Voi Café Guide Stockholm – Semla edition

A few months ago, we launched the Voi Café Guide, a guide curated by our own secret inspectors of some of the best cafés in Stockholm – all within reach on a Voi in around 15 minutes from anywhere in the inner city.

As we’re approaching semmeldagen, a much celebrated and heavily anticipated occasion in Sweden on the 1st of March when semlas (a wheat flour bun tinged with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream) are eaten, our secret inspectors decided to yet again head out on Vois – this time, in the hunt for the best semlas in Stockholm.

For this guide, we decided to focus on four criteria: Taste, Atmosphere, Service, Value and Voiability (how easy it is to reach the location by Voi and to park).

Now – let’s have a look at our inspectors’ top picks for Stockholm :

Lillebrors Bageri

Address: Rörstrandsgatan 10, Stockholm

Semla: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 3.9/5 (49 SEK)
Voiability: 5/5

There was a line and it was cold. And yes, we waited. Did we regret it? Absolutely not! Already from the outside, Lillebrors Bageri caught our eye with its modern and minimal interior design. There was no seating as this is a grab-and-go type of bakery, but we honestly didn’t care – our eyes and mind were completely taken by the beautiful semlas and other yummy creations in the bakery.

Now, to the semla. At first glance, it looks like your traditional go-to semla, but a closer look reveals large pieces of almond sticking out of the almond paste. The impressive stature of it also makes it look more posh than your average semla. We were very positively surprised by the freshness of the whipped cream (if you’ve never had Swedish whipped cream, then you’re in for a treat) and the larger almond chunks. Also, if you love almond paste, you’re in luck as this one was filled to the brim!

Brunkebergs Bageri

Address: Dalagatan 9 J, Stockholm

Semla: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 5/5 (49 SEK)
Voiability: 5/5

If you haven’t yet tasted a semla and want to know what the OG is like, this is the place for you. Biting into it, it felt like we had traveled back to the period of an Astrid Lindgren novel – that’s how traditional and Swedish the semla tasted. Shape – flawless. Whipped cream thickness – flawless. Almond paste – flawless. Pretty much the perfect traditional semla.

Another big plus was the generous amount of seating, allowing us to devour our pastries in peace. Oh, and kudos to their team for making the effort to create our custom Voi semlas!

Mr. Cake

Address: Rådmansgatan 12, Stockholm

Semla: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
Service: 4/5
Value: 4/5 (52 SEK)
Voiability: 5/5

We’ve been to Mr. Cake a few times for their over-the-top pastries, but never for a semla. This time then, we had the choice of their more traditional semla and the Wienersemla – a semla made out of fluffy, pastry-like dough (looking like a sandwich from the side) and beautifully spritzed whipped cream. We went for the latter and as soon as we took a bite, we were hooked. The dough was crisp, light, and had just the perfect amount of sweetness balanced with a hint of salt – yum! Most semlas leave you pretty full due to the heavy dough, but this one left us wanting more. If a croissant and a semla had a baby, this would be it.

Clemedt Dunér Bageri

Address: Värtavägen 31, Stockholm

Semla: 5/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 5/5 (39 SEK)
Voiability: 4/5

Who knew that our favourite semla place in Stockholm would be tucked away in Gärdet on the outskirts of town, in an attic-like space at the bottom of a tall residential building? Without even knowing how to pronounce the name of the bakery, we hopped on a Voi with great hopes. As a precaution, we had ordered their classic semla in advance and this turned out to be a genius move as all their semlas were sold out when we arrived.

Although we only ordered the classic semla, they also threw in their “specialty” – a cinnamon bun inspired creation called “Kemla”, from a mix of semla and the Swedish word for cinnamon bun (kanelbulle). As food inspectors, we don’t always eat everything we order, as that would obviously be too much food to handle; however, this time we couldn’t stop ourselves. The cinnamon bun was baked to perfection – it was like eating only the best parts of the bun (the middle), except it applied to the entire bun. That’s how good it was, with rich and fragrant almond paste and just the right level of sweetness. Although their classic semla was also great, our prize goes to the Kemla. Basically – even if you’re living on the other side of town, this is a Voi trip you won’t regret taking.

(The Kemla is the creation to the right).