Fika Swedish Kitchen

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Known for their clean designs and less for their culinary prowess, for most people, the most we know about Swedish food comes from IKEA - which I doubt is a very good representation of what Swedish cuisine has to offer.

Fika is a small cafe moonlighting as a mini Swedish specialty food store, serving up some unusual yet simultaneously highly accessible food: think meatballs and open sandwiches.

Latte, hot chocolate, $4.50 each
Fika serves a pretty respectable coffee, but what drew my attention is the absolutely adorable way the hot chocolate is decorated. Made with syrup rather than powder, it is not particularly amazing but not bad either.

Salmon Lover, $19
Can there be anything more Scandavanian than pumpernickel and cured fish? Fika cures their own salmon, which is thickly piled on a slice of the heavy, dark (and extremely healthy) bread atop some smashed avocado and horseradish cream. The egg is poached to perfection - thickly runny.

Egg on toast + skagen, $15
Predictably, I enjoy anything deconstructed - so imagine my joy when i was presented with such a plate. The bread is house-made, dense and rustic, but with a sweet licorice flavour - despite the fact that I'm not usually a licorice lover, I thought the bread was actually what made this dish so enjoyable. Skagen is a cold prawn, dill and lemon mayonnaise which might be compared to a creamy potato salad. The egg game at Fika is really quite strong - oozy yolk, solid white.

Score: 3.5 / 5 
A thoroughly enjoyable light meal I'd happily enjoy gain, but I'm not exactly dreaming about going back again soon either. Plus, it's in Manly - not my favourite spot in Sydney.
Cost: $30pp - some items were a little overpriced.
Address: 5B Market Pl, Manly
Website: www.fikaswedishkitchen.com.au

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