Ikea cafeteria & packaged foods

[Lee Ratliff]

After hearing an NPR segment on Ikea cafeterias a couple of months ago, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to try the food at my nearby location. So far, my wife and I have eaten there twice for lunch. We've been pleasantly surprised by the food, especially the desserts. We've tried the baked salmon, chicken marsala, swedish meatballs, and chicken fried steak (an Ikean nod to the local cuisine).

The food was mostly good, though nearly everything was devoid of any kind of spice/seasoning and the steamed veggies were sometimes mushy. The desserts were consistently good - the Apple Cake and Daim Torte were memorable. Prices were inexpensive, though not as cheap as I'd been led to expect - the checks averaged $8.25/person with drink and dessert, before tax. Breakfasts and kid's meals are $0.99, so I guess this skewed my expectations. Food is served cafeteria-style and you're expected to bus your own tables.

The breakfast sounds like a great deal - scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes for $0.99. For a buck more, you get pancakes with lingonberry compote and a bottomless cup of coffee. Unfortunately, they don't start serving breakfast until 9:30am at our location.

Most of the dishes are Swedish or at least Scandinavian in origin: gravlax, swedish meatballs, rosti, Princess torte, etc. And they put lingonberries in everything. They also have a "bistro" at the exit (a la Costco) where they sell dirt cheap hot dogs, soft serve, and soft drinks.

Does anybody else have Ikea food experiences to relate? I've heard rumors that you can eat for free if you show a receipt proving you've just spent at least $100. Any truth to that?

[Lee Ratliff]

Here's what the food looks like:

Their trademark swedish meatballs with new potatoes. That's a Princess Torte in the background - sponge cake layered with raspberry preserves and topped with whipped cream and marzipan.

Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. The dessert is a Daim Torte - thin layers of almond cake topped with the Swedish toffee candy, Daim, and milk chocolate.

A close-up of their Apple Cake with vanilla sauce. You can barely see the Lingonberry Mousse in the background.

[Allura]

We usually stop in to eat when we're there. The meatballs aren't bad, and I really like the apple cake. I tend to spend way more time at the store than I plan to, so it's good to have something to eat.

[Daddy-A]

The IKEA 99 cent breakfast is a tradition in our family. Where else can you feed a family of 4 breakfast for under $10?? And I usually grab another just in case.

As to the "Swedish" food on the menu ... I grew up across the street from a Swedish family, and my own family is Norwegian & Danish (not Swedes I know, but close enough). Just because you sprinkle some dill, and use a little carroway doesn't make it Swedish.

I never once ate a meatball at my neighbours ...

A.

[Jason Perlow]

Those meatballs rule. I think going to IKEA is like visiting the ninth pit of hell, particularly on a weekend. But if someone drags me there I'm coming home with a bag or two of those frozen meatballs.

The sticky buns kick ass too. The ligonberry "bug juice" drink is awesome, I always buy the concentrate too.

Edited May 24, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[sanrensho]

I've got a question for you Ikea regulars. Do your local stores carry the cinnamon rolls (sticky buns)?

More importantly, does your local Ikea carry the "brioche-style" (I use the term loosely) rolls, or standard yeasted bread-style cinnamon rolls. By the latter, I'm referring to the type of bready cinnamon roll you would typically find at any supermarket.

The Ikea stores here in the Vancouver (Canada) area switched to the latter at some point last year. The "brioche-style" cinnamon rolls were a nice deviation from standard cinnamon rolls, and of course a bargain at a buck a piece.

Edited May 24, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Thats a good question, sanresho. I haven't been to an IKEA for at least a year. I ran out of meatballs a while ago but I am not sure if that's enough motivation to actually get me there to find out about the stickybuns.

[sanrensho]

Thats a good question, sanresho. I haven't been to an IKEA for at least a year. I ran out of meatballs a while ago but I am not sure if that's enough motivation to actually get me there to find out about the stickybuns.

←

So you're saying they had the "brioche-style" buns when you went last?

We sometimes buy the frozen Swedish meatballs for our kids' school lunches.

Edited May 24, 2006 by sanrensho (log)

[Ling]

I've eaten there a few times while shopping. I don't particularly care for the meatballs too much--the texture is a bit too smooth for me, like pureed meat bound together with lots of filler. The Daim cake is OK.

[Jason Perlow]

Thats a good question, sanresho. I haven't been to an IKEA for at least a year. I ran out of meatballs a while ago but I am not sure if that's enough motivation to actually get me there to find out about the stickybuns.

←

So you're saying they had the "brioche-style" buns when you went last?

We sometimes buy the frozen Swedish meatballs for our kids' school lunches.

←

Yes, I believe they were the brioche-style. Definitely eggy-bread type.

The meatballs are good just by themselves, reheated in the toaster oven, but I like making egg noodles and tossing them up with a beef stock/demiglace gravy and some freshly chopped parsely.

Edited May 24, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Jason Perlow]

I've eaten there a few times while shopping. I don't particularly care for the meatballs too much--the texture is a bit too smooth for me, like pureed meat bound together with lots of filler. The Daim cake is OK.

←

Yeah the Daim cake is good. The Daim candy themselves are like crack.

[Carolyn Tillie]

The very first IKEA to open in SoCal (geez, 20 years ago?) had an amazing cafeteria. Sunday brunch included the requisite lingongberry crepes and gravlax as well as stunning omelets. Dinners had the usual meatballs and other Swedish-inspired goodies, but the daily specials were what drew me in; 3-inch pork chops with veggies and potatoes for $5.95 - a dream dinner when on a student's budget. Sadly, they redecorated all the California IKEAs to get rid of the restaurant. Yes, the meatballs can be purchased in the "cafe" but the full-on restaurants are no more in any California stores.

[mizducky]

Ah, yes, the IKEA meatball-o-rama. I featured the local branch prominently in my foodblog: clickie. I gotta say--after a day of tromping around an IKEA, those meatballs do taste mighty fine.

Sadly, they redecorated all the California IKEAs to get rid of the restaurant. Yes, the meatballs can be purchased in the "cafe" but the full-on restaurants are no more in any California stores.

Fortunately, they seem to have overlooked the restaurant in the San Diego branch ... at least so far.

[rlibkind]

Those meatballs rule.

←

I've had a bag of those meatballs in the freezer for at least two months, so I pulled them out this past Sunday. I've spent hours making my own Swedish meatballs (Samuelsson's recipe) and while the frozen balls from Ikea aren't that good, they're good enough considering the labor that it takes to make homemade. I served them with a brown sauce with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes (instead of the traditional boiled), rutabagas (for She Who Must Be Obeyed; I can't abide "Swedes"); quick pickled Persian cucumbers; and lingonberry preserves. Perfect with some bag syrah.

Hmmm? Jason, do you think an Ikea Meatball-Tater Tot casserole is worth pursuing?

[Stu-i-moto]

Those meatballs rule.

←

I've had a bag of those meatballs in the freezer for at least two months, so I pulled them out this past Sunday. I've spent hours making my own Swedish meatballs (Samuelsson's recipe) and while the frozen balls from Ikea aren't that good, they're good enough considering the labor that it takes to make homemade. I served them with a brown sauce with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes (instead of the traditional boiled), rutabagas (for She Who Must Be Obeyed; I can't abide "Swedes"); quick pickled Persian cucumbers; and lingonberry preserves. Perfect with some bag syrah.

Hmmm? Jason, do you think an Ikea Meatball-Tater Tot casserole is worth pursuing?

←

Try the meatballs at Costco. I think they call them Italian meatballs on the package; you get a bazillion of them for like $10 bucks. It'll last you to the next ice age.

I heat them up by "roasting" them in the oven, and then I whip up a quick Swedish meatball sauce and pour it over and voila! Making your own sauce from scratch is not hard and it makes a difference (and people sop up the sauce with plenty of baguettes). When I am having a buffet-style party or brunch, these things are a hit. They especially work if you are entertaining a mixed crowd - that means adults and little people - 4 and under.

You can feed a small army for very little money. Save the foie gras for the more intimate (and kid-free) occassions.

I guess you would call this my dirty little secret - it's a bone in my otherwise gleaming culinary closet...

:-)

[Mayhaw Man]

Also available in the food/cafeteria section of Ikea-Kopparberg Pear Cider-

I love the stuff. It's refreshing as hell and absolutely delicious. Delighful, even. Sparkling, refreshing, and tasting of fresh pears with just the right wang of ferment. It's worth a drive out to the burbs just to get a few cans or bottles.

Really.

[davebrown]

Also available in the food/cafeteria section of Ikea-Kopparberg Pear Cider-

I love the stuff. It's refreshing as hell and absolutely delicious. Delighful, even. Sparkling, refreshing, and tasting of fresh pears with just the right wang of ferment. It's worth a drive out to the burbs just to get a few cans or bottles.

Really.

←

More on the food miles ...

In the UK IKEA does some very nice if up-front peppery reindeer sausage. Both the coffee and fish-egg-fake-caviar thing taste better then they should for the money too.

Otherwise it's the discus crispbreads and the cakes.

I hear some stores stock pre-pack furniture too.

[alanamoana]

i should take a look at this "furniture" you speak of...if i can make my way past the crispbreads and ginger cookies!

[Carolyn Tillie]

Ah, yes, the IKEA meatball-o-rama. I featured the local branch prominently in my foodblog: clickie. I gotta say--after a day of tromping around an IKEA, those meatballs do taste mighty fine.

Sadly, they redecorated all the California IKEAs to get rid of the restaurant. Yes, the meatballs can be purchased in the "cafe" but the full-on restaurants are no more in any California stores.

Fortunately, they seem to have overlooked the restaurant in the San Diego branch ... at least so far.

←

You ARE lucky! Does your still do the Sunday brunch as well? I started shopping at the one in Irvine (the first restaurant I fell in love with), then moved to Redondo and shopped and ate at the IKEA in Long Beach and Hollywood. Those were the three I knew of that had restaurants which were all nixed. Now I live in NoCal and the Richmond store has no restaurant either...

[alanamoana]

the irvine one, was that the one in tustin near the auto center? i used to live right behind there! looks like that one doesn't exist anymore...there's one near south coast plaza, which surprises me as that's a more "ritzy" area.

Edited May 24, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Those meatballs rule.

←

I've had a bag of those meatballs in the freezer for at least two months, so I pulled them out this past Sunday. I've spent hours making my own Swedish meatballs (Samuelsson's recipe) and while the frozen balls from Ikea aren't that good, they're good enough considering the labor that it takes to make homemade. I served them with a brown sauce with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes (instead of the traditional boiled), rutabagas (for She Who Must Be Obeyed; I can't abide "Swedes"); quick pickled Persian cucumbers; and lingonberry preserves. Perfect with some bag syrah.

Hmmm? Jason, do you think an Ikea Meatball-Tater Tot casserole is worth pursuing?

←

If it's for the sole purpose of pissing certain people off at the very thought of someone doing it, yes. It will probably taste good too.

Edited May 24, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[mizducky]

Ah, yes, the IKEA meatball-o-rama. I featured the local branch prominently in my foodblog: clickie. I gotta say--after a day of tromping around an IKEA, those meatballs do taste mighty fine.

Sadly, they redecorated all the California IKEAs to get rid of the restaurant. Yes, the meatballs can be purchased in the "cafe" but the full-on restaurants are no more in any California stores.

Fortunately, they seem to have overlooked the restaurant in the San Diego branch ... at least so far.

←

You ARE lucky! Does your still do the Sunday brunch as well?

←

About the Sunday brunch, I don't know, as I tend to stay far away from IKEA on the weekends--between their crowds, and that of the other box stores that share its shopping center, that place turns into a total zoo. But here is a little of what the local IKEA-restaurant is up to on a daily basis--including a nice-looking daily breakfast special.

My local IKEA does also have the takeout-only cafe just beyond the cashier's stations, but the last time I looked, alas, they did not have anywhere near the wealth of different varieties of pickled herring I remembered from the Seattle IKEA several years back.

[MargyB]

The very first IKEA to open in SoCal (geez, 20 years ago?) had an amazing cafeteria. Sunday brunch included the requisite lingongberry crepes and gravlax as well as stunning omelets. Dinners had the usual meatballs and other Swedish-inspired goodies, but the daily specials were what drew me in; 3-inch pork chops with veggies and potatoes for $5.95 - a dream dinner when on a student's budget. Sadly, they redecorated all the California IKEAs to get rid of the restaurant. Yes, the meatballs can be purchased in the "cafe" but the full-on restaurants are no more in any California stores.

←

The northern California Ikeas all have full restaurants.......I've been to the one in Emeryville and East Palo Alto, and both have restaurants.

[Kouign Aman]

Those meatballs rule.

←

I've had a bag of those meatballs in the freezer for at least two months, so I pulled them out this past Sunday. I've spent hours making my own Swedish meatballs (Samuelsson's recipe) and while the frozen balls from Ikea aren't that good, they're good enough considering the labor that it takes to make homemade. I served them with a brown sauce with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes (instead of the traditional boiled), rutabagas (for She Who Must Be Obeyed; I can't abide "Swedes"); quick pickled Persian cucumbers; and lingonberry preserves. Perfect with some bag syrah.

Hmmm? Jason, do you think an Ikea Meatball-Tater Tot casserole is worth pursuing?

←

If it's for the sole purpose of pissing certain people off at the very thought of someone doing it, yes. It will probably taste good too.

←

here's my entry.

Lightly grease baking dish. Line with chopped onions. Add 2 layers of defrosted IKEA meatballs. Top with solid layer of slightly flattened tater tots. Bake til 'tots are crispy. Serve with gravy.

[Jason Perlow]

Kouign, I think we need to have Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup in there someplace. Or Velveeta. Or both.

Edited May 24, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)