The place was so cute, small and homey and that took me by surprise! A good, refreshing one at that. A place that could probably only sit 30 people at one given time and had a live singer at one corner to boot gave this place a much different vibe than the usual Aussie eateries. The atmosphere was dim in lighting to get that intimate feel surrounded with a lot of chatter that was going on around. The smell of coffee constantly surrounded the place as they had an area just for coffee as well. Looking to the back of the restaurant, was a semi-open kitchen that we could walk through to get to the back ran by just 5 people in total. 
One of the reasons I love going to new eateries with a big group of people is so I can fully judge a place on their food as we get to order an array of things. In conjunction with two birthdays and a graduation, we decided to take time off our busy lives and decided to live a little – I think most of us are at the phase of life where we ask each other what their line of work is instead of what are you studying at uni. That being said, I don’t think we’re all that happy to be grown ups. HAHA! To start, we decided to get four different starters to share between 12 people. We had a good mix ranging from meat, seafood, and vegetarian.
The salad consisted of green apples, fennel, peas with sunflower seeds and house herb pesto. It was a very refreshing dish with a herby tang to it. It was a great mix of elements that were crunchy in texture.
Consisting of mushrooms with crispy bread, horseradish cream, and pea sprouts, it was one of the heartier dishes we had during the night. We absolutely loved the crispy bread that came with some of the starters and mains. SUPER crispy that could pair up with everything.
I had my mind set on having to try this dish when I decided to come here. There were definitely mixed reviews on this dish around the table but I personally loved it. Being a huge fan of all kinds of dumplings and all. It was stuffed with pork and potato, cooked in burnt butter sauce and topped with the famous Swedish lingonberry jam. What made everyone have mixed reviews was about the thickness of the dumpling dough. It was at least a CM in thickness and in kind of a dense doughy texture. I thought the flavours were great and absolutely loved this.
In the jar, was a dip that consisted of prawns and mayo with dill and lemon. I definitely saw a dish like this sitting around Ikea before. Nevertheless, I am sure this was a much better and fresher version of it as no doubt that despite the creamy look, it had a refreshing feeling due to it being a cold dish and the fresh prawns it came with. With the mains, there were only five options to choose from. However, none of us decided to opt for the vegetarian option so here is my take on the meat and seafood.
Served with Fika’s iconic meatballs with potato mash, lingonberry jam, and gravy. A couple of us were really excited to try this having this been our first time trying a non-Ikea version and how it matched up. Super hearty and the meatballs were firm and had a great amount of flavour to it. I could eat their lingonberry jam with everything they had on the menu, it had a good amount of sweetness to it that didn’t over power.
The veal was usually served with potato gratin but it was served with mash that night. And along with kale, chanterelle sauce, and redcurrant jelly. It was perfectly pink at medium rare.
According to Josh, it was once again a refreshing and light dish. The pan fried barramundi was cooked well and the skin could definitely be more crispier. The highlight was the salad of saffron and leak that was smooth and unexpected as it was initially thought that it wouldn’t go quite well. The portion sizing of the fish could be more consistent has some of us had two pieces.
This was definitely the highlight dish for me! The chicken was cooked so well with the skin being very well seasoned with herbs and spices. The best part of the dish was the accompaniments that came with it – bacon, sauteed kale, banana sauce, and crunchy peanuts. I thought this was an odd combo when reading it on the menu but it totally worked! Sweet and salty elements brought the chicken out and safe to say, it was a party in my mouth. 
Cake time! We went with the Kladdkaka which is the sticky chocolate cake pictured in the front, and the Princess Cake at the back which consisted of an airy sponge cake with pink marzipan, homemade berry jam, vanilla custard, and whipped cream. Absolutely LOVED the chocolate cake, it was such a hit amongst everyone. It was really gooey but not like a mud cake or a brownie either. Such interesting texture. 
It was overall such a great dining experience. A very different one to the usual vibe that most restaurants have. Would highly recommend this to anyone who wants an intimate night out or a group of close friends to celebrate the occasion. The staff were really friendly, and for a place ran with only 5 people, service was efficient and the dishes came out all at once with good timing. They’re open for lunch and breakfast as well!
Overall rating: 8.5/10
Fika Swedish Kitchen
5b Market Lane MANLY 2095
www.fikaswedishkitchen.com.au
*Photography credits to Joshua Sim
Wait! The camera eats first! 