Much like everyone else in LA, J.J. and I have been watching The Bear so I thought a Michelin-starred meal in Stockholm would be a fun/ relevant/ special birthday gift for him. I got lucky with a last-minute cancellation for lunch at Aira, a 2-Michelin star restaurant. Two Michelin stars!! So we headed to Djurgården for a 4-course prix fixe lunch paired with non-alcoholic drinks — a pretty solid way to spend our first day in Stockholm.

The restaurant itself is beautiful, with massive windows everywhere and tons of natural light. It has an open kitchen where all the chefs greeted us upon arrival — solid first impression. The 4-course menu actually included 15 different dishes (including a special birthday cake for J.J.), but the 3.5-hour meal was wonderfully paced and the food and drinks were INCREDIBLE.

We started in the side dining room for our canapés, and then moved into the larger dining room for the main event. Ironically, our favorite dish was actually the first one — a dill croustade with langoustine and browned butter — but every dish was delicious, completely different from the one prior, and beautifully presented. Loads of different flavors and textures that kept us on our toes.

The non-alcoholic pairing was a fun addition. We got to try various fresh juices with different textures served in wine glasses. My favorite was definitely the clarified milk drink with tonka bean and maple syrup — I had no idea what clarified milk was but was delighted to find out it was translucent. I LEARNED SO MUCH.

I don’t typically eat at fine dining restaurants since I’m secretly a picky eater, but these types of meals allow me to go outside my comfort zone and try foods I would never normally eat. Any varietal of mushroom? Sure, why not. Sweetbreads? Yeah, go for it. Pigeon? Sounds great! This meal really pushed me to embrace new flavors and textures that I would have otherwise avoided.

While Aira was definitely a fine dining experience, it felt VERY welcoming and not stuffy or pretentious at all. It helped that each of the chefs took turns bringing out dishes and explaining them, so we got a chance to meet everyone responsible for preparing the exquisite little food art gracing our plates! Because of the open kitchen, we could also watch them prepare the dishes so that added to the fun.

Aira’s signature dish is the quenelle with scallop and king crab, and we opted to add one to our lunch. I can’t lie — this one was a bit of a textural challenge for me — but damn, was it stunning! After our main courses finished, we moved back into the side dining room for a variety of dessert courses and coffee. They brought out a special cake for J.J.’s birthday and he put a concerted effort into finishing it, though it was a minor struggle after 14 other dishes. Still, the sweetness of the gesture (and the cake) was the perfect ending to our meal.

Our experience at Aira was a really memorable experience and definitely lived up to the hype.

After our lunch, we walked back to Gamla Stan from Djurgården. Djurgården is like Stockholm’s version of Central Park or Hyde Park. It has loads of museums (Vasa, Skansen, Abba, etc.) and an amusement park, Gröna Lund, so you could easily spend the whole day there! See my Stockholm guide for more fun things to do in Stockholm.

Full Menu

Canapés

• Dill croustade, langoustine, browned butter

• Nori tartelette, beef tartar, trout roe

• Choux au craquelin, Almnäs Tegel, black truffle

• Tomato, hibiscus, Swedish mozzarella

• Vendace roe, potato emulsion, anchovy

Menu

• Halibut, fermented melon, sesame and jalapeno

• Quenelle with scallop, king crab, and chervil

• Grilled sweetbreads, green peas, tarragon and sichuan pepper

• Pigeon, shiitake, liquorice, sake and marigold

• Milk sorbet with mascarpone, calvados, flan and butter milk

• Small pastries and chocolate

Beverage

• Raspberry, elderflower, bergamot

• Gooseberry, Thai basil, roasted buckwheat

• Red currant, Jerusalem artichoke, pea sprouts

• Black currant, lemon thyme, marigold

• Clarified milk, tonka bean, maple syrup