Are you looking for a place to try authentic Nordic cuisine and live outside the Nordic countries, specifically in the Netherlands or Belgium? I got you covered. Here is a list of places where you can have lunch, dinner or a treat in Scandinavian style, I have been to various of them myself, so be sure to check out my Nordic cafe reviews.
The easiest place to have a good, cheap Nordic style meal or treats is IKEA. You can have the classic meatballs, salmon dishes and sweets as cinnamon buns, mazarin, princess cake. Or a Swedish hotdog and elderflower drinks! Knäckebröd, sauces, jams, Swedish style cakes (daim, almondy), Nordic brand sweets (KEX, dumle) are available!
ARKET – Clothing & tableware brand with a vegetarian café. In Den Haag, Antwerp, Bruxelles, Luxemburg and other European cities.
Other shops where you can get Nordic sweets are the Danish chains TIGER and Søstrene Grene: cookies and candy mostly.
Nordic-inspired bakeries, cafes, restaurants
in Amsterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Nijmegen, Hengelo, Maastricht, Antwerp, Brussels.
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) – You can find Betty and her buns/pastries and her son selling hotdogs at Amsterdam’s markets.
- Kontrast Kafe – scandinavian/indonesian fusion. Traditional Swedish meatballs and Kaya toast among others. Holds special events as lucia and midsommar communal dinners.
- Oslo – Scandinavian buns and cookies, hindbærsnitter I saw; savory sourdough sandwiches too, although the vast majority seems to only get buns – I will have a look someday
- Kessens – the owner is Swedish, so Skagen toast and a Swedish version of niçoise salade are on the menu.
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).
Enkhuizen
Thor’s Bakery
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
De Zweedse Bakker
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, Albert Heijn has a Swedish meatball fresh meal with mashed potatoes and vegetables, I have seen iglo-brand frozen meal köttbullar at LIDL.
Nordic-style bund got quite popular recently. 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. My local Jumbo has had Danish cinnamon and lemon curd buns for a while now.
check out more:
ScanShop: Nordic supermarket in Luxemburg
I visited Scanshop, a supermarket for Nordic expats in Luxembourg and Belgium. It offers a wide range of Scandinavian food products, including rye bread, fish, and sweets, alongside flags and tableware.
A collection of (unintentionally) Hilarious False Friends in Nordic languages
Take a train in Scandinavia to reach a “slutstation” or see”fartkontrol” signs while driving. Kiss and killing also mean something you were not expecting!
Swedish Café in Utrecht: Broodnodig
In Utrecht, the cafe Broodnodig serves Swedish pastries and cakes as cinnamon and cardamom buns, kladdkaka, smulpaj and Scandinavian seasonal treats as semlor and saffron buns.
