The Best Pastry Shops in the Nordics

Buns

The Nordic bakery counter is built around the bun. Cardamom buns and cinnamon buns are made from the same soft yeast dough, knotted or rolled, and most shops on this page bake them in batches through the morning so that they are sold warm. Juno the Bakery in Copenhagen is known for its cardamom bun, Skt. Peders Bageri in the same city sells cinnamon rolls iced or sugared, and Brauð & Co in Reykjavík serves its cinnamon rolls warm from the oven.

Semlor

Sweden adds a seasonal bun, the semla: a cardamom bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream, sold in the weeks around Shrove Tuesday. Lillebrors Bageri in Stockholm fills its semlor with salted almond paste and unsweetened cream and sells them in winter. Bergstrands Bageri in the Vasastan district makes a saffron version beside the plain one, and has princess cake as well.

Queues and seating

Almost all of these shops are takeaway counters with a handful of seats. Queues are normal and mostly move quickly, though at Juno they often reach 30 to 40 minutes at weekends. People eat outside. Mannz Bageri in Lund lends blankets and trays for the park across the street, and Broder Jakobs Stenugnsbageri, also in Lund, has a garden courtyard at the back where a table has to be claimed before ordering.

Coffee

Coffee in these bakeries usually means filter coffee. Juno and Mannz serve nothing else, and Broder Jakobs gives refills. Andersen Bakery on Islands Brygge in Copenhagen mixes Danish baking with Japanese influences, and its counter has a miso caramel croissant and a salmon onigiri croissant beside the cardamom bun.