Preparing for the arrival of the summer’s hungry boating guests requires intense concentration. Photo: Brygghuset

Sweden’s coastal waters can be desolate places in the winter. No more so than on the rocky Atlantic west coast, peppered with hundreds of rocky outcrops and islands. A village like Fiskebäckskil in the county of Bohuslän is home to little more than 400 year-round residents. In the summer, though, a couple of thousand holiday home owners liven up the area.

Boat invasion in the west

Positioned right on the village’s harbor, the restaurant Brygghuset feels the full effect not only of these extra inhabitants, but also of another phenomenon: summer in Sweden means boats, lots of boats. Some two million people in Sweden have access to a boat, and restaurants like Brygghuset all around the country’s 3,000-kilometer coastline thrive on their summer trade.

Björn Andersson, co-owner of Brygghuset, says: “The harbor here is home to 400 boats in the summer, and there is space for 100 guest boats. During the two peak months of summer we serve 500 to 600 people daily. Even then I sometimes have to turn away another 100 or 200 because we have no space.”

Brygghuset is the perfect setting for lovers of the boating life. A mere hop from the harbor, the scrubbed wood deck, nautical-themed décor and fish-heavy menu is just what those who take the road less dry are looking for.

It's a similar story down the coast at Peterson's Krog, on the remote and rocky Käringön, according to co-owner Nils Wikström. “There’s no particular type when it comes to boat owners in Sweden,” he says. “Our clientele are rich and poor, young and old, but they all share a love of nature, the sea and of a relaxed and inviting atmosphere. We have a reputation for good fish and the guitars and accordions that we lend out to customers. Most nights here there is always someone on the guitar. The sailing crowd love to sing.”

Dining deluxe in the east

But not all summer restaurants are about strumming guitars and laid-back atmospheres. On Sweden's east coast, tucked away in Stockholm's 30,000-island archipelago is Oaxen, a restaurant on the island of the same name. The restaurant's website lists its location as: Lat 58o58, 3’N; Long 17 o43, 2’O. Nautical chart B 6181, leaving no doubt that it’s definitely a sailors' restaurant.


Guests enjoy a romantic setting combined with excellent dining in the Stockholm archipelago. Photo: Anders Thessin/Oaxen

A quick glance at the menu will also leave you in no doubt that Oaxen's raison d’être is food, the very best food money can buy. Using ingredients as local and seasonal as possible, head chef Magnus Ek has propelled the restaurant not only to number one spot in Sweden (according to influential Swedish food bible “The White Guide”), but also to the position of 39th best restaurant in the world in the most recent annual top 50 produced by Restaurant Magazine.

Oaxen's assistant restaurant manager Martin Sonefors says: “Most of our guests have one thing in common: the sole reason for their boat journey is to eat dinner here. They come for superb food.”

Seasonal strategies

But while Oaxen might stand head and shoulders above all other summertime seaside restaurants as far as food is concerned, they have one issue in common: seasonality. “It's not so difficult to find staff here, they are queuing up as much as the customers, but we have to adjust how we work from the way a normal restaurant works, because we close in the winter,” Sonefors says. “The season is very intense because we have to earn enough money to survive the winter.”

“We have six or seven staff here during winter, when we are only open at weekends,” says Brygghuset’s Andersson, “a number which jumps to 30 during the summer. We have to find staff from all over Sweden, mostly young people who work the seasons: summer by the sea, winter on the ski slopes. What we make in June and July keeps us going pretty much through the rest of the year.”

For Wikström at Peterson’s Krog the challenge is not finding the staff, but spreading the workload. “We have a great team that joins us in the summer, but we’re always trying to lengthen our season, to get people to come in May or September. That way we can run a more even business. But it’s very difficult. You get some guys who like to challenge nature; they may suddenly appear by boat in November or December. But they are just the weirdos. Most people stay comfortably at home at that time of year, just waiting for the next season. So we go home, too.”

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Rob Hincks is a British journalist and editor based in Sweden. He loves the idea of tying up his yacht outside a gourmet restaurant, but unfortunately doesn’t know his jib from his main brace.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.

Classification: A205EN

© Photos 1—3: Brygghuset
© Photos 4—6: Anders Thessin /Oaxen