Fish

Last night, we had the best meal of the trip so far since we arrived in Europe.  It was Bruce's birthday and his work group took us out to see some sights and it was a wonderful evening. We all met up at the BoMill office which - again - is within walking distance from our hotel in Lund, Sweden.

Their office is on one of the cutest and most charming streets in town.  I had been walking around town during the day and snaped this photo of the police on horseback - and the BoMill office is in the background and I didn't even know it at the time. (It's the building in the shade)

I mean, can you possibly pick a more charming building?

The BoMill group took us to dinner at a little seaport restaurant at the most southwestern point of Sweden, passed the town of Malmo.

The bus first stopped off at some sights for us tourists to enjoy like the tallest skyscraper in Malmo called the Turning Torso that is 54 stories tall

and an old castle that use to be a prison and is now a museum in Malmo.

The best stop was a view of the Oresund Bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark.  We caught it right at sunset which was magical. 

After this, the bus continued to our dinner destination at a restaurant called Skanors Fiskrogeri.  It is a smokehouse and a restaurant where they serve all their smoked products, and that would be fish and plenty of it.

The restaurant itself was very cozy and inviting with cute little homey artifacts everywhere.  

This was our kind of place.  We have not had a bad meal since we left home but this meal was the best.  All the courses were fish.  And the best we've ever tasted!  It was served "family style" so first our server brought out a concoction of smoked salmon mixed with other things (I never saw a menu, it was pre-planned by our hosts).  These little bitesize morsels were unbelievable, even though they are innocent looking enough.  

Then, the plates of our appetizers started coming out...shrimp

pickled herring - my first of the trip and it was wonderful.  I do see it at all the hotel breakfasts but it's not my favorite breakfast food, but I do like it otherwise and I know it's popular in Scandinavia.

There was also a basket of bread with the most delicious butter. 

Then the best - salmon and eel.  It was so good!

And don't forget the cheese.   We are offered cheese at every meal, even breakfast.  The Swedes eat a lot of cheese.

After adding a few of their tasty sauces, my appetizer plate looked like this.

We also had beverages along with all this.  We started with beer.  They always bring you a glass with the name of the beer on it.

Another beverage was a Swedish liquor that they called Schnapps but it didn't taste like the Schnapps we know.  There were two kinds at our table and both were pretty good.

Throughout the meal, someone would say something in Swedish and then everyone would stop eating and we'd all toast our Schnapps.  A couple of times they would go into a little chant or Swedish song.  It was so funny but seemed very normal to them, typical of what they do when they are celebrating something.  We followed along like we knew what we were doing. 

The highlight was when they all stood up and sang Happy Birthday to Bruce in Swedish.  Those who did not know Swedish remained seated.  It sounded...well, so Swedish! 

After that our main dish came out which was incredible; cod with mussels and mashed potatoes underneath the generous portion of fish - with lots of butter...

I don't think Bruce could have had a better meal for his birthday. Or a better celebration with such fun people.  It was so perfect in every way.  We will always remember this birthday as Bruce's birthday...Swedish-style.