Turns out wellbeing—both mental and physical—and lagom go hand in hand. That means enjoying nutritious, sustainably sourced, seasonal food. The island of Harö in the Stockholm Archipelago is home to Harö Natur, a restaurant and a glamping site with a handful of accommodations, including a floating mirrored greenhouse and treehouses tucked in the woods.
Owner and chef Staffan Boija has created a cozy retreat tucked along Harö’s scenic shoreline, where he treats visitors to wood-fired pizzas and a multi-course tasting menu that celebrates the season’s bounty. The dining room, housed in a former grocery store, feels like the living room of a friend, with only a few tables made out of raw wood and surrounded by chairs draped with cozy blankets, sitting over area rugs. Between courses of toasted rustic bread topped with crushed tomatoes and siklöja whitefish, and wood-fired lobster tail served with slices of fior di latte pizza, Boija told me that the menu is largely determined by the day’s freshest products. Nothing conveyed a deeper sense of place than his dessert, though—a chunk of rich chocolate cake, topped with a dollop of whipped cream, fresh berries, streaks of basil oil, and, to my surprise, tender pine tips. Earlier that day, as I was roaming the trails of Runmarö island, I had snacked on young pine tips after my hiking companion had mentioned they were edible. “They taste like my childhood,” Boija told me at the end of my meal.
As I left the waterfront restaurant feeling completely satisfied (though perhaps not entirely in line with the moderation aspect of lagom), the setting sun had left just a sliver of orange daylight above the dark silhouettes of the forest, casting a warm glow across the softly rippled sea.
