Swedish Café in Utrecht: Broodnodig

in 2024, during my quest to find Lussekatter, I found the Swedish-inspired cafe in the centre of Utrecht: Broodnodig .

I have returned a few times and enjoyed Swedish seasonal treats as saffron buns and a Semla among others! Besides that, Kanelbullensdag (cinnamon bun day, 4th October) is celebrated with discounted kanelbullar. last October the deal was € 2,50 for a kaneelbol.

Broodnodig has 2 locations in Utrecht: I went to Mariaplaats, 5 minutes from Utrecht centraal station, and Paardenveld. Paardenveld is bigger, but closed on weekends! There used to be a location in Reigerstraat too, which closed in 2025.

Sweet Fika

Broodnodig serves a number of typical Swedish fika treats (I liked how typical Swedish things in the counter were marked with a little flag next to the name) including:

Buns: cinnamon buns/kaneelbollen and cardamom buns/kardemombollen, since recently crème bol is also on the menu – a cardamom bun with vanilla cream).
Chokladbollar/Chocobol
Jitterbugg (shortbread snail with meringue)
Rulltårta (roll cake)
Smulpaj (crumble cake)- apple & rhabarber / pear & blackberries
Tosca (almond cake) with rhabarber
Kladdkaka (gooey chocolate cake)

smulpaj appel rabarber vanilla sauce — smulpaj

Broodnodig used to have Oscarstårta (lemon, merengue and almond cake) in summer, which was why I passed by last time. But they have unfortunately discontinued it. So i took a Apple & rhabarber smulpaj instead – served with vanilla sauce as the tradition commands.

Lunch options

Broodnodig makes several sandwiches with polarbread and sourdough bread. I will try them one day!

Among more typical Swedish options:

Bullen: polar bread, meatballs, beet salad, dijonaise sauce, onions.
Laxfjord, salmon, egg, remoulade sauce.

Swedish seasonal treats

As already mentioned, at Broodnodig you can find typical Swedish treats according to the season. December for a yuletide saffron bun, and january/february around Carnival for a Semla! I love both of them, and got to taste them in their Utrecht version.. They did not disappoint!