Cute and quirky, Fika brings big portions of well priced Swedish food to Brick Lane.

The Venue
Located right at the top of Brick Lane, Fika seems out of place amongst its neighbouring trendy, slightly grimy cafes and bars and the Indian restaurants further down the road. With a large red heart in the window and a pale wood exterior, Fika is unabashedly friendly right from the start. Inside it gets even cuter, with woodland animals and painted trees on the walls amongst sheets of bright green Astroturf. Everywhere you look there’s something eye-catching – Astroturf on top of the bar, a tiny bird with a teacup peeking out from behind the trees, a little (of course) ABBA painting. Although it’s a small restaurant, there are plenty of seats along with a more private area in the back, where you can get the full forest experience thanks to a miniature tree in the corner.

The Atmosphere
The small venue means that there are only a few members of staff, but despite not having a large team everyone is sweet and smiling and the food is delivered quickly. Couples on dates and small groups of the East End set seem to be the main clientele, but you could easily see a family with young kids here – they would no doubt love the decor, along with the enormous plates of meatballs. On weekends you can expect a crowd around breakfast and lunchtime as well, locals eager to chase away their curry-and-beer hangovers with stacks of waffles.

The Food
A short and succinct menu offers about three starters, half a dozen mains and a few desserts. Prices are reasonable (the max is about £15 for a prime sirloin steak) and portions are large, but not overly so. A starter of three types of pickled herring (£4.20) sounds odd but tastes fantastic. Each piece of herring is braised in an individual sauce – blueberry, lingonberry and lemon mayonnaise – and the surprising combination of salty and sweet is perfectly balanced. Each piece is really succulent, with a sharp, tangy bite, and is laid out on the plate with a trio of crisp flatbread and three round, floury potatoes in the centre. The sugary blueberry is the best of the trio but you’ll wolf down the tart lingonberry and creamy lemon mayo pieces as well. Gravadlax with mustard sauce (£5.20) is a more familiar starter, served with a small stack of oatcakes, thick, rich whorls of smoked salmon and dollops of honeyed, grainy mustard.

Mains include Swedish meatballs (£9.95) which are thankfully much better than the Ikea version that gets around so much. About a dozen tender pork and beef meatballs are piled next to a huge mound of chunky potatoes and decorated with a thick red wine gravy and a scoop of lingonberry jam. This is one of their most popular dishes on the menu, and you can see why – it’s a well priced, filling food, perfect for cold weather. The majority of their other mains are plank dishes, that is, some sort of steak served on an oak plank. There’s prime sirloin, grilled Norwegian salmon, herb marinated chicken fillet and a vegetarian version (£11.50). This is, quite literally, a veggie steak, with a combination of chickpeas, beans and veg pressed into a thick fillet shape. The vegetables are well cooked, with a good mix of textures, and the curly piping of mashed potatoes around the edge and half of a giant grilled tomato means you get more than enough food for your money.

Desserts include kladdkaka (£3.80), an incredibly rich, dense, fudge-y dark chocolate cake, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a waffle stack. These waffle concoctions are one of Fika’s specialties, with a variety served for breakfast as well. The waffles are small, thin and heart shaped, chewy but not too tough. Fika’s waffle stacks see them layered between lashings of whipped cream, ice cream, Nutella, jam and fruit. Each one is different, depending on who’s making them, so it’s worth trying them for breakfast if you’ve had them for dessert, and vice versa, as it will no doubt be a completely different dish you’re digging in to. If your sweet tooth doesn’t kick in until later in the day, there are savoury waffle breakfast specialties as well. One option includes cream cheese, rocket and slices of reindeer sausage spread over four waffles. The reindeer sausage is quite soft and intensely spiced, and it’s balanced nicely with the cool cream cheese and slightly bitter rocket.

The Drink
A lengthy drinks list includes shots (about £3), whisky and other liquor, plus about half a dozen cocktails at about £7 each. The cocktails are named after ABBA songs – When I Kissed The Teacher, Super Trouper, Mamma Mia and more – and have ingredients like lingonberry, liquorice and elderflower liqueur. Although there are no Swedish wines on the menu, the country wines wines on the list are apparently very similar – the French rose is light and sweet, with a slight strawberry flavour. Other wines come from around the world and are well priced at about £13 to £18 a bottle and £3.70 to £4.90 a glass. A Finnish beer, Swedish beer and Swedish Kopparberg pear cider are about £4 – the Swedish Mariestads is a good choice is you like light, pale beers.

The Last Word
In Swedish, fika means coffee break – a drink, a snack and some friends to chat with. Although undoubtedly Fika on Brick Lane would be good for just that, come by for breakfast or dinner and you’ll find a welcoming atmosphere and a great meal as well.

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