Freshly-picked berries. Trout from the stream just out the door, or moose hunted in the nearby forest: Many Swedish chefs across the country make a point of cooking with what comes from surrounding nature. The commitment to local and seasonal produce has earned seven restaurants in Sweden a Michelin Green Star. Ahead of this year’s revelations of Michelin stars for Nordic restaurants on 1 June, here’s a special look at Sweden’s green stars.
A hotel restaurant in an old manor house about half an hour from Gothenburg stood in the limelight of the 2025 Michelin Stars for the Nordics: Signum, which added a second Michelin star, and also received a Green Star, taking the number of green-starred restaurants in Sweden up to seven.
“The menu is an excellent showcase of Scandinavian ingredients, with produce coming from the kitchen garden, foraged from the surrounding area and plucked from local waters,” the Michelin Guide inspectors said about Signum.
In weighing whether to award a Green Star, inspectors consider “mindful practices”: where ingredients come from, for instance, how seasonal produce is used, what is done to minimise food waste, and what the restaurant’s overall environmental footprint is.
Seaweed is one of the ingredients the people behind Signum cultivate together with a seaweed producer.
“That’s an important part of our sustainability work because seaweed cleanses the sea at the same time as it’s an important local ingredient for our restaurant,” chef Thomas Sjögren recently told Swedish business news portal Besöksliv.
Another Green Star restaurant is Knystaforsen in rural Halland, south of Gothenburg. One of the “coolest restaurants for 2026,” according to Forbes Magazine, a “hidden gem” for La Liste, and featured in the Apple TV series “Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars.”
Knystaforsen excels not only at using local ingredients (think trout, moose, and lingonberries) but also stands out for preparing meals over an open fire. “It’s sensuous and impractical, in the best sense of the word,” said Eva and Nicolai Tram, the couple running the restaurant.
Luckily, the concept of using local produce to prepare great-tasting meals outside is not confined to a few Michelin-starred restaurants but is offered around the country.
Travellers can:
- Join a seaweed safari with Katarina Martinsson, aka “seaweed flower” or Algblomman in Swedish, on the island of Styrsö in the Gothenburg archipelago.
- An hour’s drive from Malmö, stay at Nyrups nature hotel and eat locally-produced foods prepared over an open fire. For groups, guided cooking can be arranged.
- Learn how to prepare food over an open fire with Elle Nikishkivoa at Elle’s Utemat, who offers courses and experiences at different locations in Sweden.
More info and inspiration:
- Top restaurants in Stockholm (Visit Sweden)
- 5 must-visit restaurants in West Sweden (Visit Sweden)
- Sweden’s Green Stars (Michelin Guide)
- Inspirational menus featuring local Swedish produce (Visit Sweden)
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