‘Fika’ is the Swedish term for unwinding, Friends-style, over drinks and a bite to eat in informal surroundings – not something you might expect to discover towards the Bethnal Green Road
end of curry-saturated Brick Lane. Still, jolly post-industrial decor – plus a dash of kitsch styling – set the scene for breakfast, lunch, dinner or coffee and cake in this refreshingly authentic
Scandinavian venue. Wines start at £18.50 (for Chilean Sauvignon Blanc), while grub brings a Swedish meatball melt on sourdough toast, gravadlax, wild mushroom pie, campfire rib-eye with mash and
hickory sauce, rice-stuffed roasted peppers, cheese sliders, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cinnamon rolls and chokladboll (chocolate balls rolled in shredded coconut). It’s all a cut above
what you might expect to find on offer in a certain yellow and blue-painted retail store not far from the North Circular.