Market hall in Östermalm, Stockholm

Östermalms Saluhall

Red Brick on Östermalmstorg

4 of 5

Stockholm built this market hall in six months. The building permit went in on 13 March 1888, was approved three days later, and on 30 November King Oscar II turned up for the opening. Then nobody came. Stalls sat empty for years until 1914, when the city bought the building and banned the messy open-air trading on the square outside. The traders moved indoors and stayed. The architects, Isak Gustaf Clason and Kasper Salin, were both 32 and fresh from touring the brick and cast iron halls of France. Look up at the roof and you can see what impressed them.

Lunch here means choosing a counter and committing to it. Lisa Elmqvist, a fisherman's daughter whose street stall drew queues too long to manage, moved into the hall in 1926. The fourth generation of her family now runs a seven metre fish counter and a restaurant recommended by the Michelin Guide. Melanders has supplied the city's serious cooks for more than sixty years. Nybroe makes proper Danish smørrebrød on rye. Tysta Mari pours coffee and serves home cooking, and Hedvig, one flight up, puts Swedish classics on a balcony that looks down over every stall.

A renovation meant to take two years took four, with the traders camped in a temporary hall on the square, and the doors reopened in 2020 with the 1888 interior intact. The building is protected now. Bon Appétit once ranked it seventh among the world's market halls. Eat at a counter, then buy something from the fishmongers to cook that night. Sunday it rests.

Order this

Fish and shellfish at Lisa Elmqvist, Danish smørrebrød at Nybroe, Swedish husmanskost on the balcony at Hedvig, Coffee and a pastry at Tysta Mari

The damage

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Go

A weekday around noon; the hall opens Monday to Friday 9:30 to 19, Saturday to 17, closed Sunday (restaurants stay open in the evening)

Find it

Östermalmstorg, 114 39 Stockholm

Website

ostermalmshallen.se