The City we know best.
Our Guide to Stockholm
Written by
The NUDIENT team
Published
3 July, 2026
NUDIENT started here. We have shot campaigns in Marrakech, found calm in Bali, and drawn inspiration from the energy of Hong Kong, but the brand was born in Stockholm, and the city is still where most of our ideas take shape. Exploration, for us, has never only meant leaving. It also means knowing a place well enough to keep finding new corners in it.
For our yearly summer party we moved through the city as a team, returning to long-standing favorites and adding a few new ones along the way. What follows is that route, more or less in the order we explored it.
Pelikan
Pelikan
Lunch
Pelikan (Södermalm)
We started on Södermalm at Pelikan, a beer hall that has served Swedish home cooking on Blekingegatan since 1904. The room does most of the talking: high vaulted ceilings, dark wood, and a painted mural that has watched over generations of long lunches. We ordered toast skagen to begin, then the hand-rolled meatballs and the cognac-flambéed pepper steak. The kind of place where history is something you feel.
Kersch
Kersch
Coffee
Kersch (Södermalm)
Ten minutes down Götgatan, we stopped at Kersh to refuel with a double espresso. It is a small roastery bar at Götgatan 29, with a counter, a few seats, and a shelf of beans that makes leaving with a bag feel like the natural thing to do. The roast leans modern, with a focus on sweetness. A short, focused stop, which is exactly what it is built to be.
Pet Sounds Bar
Pet Sounds Bar
Afternoon
Pet Sounds Bar (slussen)
We continued down toward Slussen and into Katarinahuset, where Pet Sounds Bar sits at the entrance. It is run by the people behind the Pet Sounds record store on Skånegatan, open since 1979. The room is lined with vinyl, and the menu leans Southern European, built around small plates. We had a few Omnipollo IPAs and stayed for the atmosphere. Live sessions and music quizzes happen here often, so with some luck you arrive on a night when an up-and-coming artist is playing. In summer the terrace opens over the water at Slussen.
Bars with a view (Slussen)
In the same building, above Pet Sounds, take the elevator up. You reach Gondolen, the classic suspended dining room, with Café Klotet and Bar Zeppelin on the floors above it and the Pelago rooftop terrace higher still. Between them you get some of the widest views in the city, out over Gamla Stan, the water, and the rooftops.
Bar Europa
Bar Europa
Bar Europa (Södermalm)
From Slussen we made our way to Bar Europa on Bysistorget. The name fits. Red chairs out front, natural wine on tap, Tuborg, and Mediterranean small plates, all in a former Chinese restaurant turned neighborhood bar. We took the outdoor seating, ordered wine and beer, and ran a fairly competitive trivia round among ourselves. Oscar had the answers that day, and made sure everyone knew it.
A few places in Gamla Stan
Our office is in the old town, so we know it well. It is full of tourists, and it is still a must. Few places in the city hold as much history. Gamla Stan was founded in the 1250s, its streets and façades still carrying centuries of it. Stortorget, the square at its center, was the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath in November 1520, and the Royal Palace stands a few minutes away. Past the crowds, three places we keep coming back to.
Kouthoofd Familie Winkel (Gamla Stan)
On Stora Nygatan, in the heart of the old town, Kouthoofd Familie Winkel has the feel of a Japanese listening bar, with a wall of vinyl, careful sound, and food that goes beyond the usual wine-bar plates. It is co-owned by one of the founders of Teenage Engineering, which you sense in the detailing. A hidden local room.
Goose Alley (Gamla Stan)
For a quick bite, Goose Alley on Gåsgränd serves some of the best pizza in the city, New York style and properly crusty, sold by the slice. We have ended up here for lunch more than once, a few slices each. The favorites among us are the honey jalapeño, the pepperoni, and the lemon.
Den Gyldene Freden (Gamla Stan)
Also worth knowing in the old town is Den Gyldene Freden, open at the same address since 1722 and one of the oldest restaurants in the country. It is owned by the Swedish Academy, the body that awards the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Röda Huset
Röda Huset
Evening Cocktails
Röda Huset (Sergels Torg)
From the old town we made our way up to Sergels Torg, where Röda Huset is one of the best cocktail bars in Stockholm, ranked among The World's 50 Best Bars in 2025. The room is Nordic and modern in feel, and the menu is built almost entirely around Swedish produce, presented as a map of where each ingredient comes from. We worked through several drinks, all good in their own way, among them the ‘Kolagräs med god grädde’, the ‘Cucumber’, and the ‘Heather honey & cherry’. The staff talk you through the process behind each one, and the service is excellent. Late in a long day, one drink ended up tipped over, and a new one arrived without fuss.
K-Karaoke
K-Karaoke
An activity
K-Karaoke (Vasastan)
To push the evening further, we went up to Odenplan and spent an intense hour singing, closer to screaming, at K-Karaoke. Open since 2008 and inspired by Japanese karaoke culture, it has private rooms for groups from four to forty people, which is the right format for a group of friends that has had a few drinks.
Främmat
Främmat
Dinner
Främmat (Vasastan)
A couple of hundred meters from K-Karaoke, we ended the night with dinner at Främmat on Dalagatan, near Odenplan. We shared plates across the table and drank negroni and red wine. The most memorable was the halibut, a perfect balance of sweetness from melon, heat from jalapeño, and acidity. The pulpo and the Iberico were close behind. It is run by one of the co-founders of Punk Royale, and the same team is behind Bacchanale in Skanstull, another favorite. Over the last plates, the conversation turned to NUDIENT, where we have been and where we want to go next. A fitting place to round off a long day.
Other favorites
Stockholm runs deep on food and drink, and there is more than one day can hold. A few more we return to, and you can find our full list on the map here
• Lilla Ego (Vasastan): Among the best in the city for the price. Hard to book, with tables released a month ahead and gone within the hour, so be ready at midnight or try for a drop-in seat at the kitchen bar.
• Sturehof (Stureplan): A Stockholm classic, and a classic for good reason.
• Bar Nîmes (Vasastan): A neighborhood spot with Italian and Southern French cooking. Strong pasta, and usually open through the summer.
• Tennstopet (Vasastan): An institution in the same spirit as Pelikan.
• Triton (Södermalm): Excellent food, with a real Söder feel to it.
• Savant Bar (Vasastan): One of the city's best wine bars, with a wide natural-wine list.
• Surfers (Stureplan): A long-running dinner spot for us, Chinese food done very well.
We have explored cities all over the world, but Stockholm is where we began, and the one we keep coming back to with fresh eyes. A city worth knowing.
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