Stockholm's classic patisseries – from Vete-Katten to Tössebageriet

Fika is Stockholm's everyday ritual, and the city's patisseries have their own history. Here are the establishments that have been baking for nearly a hundred years – from Vete-Katten on Kungsgatan and Tössebageriet on Karlavägen to the cafés on Strandvägen and in Rosendal Garden.

In Stockholm, fika is not a coffee break but an institution, and the city's patisseries are its temples. Several of the classic establishments were founded by women during the interwar period and have been baking at the same address for almost a hundred years. This guide follows some of them – and a couple of modern successors who have taken fika to museums and gardens.

Vete-Katten – "goodness knows" since 1928

Vete-Katten is located on the corner of Kungsgatan 55 and was founded in 1928 by Ester Nordhammar, as a patisserie, bakery and chocolate maker. According to rumour, the name came about when Nordhammar was asked what the place should be called and replied with the Swedish expression for "goodness knows" – literally "the cat knows". The patisserie has always been smoke-free – something unusual for its time.

In 1979, Agneta and Östen Brolin took over and ran Vete-Katten for more than thirty years. In September 2012, the company was sold to, among others, master pastry chef Johan Sandelin, who had worked there since 1997. Today there are also smaller outlets on, among others, S:t Eriksgatan and at Stockholm Central Station, but the building on Kungsgatan is the original.

Tössebageriet – Helga Södermark's bakery on Karlavägen

Tössebageriet on Karlavägen 77 in Östermalm was founded in 1920 by Helga Södermark. She was given the nickname Tösse after her home parish in Dalsland while studying to become a domestic science teacher in Uppsala, and had learnt to bake in the kitchen of Tösse-Tydje church. The premises previously housed SJ's freight centre.

Today, Tössebageriet is run by Mattias Ljungberg from the Swedish national pastry team, who in 2015 created the semla wrap – a semla rolled in thin bread. The bakery's head pastry chef Cecilia Andersson was named Pastry Chef of the Year 2012.

Sturekatten – the patisserie that was a home

No guide to Stockholm's patisseries is complete without Sturekatten at Riddargatan 4, near Östermalmstorg. The patisserie was housed in a small 18th-century building, blue-listed by the Stockholm City Museum, and the interior was once the home of the sisters Anna and Hildegard Skog, with furniture in Karl Johan style and neo-rococo and crocheted tablecloths. Sturekatten went bankrupt in March 2021, according to Wikipedia – but the house still stands as a reminder of what a Stockholm patisserie could look like.

Svenskt Tenn at Strandvägen 5

At Strandvägen 5, the interior design house Svenskt Tenn, founded by Estrid Ericson in 1924, today houses a shop, an interior design studio and a café. Drinking coffee surrounded by Josef Frank's fabrics and furniture is one of the most Stockholm fikas you can have.

Rosendal Garden on Djurgården

Out on Djurgården, west of Rosendal Palace, lies Rosendal Garden, where the Swedish Horticultural Society ran a gardening school from 1861 to 1911 and trained around 700 gardeners. Since 1982, the garden has been run by a foundation that promotes biodynamic cultivation, and here you'll find a café, bakery, plant shop and bread shop. It's Stockholm's most beautiful spot for a cinnamon bun amidst the greenery, and the proceeds go back to the garden.

How to have fika like a Stockholmer

Fika is both a verb and a noun: you fika, and you have a fika. The classics at a patisserie are the cinnamon bun, princess cake and, around Shrove Tuesday, the semla. Do as the Stockholmers do and sit down – a patisserie is meant for staying. See the addresses in VERA PI's street files for Kungsgatan, Karlavägen, Riddargatan and Strandvägen.

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