Want an epic Saturday night in Stockholm? Look no further …

In every new city, I try to figure out the best way to spend my time in the most effective way possible. Here in Stockholm, I realized that finding a good night out wouldn’t be that difficult, but trying to make an epic night requires a bit of luck along with having circumstances and people go in the right way.

So to make this easier, here is a list of all the restaurants and bars that were visited

• Bjork Bar and Grill (6 – 7:30pm)
• OCH Himlen Dartill (8 – 10pm)
• Scandic Malmen (10pm – midnight)
• Debaser Medis (midnight – 1am)
• Medusa Rock Bar (1am – 3am)
• Patricia (3:15am – 6am)
• Bjork Bar and Grill (7am – 10am)

It’s incredibly easy to go bar hopping in Stockholm.

• The city is extremely walkable
• The weather is nice this time of the year
• Crowds are moving with you, so you’re safe

It’s also incredibly expensive to go bar hopping, especially if you’re drinking hard liquor. So the night started at the hotel bar, where we tried Sav. Sav is this Swedish sparkling wine drink that is made in the same manner as Champagne, but of course tastes nothing like it. How could it? It’s made from Birch sap … yeah the the wood you use for your house.

This was the reaction in the bar after the first vodka/tonic, but not really the Sav.

After the first set of pre-drinking at the hotel, we were all obviously dressed up, so it was time for dinner. The vote was for Och Himlen Därtill.

Loosely translated, the name means “And Heaven as Well” and is a reference to their location at the top of a 104 meter high building with great 360 degree views of Stockholm. This is one of the taller buildings and there are no others in the vicinity to block the view.  The restaurant takes up the top two floors… the Sky Bar on the top floor and the dining room one floor down.

We had dinner in the Sky Bar and the view was spectacular on a clear night. As for the food, the menu concentrates mainly on Swedish cuisine using a lot of local produce like reindeer, buckthorn, bleak roe and truffles from Gotland. We ordered the Reindeer sashimi along with the Artic Char for dinner. It wasn’t the worst choice in the world.

Dinner was good, but the best part of dinner was the ringing of the fire alarm, since we all had to walk down 25 flights of stairs. Of course, why would all those stairs be nice, because dinner was free!! The restaurant basically accepted that they would lose money and everyone would walk out!!

So after our awesome view and free dinner, it was on to drinks at the Scandic Malmen hotel bar. The bar aims for the late 20’s market, with DJs in the bar areas and a modern design. It’s in a great area of town and was definitely a decent place to stop for a drink, even with all the non talking Swedes. One note of warning … there are these tiny bathrooms that are completely impractical.

After the Scandic Malmen, it’s on to some other random bars like Dabaser Medis, but we ended up at the Medusa Rock Bar. If you’re into old school hard rock, this is the bar for you. This place was definitely the best rock bar I’ve been to in years! Young crowd, crammed into a tiny cavelike cellar, churning out popular rock classics. Of course, in my suit in a cave didn’t make sense, but it didn’t matter!

Medusa serves many roles for its’ patrons: a nightclub, café, casino and restaurant, you can always expect there to be action here. As per music, the name pretty much says it all: expect rock, rock and more rock, plus an alternative crowd. There are completely random elements for North Americans like a stripper pole. Note all the smoke in the air 😀

Did I also mention Casino earlier?? Yeah seriously. This is a thing in Sweden, that you can go to random bars and play roulette or black jack.

My Bengali dealer explained the whole rationale for Casinos or Casino games in bars. The rules go something like this :

• 6 deck shoe
• No hole card
• Only Double Down on 9-11,
• 1 Split only
• Most shockingly – the dealer wins ties 17-19 in Sweden. Complete suckers game with house edge of nearly 9%

Of course, I played for the fun of it and promptly lost 270kr (45$ CDN), then went back to partying with the rockers!! Just EPIC! Once the bar closes at three, then you’re heading for more dancing and partying at Patricia.

Patricia is pretty much a ghetto boat party in Downtown Stockholm, but it’s a great place to bring up the sunrise! Then head back with your new friends to have breakfast at the hotel 😀

There you have an EPIC Saturday night in Stockholm .. simple and easy – although your pocket book could really feel a pinch! Questions?!?