The bazaar opens at. 11:00 and runs until 8pm tonight. And it will be open from 11-6pm tomorrow and 1pm until 5pm on Sunday. Besides Swedish handicrafts they’ll have Swedish pastries, Christmas platters “with, among others a meatballs and gravlax” as well as Glögg (aka Swedish Mulled wine) and gingerbread.

While today will undoubtedly be busy, the rest of the year the church is a pleasant and welcoming spot for a simple and cheap midtown lunch.

After you ring the bell, you’re buzzed into a large open room. There are a number of tables for sitting and reading or enjoying some lunch and a little kitchen in the back.

In recent months they have started posting a menu (in both Swedish and English). The selection is limited mainly to various simple open faced sandwiches, sold for $2.50. If they have leftover sandwiches from the day before in the fridge they’ll sell them to you for $1. You can also get a glass of lingonberry juice for $1 (how Swedish is that?!).

Swedish cheese sandwich

Fish and egg sandwich on brown bread

Ham sandwich

While I won’t pass up an open faced sandwich, their homemade cinnamon buns ($2) topped with crunchy sugar crystals make for a great dessert or snack.  If you love cinnamon rolls these are worth the trip alone.

Church of Sweden, 5 East 48th Street btw 5th and Madison. (212) 832-8443

Zagat Buzz has more intel on the second outpost of AQ Cafe, on Broadway between 58th St. and Columbus Circle. “The sign outside spells the restaurant’s name as “Kafé” (rather than original’s “cafe”), and the otherwise similar menu presents one glaring omission: the popular Nordic Cuban sandwich.” The glaring omission we noticed on the menu? The prices. Does not bode well, considering the original AQ Cafe on Park Ave. btw. 37+38th is already teetering on the edge of being outside the Midtown Lunch price range.

We’re also wondering what this will mean for FIKA Swedish Espresso bar, our current Scandinavian fave in the northern reaches of Midtown. It doesn’t get mentioned too often on the site, and is a little pricey, but they deserve credit for serving swedish meatballs in sandwich form (an item also on the AQ Kafe menu.) Walked by today and they were pretty packed, but it will be interesting to see how they fare once the M. Samuelsson train rolls north.

There are a few stages that every Ikea shopper goes through.  First, denial.  You see the signs for the food and laugh.  “Who the hell would eat at Ikea?  That food looks gross!”.  Then, after a few times of going to Ikea (you never get everything done in one trip), the curiosity starts to seep in.  “Well, it is pretty cheap.  It can’t be that bad, right?  It’s just so damn cheap!”  Finally, you submit.  It helps if you forget to eat before going shopping- in which case you end up being starving after navigating through the gigantic store, with no other food options.

I went through all these stages, and when I came out on the other end, I had discovered a new weakness… swedish meatballs.  Covered in gravy and topped with lingonberries, they are perfect for anybody who loves the sweet and salty combo.  And at around $4 for ten meatballs, it couldn’t be any cheaper.  Awhile back I wrote about a fancy Swedish meatball sandwich at FIKA Swedish Espresso bar.  Super delicious (but expensive), I lamented that there was no equivalent to Ikea in Midtown.

After writing that, a tipster recommended that I check out F&B Gudtfood, a “European Street Food” chain on 52nd btw. Lex+3rd.  Founded by one guy from Germany and one from England, they wanted to start a place where you could get all the street food they enjoyed in their travels around Europe  Fancy hot dogs, fish and chips, frites with different dipping sauces, and of course- Swedish meatballs.

I finally made it over to F&B to see if I had found an Ikea replacement.  What they’ve got, pictures and a +/- after the jumpLike most non-traditional Midtown chains, it is slightly over-priced for the amount of food you get, but they try to make up for that in quality and unique selection.  F&B has definitely got the unique selection.  The bulk of the menu is their gourmet hot dog and veggie dog choices with 19 different topping combinations using fancy ingredients like guacamole, parmesan, sweet corn relish and sauteed peppers to go along with more traditional toppings like sauerkraut, grilled onions and chili.

They also had various “frites”, like truffle frites (which they claim to spray with truffle oil), cheese frites, classic french fries, sweet potato frites, haricot frites (green beans) and the two “entree” frites- the chicken frites, and the steak frites.  The chicken frites are like the chicken fries at Burger King, but better… although that’s just a guess since I haven’t eaten at BK in years.  The steak frites, are slices of beef served in a cup with french fries.  How could that be bad?

But alas, I was there for the Swedish meatballs- which come in two different options.  The entree order served in a cup for $5.95, or the Swedish Meatball roll, a sandwich for $3.95.  I went with the sandwich.  While the steak frites, chicken frites, hot dogs and fish and chips are offered as combos, you get no such luck with the Swedish meatballs- so I was ”forced” to order sweet potato fries ala carte, which cost $2.95.

The sandwich was tasty but an absolute mess.  They got the gravy all over the side of the roll, and more poured out when you bit into it- but it still tasted pretty good.  The lingonberries did their job too, adding that delicious sweetness that makes real Swedish meatballs so great.  (I don’t remember them having lingonberries with the Swedish Meatballs at my Bar Mitzvah…)  The bun was fairly small (like a fat hot dog size), but for $3.95 it wasn’t too bad.  But let’s put it this way, if this sandwich cost $2, I would say it was the greatest sandwich of all time.

When you hear “European Street Food” and see a great menu like this, there are two ways the place can be considered amazing. Either the quality of the food is so great you don’t mind paying the really expensive prices (The AQ Cafe),  or it’s so cheap you don’t care about the quality (Ikea).  F&B falls somewhere in the middle.  It’s not so cheap that you don’t care, but it’s not sooo expensive that you get angry about the food not being top notch.  In other words, it’s good- but it’s no Ikea.

In all fairness though, I should mention on the way out we saw someone eating a Chicken Frites Wrap which looked pretty amazing.  It might be the way to go.  But I’ll leave that for another day.

The + (What someone who likes this place will say)

• If you like traditional Swedish Meatballs (with the gravy and lingonberries) this is the cheapest place to get them in Midtown
• The selection of fries is awesome… (I love Sweet Potato Fries!)

The – (What someone who doesn’t like this place will say)

• None of the food blows you away for the price. 
• I don’t like Swedish Meatballs
• The Swedish Meatball sandwich is too messy
• The Swedish Meatballs don’t come in any sort of combo, making it a little pricey to get fries and a drink with it

F&B Gudtfood, 150 E. 52nd St. (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-421-8600

F&B Gudftood Flickr Photo Page

Of course I was skeptical at first.  Those signs as you walk in, encouraging you to eat Swedish meatballs in the IKEA cafe…  for $3.99?  I’m not eating that crap.  Who eats at IKEA?  Well, I will tell you who… people who spend the entire morning moving into their new apartment- but still want to take advantage of the van that is due back at U-Haul that night.   So you drive out to Elizabeth NJ, and are so hungry that the IKEA Restaurant is your only option.  That was the first time I ate at IKEA.  The next time- our “shopping” excursion to IKEA, was just an excuse for lunch.  If you’ve never tried the Swedish meatballs with gravy and lingonberries- you don’t know what your missing.  And if you don’t like it- you’ve wasted $4.  Not that big a gamble…

With that in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I read about the new FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar on RestaurantGirl.com… Even though they are called an espresso bar- they also have sandwiches, salads, and Swedish meatballs.  How can you go wrong???  More pictures, and the +/- after the jump…

FIKA’s menu has 5 sandwiches, 3 salads, and 3 “lunches”.  The Swedish meatballs with lingonberries ($11) are served pre-packaged and cold with a creamy potato salad- so I opted for the Swedish Meatball sandwich.  At $9 it is more then twice the price of lunch at IKEA, but it was a pretty tasty sandwich.  The meatballs (also cold) came on a crusty french bread type of roll, and were covered in a fresh beet salad and fresh greens.  I don’t normally like beets- but this creamy beet salad was pretty tasty.  The menu says it is flavored with “horseradish” but there was no real kick to the mayo-like horseradish that is mixed with the beets. 

My wife ordered the chicken & capers salad.  All the ingredients (and the dressing) were fresh and delicious- but at $12 it also seemed a little bit expensive for a take-out lunch.  There are about 8 stools, spread between two counters… but as the place gets more popular I’m sure these will fill up quickly.  The menu said there was supposed to be potatoes in the salad, but we didn’t find any.  All in all it was a delicious lunch, but a little on the pricey side.  Despite the price, I will go back to try some of the other dishes… including a smoked salmon roll-up kind of thing that looked delicious. 

There is no question that there are cheaper sandwiches and salads to be had in Midtown for lunch, but if you are looking for something totally new and different, and don’t mind spending the money- the food at FIKA is really fresh, interesting and delicious.  They also told me they are planning on adding a few hot dishes, and soups in the next few weeks… I am excited to see what they add- but not as excited as I would be for a Manhattan IKEA!

THE +

• Fresh, delicious ingredients. (You can taste the real honey in the honey mustard dressing) 

• If you are sick of the same Salads and Sandwiches, this is something totally new… I’m pretty sure there is nowhere else in Midtown to get fast Swedish food to go. 

• Um… Swedish meatballs!  Hello!

THE -

• The price.  It is a little pricey for a take-out type of lunch…
• Not a lot of seating.  There’s only two counters with about 8 chairs… so I would recommend going alone (or with one other person) or you can just take your food to go
• Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center is right around the corner- and has a larger selection at their take-out counter.  I could see how most people would prefer that for their expensive sandwich, salad or soup fix…
• It’s no IKEA.  :-)

FIKA Swedish Espresso Bar, 41 W. 58th St. (btw. 5th+6th), 212-832-0022