You live in Benelux and want to try Scandinavian food and design beyond IKEA? I got you covered. I have been listing Nordic-inspired cafés, shops and more since desperately looking for a Lussekatt last winter. You can see my reviews for those I have been to.
ARKET – Clothing & tableware brand with a vegetarian café. In Den Haag, Antwerp, Bruxelles, Luxemburg.
Amsterdam
- Selma’s – (West/centrum)-bakery, café (West)
-to-go (Centraal) - Scandinavian Embassy (Zuid) -bakery, specialty coffe. bakery with broader assortment in Europaplein, Café with more space to sit at Saphatipark.
- Danish Betty (markets) – buns/pastries + hotdogs stands
- Kontrast Kafe – scandinavian/indonesian fusion. holds special events as lucia and midsommar communal dinners.
Den Haag
- Norvolk – Scheveningen – bakery, cafe & lunch
- Charlie’s fika
Rotterdam
Norwegian, Danish, Finnish seamen churches & cultural houses with shops
Utrecht
Broodnodig – 2 locations: Mariaplaats (near station) and Paardenvel (with bakery, but closed on weekends).
Nijmegen
FIKA – high fika, lunch with smørrebrød and knäckebröd. Has Naturfrisk drinks! possible to use your laptop at the café
Hengelo
Røllesmølle – fika, lunch. Of typical Nordic I only see kanelbulle, kladdkaka among ‘fika låckers’ (läckers?) though
Maastricht
Bikke – Restaurant – breakfast & lunch with Smørrebrød, wienerbrød, pariserbøf, Danish hotdogs, Swedish flatbread. New Nordic dinner.
Belgium & Luxemburg
Antwerp
Nordica 31 – bakery, fika, café, lunch
Bruxelles
- Nordic Fine Foods – shops in Bruxelles and Waterloo
- Scanshop
Luxemburg
Scanshop +Nordbo – shop with cafe & bakery
Nordic brands and food in supermarkets ..
In the Netherlands I have seen köttbullar at LIDL and kttbullar with mash and peas as Igloo ready meal.
Albert Heijn to-go had cinnamon and cardamom buns for a while around summer 2025, while AH and Jumbo supermarkets had cardamom buns marketed as winter buns around Christmas of the same year. All of these got discontinued.
The Danish brands Normal, Søstrene Grene andTIGER also sell some Scandinavian sweets.
check out more:
Scandinavian Embassy‘s bakery and cafe in Amsterdam zuid
On a trip to Amsterdam, I decided to test Scandinavian Embassy and both of its two locations, starting with the bakery in europaplein. The two locations are in Amsterdam zuid: Saphatipark and Europaplein: in the former, a more central location, you can sit but it has fewer items than the bakery in Europaplein. The bakery,…
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Scandinavian carnival buns (and where to eat them in the Netherlands)
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a Polyglot illustrating Scandinavia 