the art of eating alone

On most fronts, I loved traveling alone. I kind of operate on scheduled randomness, I prefer being on foot to public transportation, and there was no one to people-please. The two times I found myself incredibly annoyed at not having friend(s) were 1. when I wanted to go to the bathroom without lugging all my stuff with me and 2. when I wanted to try too many things on a menu. But I guess we can call that character building because my bladder and decision making skills are stronger than it's ever been, and eating alone is really not that awkward.

It's definitely not as comfortable as posting up in a coffee shop under cover of a laptop or book, but it's not as weird as "Does everyone think I got stood up?"

So anyways, Ann raved about Urban Deli, and it happened to be a couple blocks from my hostel (or so I thought), so naturally I worked it into my dinner schedule.

The best tartare is an explosion of flavors and textures. Like a good charcuterie plate, I want to be able to personalize each bite. Fried oyster mushrooms, pickled onion, cilantro, garlic chips, miso mayonnaise. Just missing a bright yellow yolk to tie it all together.

And to complete my raw surf n turf, I had to get half a dozen oysters with onion relish stuff. My kind of raw diet.

Too bad I went to the wrong location. Aka the one Ann did not want me to go to. Aka the one where they do not put egg yolks in the tartare and the oysters do not come with lingonberries. Can't say I wasn't a little disappointed by this mix up. At least the bartender was easy to look at.

I've eaten an embarrassing number of filet o'fish sandwiches in my life time because they were kind of my favorite as a kid. But like.. I love seafood. And I love fried things. And I love convenient ways to eat my fried seafood.

So I loved this minimally crusted (with a cornmeal mixture?) fried herring in this fried herring burger. Some suggestions (to no one in particular): take away the mayo, add in mustard, take away the lettuce, add pickles and capers and dill. 

And why yes, I did sit alone at the end of a bench eating my sammich while watching people and pigeons walk back and forth.

I beat the dinner rush at Sjöbaren, and my waiter had a nervous energy about him. It was kinda chilly, and I sat alone in the back corner of their covered back patio while the rain picked up and eventually edged into my eating space. Even if I didn't see the giant bowls of seafood soup when I first walked in, I would've had to get the fish and seafood soup with garlic bread because it was just that kind of weather. 

I wouldn't ever expect salmon to be good in a soup, but the salmon was delicious and falling apart good in this creamy orange soup. Plus dill is kind of my new favorite herb so there's that.
That and a beer from Gotlands Bryggeri made for a remarkably filling end to a day of confusing weekend European store hours.