Fans will be delighted to note that in my opinion, Ikea Swedish meatballs taste the same all over the world, or at least in Beijing, London, Edinburgh and Turku (Finland). K and I spent 12 hours at the Beijing Ikea on Monday. We ate Swedish meatballs not once, but twice. And they are good, I am pleased to report. The mashed potato was not bad. In Edinburgh and Turku you can choose to have chips or boiled potatoes instead of mash but you cannot choose in Beijing. You just get a neat mound of mash with a Swedish flag stuck on the top – very patriotic. The first mouthful has a slight smash/cardboard aftertaste, but once you get into the meatballs, the gravy and lingonberry jam overpower any suggestion that no potatoes were involved in the cooking process. We also had some very good pancakes with spinach and ricotta which made up for the fact that they do not sell Dime Bar cake.
As I waited for K to bring the food – I was on 'find a table' duty and she was on 'order food' duty - I watched a couple at the next table. This couple, like most people in the restaurant, had purchased the Swedish meatballs as something extra to try – they seemed convinced they would not like them. The guy looked suspiciously at the meatballs, prodding them with his chopsticks. Then he did the same to the mashed potato. With some misgivings he scooped up a small bite of mash and tasted it. You know the way you taste something that you think you might want to spit out so you don't put it very far into your mouth? I think he decided it was ok, because he swallowed it and even ate one or two more bites. However he was much happier with his Chinese style vegetable stir fry interspersed with bites of an apple danish.
There have been several articles and blog posts about the fact that Ikea in Beijing is THE place to hang out and sleep. http://techtravelandtuna.com/2010/10/20/beijing-china-the-people-of-ikea/ However K and I didn't see much of this. All the furniture was tried out with a lot of enthusiasm, but no one was sleeping. Perhaps it was too busy – we went on a national holiday.
The most amusing thing for us was thinking that people all over the world have identical furniture. K bought an identical chair to one that both her sister and her brother own in London and Holland respectively.
After we had purchased three trolleys worth of furniture and nicknacks (I love home delivery), I insisted we visit the food shop. I have now sorted out my cheese and jam cravings with my purchase of lingonberry jam, Swedish style cheese (you know the one with more holes than Emmental?), crisp bread and Dime bars. And of course a bag of Swedish meatballs for the freezer. I don't have an oven but I think you can microwave them, or defrost them and fry them. And I think they will work quite well in noodle soup!
Prospective guests – you will be delighted to know that among my many and varied purchases was a new mattress, to be delivered on Thursday. Along with sheets, a new duvet and pillow and new towels. I am most excited about my new pepper grinder though – now I can put sichuan pepper on top of every dish I cook!
And on that note, I wonder what cheese and jam, or even agurchiki taste like with sichuan pepper on top?
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