One-table restaurant to open in Swedish field

A one-table restaurant, where meals are delivered in a basket on a washing line, is to open next month in a Swedish field.

Image: Bord för En

Aptly named Bord för En, which translates as ‘table for one’, the new outdoor restaurant is located in Värmland in Sweden.

The concept is the brainchild of Linda Karlsson and Rasmus Persson. Karlsson told Swedish media that the idea came to her when her parents arrived at her house, and she refused to let them in.

Worried about their safety and the potential for catching the coronavirus, she set up a table for them outside.

“[We] instead set a table with white linen outside and served them through the window,” she told Fodors. “[We] said to ourselves then and there, ‘We should make this available for everyone! Anti-social freaks, people in risk groups, anyone! It will be the only Covid-19 safe restaurant in the world’. I made the website the very same night.”

Unlike most of its European counterparts, Sweden has not entered a period of lockdown following the Covid-19 outbreak. The country has not enforced strict social distancing and restaurants have remained open, however the government has issued a list of recommendations, which include the avoidance of non-essential travel.

Karlsson said she and her partner and former chef Rasmus Persson are following the recommendations.

Bookings are now being taken for the restaurant, which will consist of one table in a field with no serving staff. A three-course meal will instead be brought to a table in a basket suspended on a washing line linked to the kitchen window.

Only one party is allowed per day, either as individual guests or a group consisting of members of the same household. Reservations are available any time from 10am to 10:45pm.

Image: Bord för En

The current menu features a starter of Swedish-style hash brown, with sour cream (smetana), seaweed caviar and sorrel. The vegetarian main course consists of yellow carrot and ginger purée with browned hazelnut butter and sweet corn croquettes. The dessert is a dish of ‘ginned’ blueberries, iced buttermilk and violet beet sugar.

Karlsson told Food & Wine that dishes will change, depending on the availability and seasonality of ingredients, but the aim is to create a three-course menu that can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Accompanying drinks have been curated by Joel Söderbäck, founder of Linje Tio (now called Tjoget), which featured in the 2019 World’s 50 Best Bars list.

Guests pay what they want for the meal. Dishes are left in a container, and are washed twice after use, while the table and chairs are sanitised before the next party arrives.

Bord för En is located a short walk from the Hembygsgården bus stop. A rope has been laid down to guide diners to the field.