Lunch in IKEA

A friend of mine took me and my hangover out to IKEA on a Saturday afternoon in December to buy some stuff for Christmas presents. We were worried it might be a foolhardy expedition, but it was surprisingly un-hectic, and something about the clean lines and colourful patterns of IKEA’s products soothed my poor addled head. And of course we had lunch in their canteen.  I’ve eaten in IKEA canteens a couple of times before, and once again it was tasty and excellent value.

I got their baked salmon lunch: it was a small fillet with dill sauce, and came with some really excellent potato rostis.  It was €5.90, and there were all kinds of add-on offers, to trick you into spending even more money.  But they’re genuinely good value so I can’t really complain. It was only an extra euro to add on a side salad, and I got a bowl of very fresh salad vegetables.  We shared a slice of Dime cake, which was also a euro with a main course (normally about €2).  The Dime cake was just as tasty as you might imagine.  All in, I got a big tray of mostly wholesome food (Dime cake being the exception) for about €8.  They were accommodating to my friend who wanted their ratatouille with pasta without pasta and with a baked potato instead.

I’m not sure if I’d recommend negotiating the horrible, badly-signposted route to IKEA just for lunch, but if you’re out there anyway stocking up on spatulas and bed linen and collapsible shoe trees or whatever, you can have a very pleasant lunch indeed.  Their Swedish meatballs are always a good bet.  It’s also well worth checking out their food hall, there’s an excellent array of Swedish food, including frozen fish, potato rostis, delicious ginger biscuits, sweets, interesting cheeses, jams and much more.