You Can Get Midtown Lunch at the Church of Sweden

Church of Sweden midtown
The Norwegian Seaman’s Church’s annual fair isn’t the only Scandinavian Christmas action happening in midtown this week. The Church of Sweden on 48th street kicks off their holiday bazaar today, too.

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.

Inside Church of Sweden
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.

Church of Sweden menu
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?!).

open faced cheese sandwich
Swedish cheese sandwich

Open Faced Fish sandwich
Fish and egg sandwich on brown bread

Open faced ham sandwich
Ham sandwich

Church of Sweden Cinnamon Bun
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

10 Comments

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    I’m going to kill two birds with one stone today – the Church of Sweden and the Norwegian Christmas festival. Go Northern Europe eats (today’s temperature sure justify the climates there).

  • I would need about 5 of those open faced sandwiches to begin to satisfy me. They do look tasty however.

  • User has not uploaded an avatar

    I was at the Church of Sweden around noon. Mad house in there! The food is in the back and there were all these Swedish speakers chattin’ with the people who work there. Oh! And you can get a traditional Swedish Christmas meal today and tomorrrow 12-7 for $20 in the basement. The poster said the meal was created by a chef from Aquavit (not a surprise, but not Chef Marcus, :P)

  • I actually went to this place. I split the meatball “sandwich” and the ham “sandwich.” The pictures really show what these sandwiches are. They are very thin and not filling, but they are cheap, so you can load up on them. I also tried the cinnamon buns. It left a weird aftertaste.

    This place is good to visit if you want a light, quiet lunch or if you’re Swedish.

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