Restaurant: Tonic Location: Hornsgatan 66 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: (08) 668 85 00 Price Range: Around 115:- SEK

Number of visits: 1
Last visit before review: August 2, 2001

Randy had: Mixed salad (mixed greens, tomato strips, garlic bread wedges, red onion) with garlic bread strips, salmon with lemon sauce, bottled water.

Jeff had: Chicken with dark sauce, risotto and herbed cottage cheese, iced tea.

Rating 10 (of 12) Excellent

Randy says: The mixed salad was very good. The lettuce was fresh and the combination of vegetables was flavorful. The dressing was good.

Jeff says: The dressing was great! It was cool and creamy and I used it to dip the bread (that came with the salad) in. I couldn't get enough of it. Oh yea, and the salad itself was good with nice leafy greens.

Randy says: The salmon was flavorful, fresh, moist, and properly cooked. The lemon sauce was a little more buttery than I prefer, though.

Jeff says: The chicken was mostly good but dry in a few parts. The dark sauce was tangy and slightly sweet. The risotto was creamy and delicious. The herbed cottage cheese (that's what it seemed to be — I'm not sure exactly if that's what it was) was tasty and different. I asked if they had iced tea and the waitress offered to make me some by making tea and adding ice. She apologized that they don't have "real" iced tea, and we had a hard time convincing her that this was real iced tea and better than the pre-mixed stuff. It was good, but lemoned, maybe in an attempt to make it more like "real" iced tea.

Tonic is in the trendy district of Södermalm on its busiest thoroughfare full of shops and restaurants. Even though the logo says "Restaurang" it's mostly a bar with a food menu of a few items that changes frequently. There are two rooms. The front room is dominated by the bar and there are a few tables. The decor is minimalistic with hard floors and some thin beam lights hanging down from the ceiling. The back room is the dining room, but we could see people smoking in it so we chose to stay in the front room where there was nobody else at first. But eventually they came and smoked, so we moved outside where people were also smoking but at least there was a chance of getting some air.

The service from the waitress was outstanding. The menu was only in Swedish and this still being our first day in Sweden we needed help with it. The waitress was kind enough to translate and describe every item for us (the menu is not extensive, just a few salads, a few main courses, and a few desserts). The kitchen was a bit slow, though. While the place was empty when we arrived at 8:00 it filled up rapidly, and it was an hour before our food was ready.

Tonic was an unexpected find because we didn't figure food in a bar would be any good. The menu, while limited in selection, is compensated for by quality. The chef really knows what he or she is doing.