Lisas Grabb Café & Hembageri

Rating: 3 out of /5

Lisa's Grabb, and Lisa's Café before it, is a bit of a cultural institution on the island of Södermalm. It was full when I came in for a semla just after lunch. The clientele was largely older, but the cosy little café with it's simple and original décor was lively.

My take-away semla was placed in a plain white paper bag - That's a first for me I think! I honestly thought there's no way it would survive the trip home, but to my surprise it did.

With the combination of how busy it was and the mirrors behind the products, I had to be careful to respect people's privacy when filming and photographing. "It has to be documented" said the owner Nicklas as I did my best to capture the semlor.

There wasn't a huge amount of visible cardamom and the bun was light in colour. I love the heart shaped lid. That's something I've personally done on Valentines day semlor but Lisas Grabb appears to have adopted them as a signature feature.

The cream is really nicely whipped and piped with a closed star tip forming lovely deep contours. I can see flaked almonds peeking out that have been sprinkled over the paste.

The bun is quite bready - both in taste and texture. It reminds me of the loaves I bake. It's not a sweet dough and as visually indicated, there's not a great deal of cardamom. An additional bready feature was that it had a bit of a bread crust to it.

The filling though has added cardamom, so that helps lift the overall amount of cardamom taste to an acceptable level.

The almond flakes aren't crunchy at all. Some of them have softened as they've absorbed moisture from the paste and the cream.

The paste is interesting. It's soft but with distinct bits of almond. There's also bitter almond. There's perhaps something else too. I'm having a tough time putting my finger on it. It might just be a result of the overall combination, with the bread-taste of the bun definitely coming into play.

I've enjoyed this semla. It was unique, and given that there are at least 5 bakeries selling semlor very close by, that's something that's probably needed. Lisas Grabb, Niklas offers something different. Something homely. Something genuine.