Going bonkers over pizza
In the surge of bistros being opened all across town, it is certainly refreshing to enter a bistro that doesn’t take its bistro-ness so literally. At Bistro Bananas, housed in a flat iron building between Skånegatan and Katarina Bangata on Söder, a sense of 1980s nostalgia, neon lights and trendy kitsch washes over us. The establishment, which is owned by brother-and-sister duo Markéta and Jakub Vávra (also behind the bars Indigo and Babylon) teamed up with local design and architectural firm Uglycute to create the mad look of the place. Those who’ve been around in Stockholm’s gastronomic scene will recognize the unmistakable one-of-a-kind barstools from Bistro Bohème, which until some years ago had been in the family for 35 years.
While the interiors might seem bonkers, the menu isn’t quite as out there as the bistro’s name and vibe implies. A good dozen stone oven pizzas and a small selection of salads are on offer for lunch, and we opt for a fennel, orange and spring onion salad (75 kronor), a Napolitana (137 kronor) and a Caprino (177 kronor). To go with this, our server recommends an elegant and brilliantly red Besson Grenache Old Vines (100 kronor), which is just the right amount of spicy, minerally and smooth.
Our Naples-style pizzas are both well executed. The Napolitana, sprinkled with anchovy, is intensely pungent, salty and slightly monotonous. Delicious at the time, but the kind of lunch that will have you drinking entire decanters of water all throughout the afternoon. The Caprino, on the other hand, is an explosion of flavours and ingredients. Chanterelles, goat’s cheese, spring onions, honey and Borgholm cheese – a hard cheese from the Swedish island of Öland – all fight for the gustatory organ’s attention, but come together surprisingly well in the end.
Revisiting the menu, we are intrigued by the creativity that has gone into the making of Bistro Banana’s very own ice creams. We pick and choose from flavours such as popcorn, banana-coconut and cloudberry and get a stainless steel cup with two scoops (80 kronor), served with a small canister of gooey caramel and chocolate sauce (20 kronor) on the side.
Bistro Bananas | Skånegatan 47 | bistrobananas.se
