IKEA is definitely one of the best thing that happened to us since fuckin' Microsoft Windows ..
When I was based in London , we were blessed with an enormous IKEA situated in Edmonton in which was about 15-20 minutes drive from my place . Well , IKEA not only gave bachelor cum rockstars like me an economical yet stylish way to furnish our homes but also come well equipped with a sick cafe , right next to the kids toys section ..
The Swedish meatballs are called kottbullar pronounced Shot-Bull-Ar .. nice :)
I have since been very enthusiastic about the Swedish meatballs for sometime now ..
In the beginning I found it very amusing how someone would rate meatballs being their national dish but once you try them , you get a slight glimpse into what it is really all about ..
At Ikea , I always go for the 20 meatball with chips , gravy and lingon berry sauce deal . That is the large meal deal at about £5.25 .. Pay 50 pence more and you can get a glass with unlimited refills . We always got one glass even if there was 5 of us dining .. so much for riding the system .
As I was told by Hanna , you gotta have boiled potatoes instead of them chips . It's the healthier option , that's how we do it in Sweden she used to say .. I used to think , fuck that shit ..
But sooner or later , when she was done with her plate .. the chips on my plate seemed to disappear , one or two at a time :)
That's all you need - You can't go wrong
Meatballs at IKEA was like godsent on days when you have a massive hangover .. you can beat munching on the balls that come with the same taste and same size at all times ! Just for the record , a really nice lady at IKEA gave me 3 balls on top of the 20 just because I told her I wanted to hold the record for the most balls on a plate ! I was just hungry to be honest :)
Last winter in Sweden , Hanna's grandmother was kind enough to invite me over for dinner . She had prepared meatballs but had literally taken the whole meatballs experience to a whole new level .
I am despaired that I am not able to access my external hard drive to share some pictorials with you guys at the moment but will do so when I sort my technical problems out ..
The meatballs were much bigger in size .. the gravy felt more natural and the potatoes that were served were simply fit for a kings plate . I mean , mormor ( grandmother ) should really take over the IKEA kitchens or show them how it's done so the world could have a taste of what I had going on at the time ..
You look outside .. you see this !
And we were nicely tucked under some warmth of some sheep skin .. Getting it on with some Swedish Meatballs . What more could one want ?!
In the summer , as I was determined to complete my 1000 km's driving on the wrong side of the road as I would put it . We drove to a town called ( Örebro ) .. I think this is where we were headed . I had a good excuse to indulge myself with some more meatballs and also to see for myself if the Swedish ones are better than the ones in London ..
Well , we were there a bit too early and I had starved myself so I can dig in later on .. So .... after waiting a very lengthy 20 minutes anticipating .. I got what I wanted !!
The upshot - The meatballs were bigger .. the chips felt more home made and buttery . They separated the gravy and the bread was fuckin' good and the fact is I don't even like bread !!?? The lingon berry sauce was completely different than the ones we get back home ... Overall , it was awesome - meatballs were a bit too salty for my fancy but nothing comes close to 'mormor's meatballs !! So without a shadow of doubt - Mormor is from now on the record holder for the best meatballs I have ever had :)
Mormor - you are a legend :) Love you ..
To end this wonderful post , I'd just like to say that I feel like having some meatballs right now but considering that it is 2 am in the morning , I'll just stick to some munchies :)
