When you’re looking for a new sofa, a dining room table, or a cool office chair, IKEA is the first place that comes to mind. The expansive maze of cheap, clean-cut and not so sturdy home goods with unpronounceable names is enough to entice…But then there’s the food.
Photo by Emily Kirsch
It’s easy to forget that IKEA, a Swedish company, has a full-blown cafeteria style restaurant in many of its stores, including those in the U.S., that serve up Swedish and American delights all day long. If you’re not feeling like a sit down meal in the middle of shopping, they also have a quick to-go area and market.
Photo by Emily Kirsch
You may have heard about their Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam, but that’s not all they have. They’ve got salmon wraps with a mustard dill sauce, BBQ ribs and chicken fingers with fries for under $10. They have macaroni and cheese, garlic toast and cornbread on the side for less than $3. For dessert you can try the Swedish apple cake or the cream cake with marzipan for only $2 (it’s the bomb).
Photo by Emily Kirsch
No time for all of that? Grab a $1 soft serve vanilla fro-yo in a sugar cone to enjoy while you shop or a slice of pizza, cinnamon bun and a hot dog to go, all for less than $5.
No matter what you choose to eat, you will not go hungry as their portions are standard and certainly worth what you pay for them.
Photo by Emily Kirsch
If you’re looking to stock up on Swedish snacks you can fill your cart with an abundance of cookies, lingonberry and elderflower juice boxes (they are known for their lingonberry juice which is refreshing and slightly sweet), creamed smoked roe in what looks like a giant tooth paste tube, fried onion bits, cake mix, and every kind of herring product you can think of—and that’s only a handful of the items they sell.
Photo by Emily Kirsch
Shop right and you could make a weeks worth of meals simply by shopping at IKEA, though you may have to face the creamed smoked roe and herring in mustard sauce to do it.
Photo by Emily Kirsch