Bröd & Salt

Rating: 4/5

There's no other chain that pulls off a semla quite like Bröd och Salt.

They've worked out a concept that works. Give the store the components and instructions and the result is something that looks and tastes like an artisan bakery semla rather than one from coop over the road.

3pm on a Sunday on Sveavägen. The person who served us took a fresh bun, sliced off the top, pressed out a circular lid. Applied a generous amount of almond paste, sprinkled some chopped nuts on, added some whipped cream (from a counter mounted cream machine), gave it a dusting of icing sugar and packed it into the box.

Taste wise, ticks all the boxes. Bun was soft, thankfully no sign of rose water this time (something I didn't like when reviewing it 2 years ago). Noticeable taste of cardamom, and the cream was creamy despite it loosing it's shape and "weeping" a bit.

Sadly the box had an unnecessary plastic window. Which complicates recycling and adds to the huge amount of plastic sent off for "recycling" Sweden burns.

They're getting an extra half mark this time, making it an incredibly impressive four. It's not a budget semla, but thankfully it doesn't taste like one either.