Operakällaren

Last Call at the Opera

4 of 5

Operakällaren has been feeding Stockholm since 1787. It will close at the end of December 2026 for a renovation of several years. That is not a sales pitch. It is a calendar, and the calendar is short.

Under executive chef Emanuel Tärnqvist the kitchen holds a Michelin star and tries to keep the old grandeur while sounding like the present. The autumn menu is 2,400 kronor for snacks, a starter, a main, dessert and the small sweets at the end. The chef's selection is 3,300. They also run a Swedish Christmas buffet for 1,795, which is the right kind of ridiculous. Private rooms exist too, including a historic wine cellar for groups of ten to sixteen, if you have the friends and the budget.

It is open Wednesday to Saturday, from six in the evening until one in the morning, and it sits on Karl XII:s Torg beside the opera house. Dress well. Arrive hungry. Grand dining rooms are rarely about novelty. They are about a few hundred years of people deciding that a good evening is worth the effort. Go before the doors close, because renovation timelines run long and the next version of this room will not be the same one.

Order this: The autumn à la carte menu, The chef's selection, The old wine cellar if you can book a group
The damage: $$$$ (2,400 kr à la carte menu, 3,300 kr chef's selection)
Go: Before the end of December 2026, any Wednesday to Saturday evening
Find it: Karl XII:s Torg 3, Stockholm