Last Updated on August 3, 2025
Good food with love from Scandinavia
4.5 out of 5.0 starsA small café near Victoria Station, ScandiKitchen, is a handy place to know about if you are passing through Victoria Station and hoping to find something healthy and nutritious to eat. Or perhaps you are meeting a friend in town or working in the area and looking for a tasty breakfast or light lunch.
ScandiKitchen Victoria is the second of two cafes from restaurateur Bronte Aurell. The original venue is in Fitzrovia. It offers a taste of Scandinavian food, selling not only ready-made food but also popular grocery brands from Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. The café, while small, is filled with light that pours through two large windows overlooking the street. The décor is Scandi as expected – lots of light wood and clean lines. There is also a basement section with extra tables. You choose your items from the counter, find a table, and tuck in. You can also take your meal to go if you want to sit in the park.
Once you have eaten, you may be tempted by the attractively displayed upmarket Scandi foods on display – think Scandi crispbreads, a wide range of bottled herrings, cured fish, cheese products, pickles and relishes, confectionery, drinks and an assortment of cookbooks by Bronte Aurell. In addition to owning ScandiKitchen, Aurell is a Scandinavian author, widely published in national newspapers. Her latest cookbook is to be published in October 2025. The Scandinavian Year: food and thoughts from Sweden, Denmark and Norway will take you through the seasons with recipes, cultural essays and Scandinavian culture and celebrations. ScandiKitchen was the first Scandinavian delicatessen to open in London. Since 2007, it has continued to sell gourmet products and has over 600 grocery items available.
ScandiKitchen is Abba Central with fabulously retro music and the friendly staff wear t-shirts with Abba Good Day on the back. I loved the music of my youth, and who doesn’t feel uplifted by a few good Abba tracks?
The menu is small and well-formed. It presents the Danish smørrebrød or open sandwich served on rye bread. In addition to the appetising open sandwiches, there are filled rolls, a choice of salads, and a few hot meals – Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes or salads, and hot dogs.
We began with refreshing drinks – my companion had the elderflower and I tried the lingonberry flavour. Both were most refreshing, and we liked the look and flavour that was imparted by a generous sprig of rosemary.
My companion and I each tried two open sandwiches and mixed salads. This was very filling, and one open sandwich with a side salad would be more than enough for a light lunch. There are eight sandwich toppings from the traditional pickled herring with beetroot, eggs, and chives to smoked carrot and avocado with cream cheese and dill.
My companion enjoyed her daily special topping, which was roast beef with a mustard mayo, tomato, gherkin, and crispy onions. We both enjoyed the Nordic smoked salmon topping, which included egg mayo, pickled fennel, onion, and dill. My second topping was miso roasted cauliflower with tarragon mayo, cherry tomatoes, and almonds – perfect for a vegan lunch. The bread was a lovely dark rye, thinly sliced and well-textured.
We had a taste of four of the five salads, which included baby potato and spring onion; pickled beetroot, apple, and creamy dressing; garden leaf salad with a sweet vinaigrette, and kale with grapes, chopped nuts and a Västerbotten cheese dressing.
ScandiKitchen has a pastry counter – they are also open for breakfast – from which we chose a sweet treat each to end our lunch. My companion enjoyed a Polly brownie, which was just the right gooey texture one hopes for with a brownie. Cloetta Polly Bla is very popular in Sweden and is the bestselling chocolate bag in that country. They are toffee-type marshmallows that have been dipped in chocolate. They have different flavours – vanilla and arrack. The sweets were inserted into the brownie before baking and imparted a fabulous aniseed flavour which paired well with the chocolate.
I had one of my favourite Scandi pastries, kanelbullar – cinnamon bun – which was strewn with pearl sugar, providing a pleasing crunchy sweetness. Inside, the bun was moist and had a good cinnamon flavour.
I enjoyed an attractively served chai latte while my companion rounded off proceedings with an Americano.
We both agreed that pricing is fair. An open sandwich and one side salad costs £7 to take out and £8 to eat in. A Scandi hotdog is £4.50, while Swedish meatballs with mash and gravy is priced at £8 to take away and £9 to eat in.
ScandiKitchen is a bright, light-filled café conveniently located near Victoria Station. It offers tasty and straightforward Scandinavian light lunches and is also open for breakfast. If you already love Scandinavian groceries, then this is the place to shop. If you are new to these items, there is plenty to whet your appetite and begin an exploration of this delicious cuisine.
ScandiKitchen Victoria
42 Buckingham Palace Road,
Victoria
London SW1W 0RE
Open for breakfast and lunch: Mon-Fri 7.30 – 18.00, Sat – Sun 8.00 – 18.00
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