Restaurant Hjerta

Last week I was at the opening of the new Norm Form exhibition and afterwards my friend and I wanted to grab a bite to eat. The museum, ArkDes, is on the island of Skeppsholmen and there are not many restaurants there except at a hotel and the museum. The one exception is Restaurant Hjerta. As I had never tried Hjerta before, this was a great opportunity to pay them a visit.

The island of Skeppsholmen is in the middle of Stockholm harbor but is still a little off the beaten path. The location on the waterfront of the island with the boats and views of the harbor make it very idyllic and worth the effort to get there. It's not that it is hard to get there, it is just that you won't likely be walking by it spontaneously unless you have just been visiting Moderna, Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities or ArkDes.

To share... three fish tacos and two vegetarian tacos.

I know from friends that Hjerta has a really popular outdoor seating area during the summer months and I can imagine that it must be really beautiful sitting in the sunshine with all of the boats passing by. The day we visited was sadly on a rainy autumn weekday so we didn't get to experience that aspect of the restaurant. Instead the weather made the restaurant all the more cosier, especially with the open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant.

I would say that the cuisine is a fusion of Latin American and Swedish with some pure Latin/Mexican dishes like gorditas and ceviche while other dishes are more European fused with Latin flavors... like a broiled cod with garlic fried mini octopus and chorizo butter. My friend and I opted to share a plate of tacos, both fish and vegetarian (halloumi). They were very good!

There is a bridge connecting Skeppsholmen with the downtown area so you can take a taxi or walk to the restaurant. If you are staying at the Rival Hotel, you can take the Djurgård ferry from Gamla Stan. Just tell the ferry staff that you wish to disembark at Skeppsholmen and they will make an extra stop on the island (during the summer months they do make regular stops there). The ferry trip just takes 10 minutes and you disembark a 5 minute walk from the restaurant. Click here for other restaurant reviews/recommendations.