Barrels

Prized burgers and craft beer

TEXT: MALIN NORMAN | PHOTOS © BARRELS BURGERS & BEER

Stockholm’s hottest venue for burger and craft beer lovers is no doubt Barrels Burgers & Beer. Its monthly treats created by some of the world’s best chefs are nothing short of amazing, and as true aficionados, the owners are also regularly arranging festivals dedicated to tasty patties and great brews.

Co-founder Sharam Zeraaktar explains the concept; “We have a passion for hamburgers and beer, and really appreciated the growing trend with tasty burgers. But we found that the food scene in Stockholm was lacking something, so we decided to open our own burger and beer place. What we do is not rocket science, we use great ingredients and combine flavours.” The team uses only Swedish meat and organic products such as cheddar from Väddö Gårdsmejeri, and customers appreciate the high quality and clean flavours.

The first Barrels Burgers & Beer venue opened in March 2015 in the heart of Gamla Stan, and became a big hit straight away. Positive reviews flooded in and it was even named Best Budget Restaurant and Opening of the Year in the annual competition by Allt om Stockholm (All About Stockholm). In June 2017, the second venue opened in the city centre and, as all good things come in threes, the team has just opened a third restaurant on Södermalm.

Monthly burger treats

Its success has also travelled across the Swedish borders, and Barrels represented Sweden at Mr Hyde National Burger Day in London last year. This is an annual event with a number of British and international restaurants competing for the title of best burger. “The team from National Burger Day came to Stockholm last summer to test the burger scene here, and they later invited us over to London to represent Stockholm and Sweden,” explains Zeraaktar.

At Barrels, customers can choose from a number of tasty burgers, including the monthly burger, where some of the best chefs in the world add their own take on what is a great burger. For instance, Mathias Dahlgren created Rutabaga Burger, a vegan burger with black beans, smoked pepper, avocado, jalapeno, onion, coriander and lime. And Daniel Crespi came up with Bödeln från Salamanca (the executioner from Salamanca), with manchego cheese and serrano ham, pickled red onion, cheddar and romesco sauce.

Celebrating patties and beer

Next door to Barrels is Tritonia Ölverkstad, a small bar devoted to craft beer from micro and nano breweries in Sweden and abroad. In celebration of great beer, Barrels hosts Stockholm Beer Fest every year in August. The two-day festival is all about beer from some of the world’s best breweries, tasty burgers too, of course, plus live music and, above all, a great vibe. This year’s festival was organised in collaboration with breweries Omnipollo, Stigbergets Bryggeri, Kungsbryggeriet, Mikkeller, Dugges Bryggeri and Pilsner Urquell.

Barrels also organises Stockholm Burger Fest, Sweden’s first dedicated burger festival. Run for the second time this year, it is certainly a tradition that looks like it is here to stay. During the two-day feast at the end of May, visitors have had the opportunity to try ice-cream burgers, vegan burgers, plus extra-special burgers, with dry-aged beef and secret sauces. And there are loads of other treats on offer too, such as typical Swedish fika and specially brewed beer. This year, the burger fest attracted a whopping 6,000 visitors. And we already cannot wait for next year’s tasty celebrations of patties and beer!

Locations

Barrels Burgers & Beer Gamla Stan
Stora Nygatan 20
111 27 Stockholm

Barrels Burgers & Beer City
Smålandsgatan 22
111 46 Stockholm

Barrels Burgers & Beer Söder
Bysistorget 4
118 21 Stockholm

Web: barrels.se

Facebook: Barrels.se

Instagram: @barrels.se