesar salad with French fries.

The steak was smoky and well-cooked with flavourful accompaniments and we loved the generous family-style sharing bowls of crunchy fries and Caesar salad topped with lots of grated fresh Parmesan. It was surprisingly substantial and really delicious – definitely worth splashing out on.

Bleck

Nothing captures the spirit of Södermalm more than Bleck, a cute and casual restaurant overlooking the park Lilla Blecktornsparken. Its heated terrace is the place to be, especially on warmer days to watch the sun go down over beer and exceptional, good value small plates using fine local produce.

We ordered Swedish bitter lemon drinks and grazed on the most tender, flavourful Corn-fed chicken fried and glazed with sesame mayo and kimchee. We were also wowed by the punchy Fried potatoes with Parmesan, onion, chives and sour cream and the summery, aromatic Roasted corn on the cob with summer truffle, pickled onion and brown butter emulsion.

Giro Pizzeria

Since we’d already had breakfast in Miss Clara’s main restaurant, we decided to try Giro Pizzeria next door. This neighbourhood Neapolitan pizzeria is a collaboration between Nobis Hospitality Group and the world-famous L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele, that also has a restaurant in London.

We ordered a simple Margarita and Diavola and both were just heavenly with light, blistered crusts, tangy tomato sauce and creamy fior di latte. Giro Pizzeria is walk-in only and service is quick and cheerful, which was handy for us to roll back to our room and watch Eurovision with a pink raspberry Princess cake from the NK Saluhall.

Oaxen Slip

Oaxen Slip is a stunning Swedish bistro and the casual sister of the acclaimed two Michelin-starred restaurant Oaxen Krog. Occupying a prime spot overlooking the water on the leafy Djurgården island, Oaxen is set across a refurbished boatyard shed and its interiors echo the building’s industrial origin.

For weekday lunch, Oaxen Slip offers three weekly-changing special dishes (Veckans Värsting) for 155kr and we found them all rather tempting. We both went for Flank steak with peas, fried potatoes and smoked mayo. Arriving as a sharing plate, the medium-cooked steak was tender and juicy and went perfectly with the golden, crispy potatoes and sunkissed tomatoes and large peas that tasted like they’d been freshly-plucked from the garden.

Not only is Oaxen Slip a beautiful place to bask along the peaceful waterside, but the food has a home-style feel using superior ingredients. I’d definitely book a table at Oaxen Krog to get the full experience on another visit.

Travel tip:

If you hear that Stockholm is mostly cashless, believe it! Almost every cafe and restaurant we visited only took card payments and it was hard to spend the small amount of cash that we brought just in case (supermarkets, ticket offices and the NK department store accepted it, thankfully). A waiter actually told us that in about four years time, cash is expected to be obsolete on Sweden, so be sure to look into a prepaid currency card to avoid those pesky conversion charges.