Quick Bites - Crazy Good Swedish food deals at IKEA, 4092 Eastgate Drive, Orlando, FL

I guess I haven't been paying attention to the restaurant at IKEA lately, but they have some great deals going on!

Swedish Christmas Julbord
First of all, this Friday, December 11th at 6 pm is IKEA of Orlando's first All You Can Eat Swedish Christmas Julbord. According to IKEA's website, a Swedish Julbord is the traditional smorgasbord served during the holidays. Prices are $15.99 for adults and $2.49 for kids 12 and under (wow, great kids price!). IKEA also mentions that tickets are for sale at their restaurant and seating is limited.

Wednesday Night Specials
Next, every Wednesday night you can get a baby back ribs platter for $7.99, from 4 pm to 7:30 pm (the restaurant's closing time). No, I don't think baby back ribs are Swedish, but there you go! The plate has a 1/2 rack of baby back ribs, french fries and corn bread. Also, Wednesday is Kids Night with kids 12 and younger eating free from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm (the store stays open until 8:00 pm).

FREE Breakfast During Weekdays
From 9:30 am - 10 am Monday through Friday, you can get a breakfast platter at IKEA for FREE! The breakfast platter includes scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes. Oh, and the same deal is on the weekends, just for 99¢ (but 10:30 am - 11 am on Sundays). You can add three Swedish pancakes (my favorites) for $1.99. The restaurant opens a half hour before the store so you'll have to wait until 10 am (11 am on Sunday) to do any shopping.

Check out all these deals on their website: IKEA of Orlando Restaurant

Restaurant Review - IKEA Orlando, 4092 Eastgate Drive, Mall of Millenia area, Orlando, FL

As promised, I visited the recently opened IKEA store in Orlando to check out their restaurant and food. Oh, and their furniture and stuff, too. I had tried the IKEA restaurant in NJ so I was eager to see how the Orlando store compared.


First of all, I was pleased to see that the Smaland (kid's supervised play area) in Orlando was bigger and accepted children between 37" - 54" in height. This had been a problem at the NJ IKEA because my older son was too tall. Here, both boys were able to go inside. There is a comfy TV area where the kids watched Spongebob and then Meet the Robinsons, a rock climbing wall, a ball pit with fun activities like trying to get the balls into cuckcoo clocks, and an art area where kids can draw. You sign the kids in and you have a pager so the counselors can reach you. When I went, we could only leave the kids for 60 minutes (and since IKEA is so big that meant we only did one floor). I don't know if that is variable depending on the day you go.

Once we picked the kids up, we headed to the restaurant on the second floor. On weekends, there can be a pretty long line at the cafeteria but it tends to move quickly. I saw that the Orlando IKEA didn't have kid-sized trays like the NJ one did but we did pick up a fun "tray shopping cart" that LB was very excited to push through the line. It is a wheeled cart that holds three trays on it and it was very helpful so the kids didn't have to carry their trays themselves. The first thing you reach in the food line is the refrigerated cases with the desserts inside. Since both boys said they wanted the 99 cent Macaroni and Cheese for lunch, I figured I could splurge on dessert so said okay when they both asked for their own Daim cake ($1.79) which is like a toffee cake with a Swedish toffee candy included. Oh, and I got an Almond cake ($1.29) for myself. Grandma and Grandpa decided to split a Swedish Apple cake ($2.29).

Entrees range from $2 - $6 and include ham and cheese sandwich, chicken caesar salad, chicken marsala, Swedish meatballs, and salmon. The kids' menu consists of PB&J with a fruit cup and drink ($1.99), five Swedish meatballs with fries or potatoes and a drink ($1.99), or the 99 cent mac-n-cheese with a drink. Note that the PB&J kids meal is entirely pre-packaged - the sandwich is like an Uncrustable and the fruit cup is canned fruit. I grabbed the Gravad Lax (smoked salmon slices with a salad) for $4.99 and Grandma and Grandpa decided to share the 15 Swedish meatballs plate ($4.99). I grabbed glasses for the drinks for all of us -- turned out that I could have asked the cashier for plastic cups for the kids. I ended up going back after we sat down when I saw another table with the plastic cups. One strange thing, there are no straws available. My kids did okay with the plastic cups but you may want to bring your own straws if your kids are not ready for drinking from a cup yet.


I drank the lingonberry juice available at the fountain since they don't have iced tea while BB had Pepsi and LB had water. There is also milk and orange juice and even baby food for sale if you forgot to bring any. In the dining area, there is a kids' eating area with a TV playing videos, some toys and blocks, and small tables for them to eat at. There is also a "family convenience center" that has plastic utensils and bibs for the kids as well as a microwave in case you want to heat up the baby food.

My Gravad Lax ($4.99) had more pieces and was thicker than what I remembered at the NJ store, but I didn't like the sauce - seemed like just regular mustard with dill mixed in and wasn't light enough to accompany the fish well. Most pieces of the Gravad Lax were pink and tender and melted in your mouth. One piece was tough and seemed like it would be chewy so I passed. I picked up that piece and saw it was brown on the bottom - maybe the skin? Grandpa said last time he came, almost all of his pieces were like that so he was very disappointed with the quality of the salmon. I was full at this point so didn't mind - I didn't even eat the mixed greens salad that comes with the dish because I knew I still had to eat the Almond cake. Both boys' Mac-n-cheese was real macaroni not the slender noodles characteristic of the Kraft version. They ate almost all of their portions. Grandma and Grandpa were very happy with the meatballs.

Time for dessert! My almond cake was loaded with slivers of blanched almonds and was light, not too rich at all. Grandma really liked the apple cake with the fresh apple taste. It came with a vanilla sauce and is served cold. I wished it was served warm because I think that would complement the cinamon and spices better (but I am a sucker for apple pie a la mode with a warm pie). Both kids started in on their Daim cakes - BB ate most of his while LB just ate the candy that came with it because he said the cake was too "crunchy". Oh well, I'll know not to get the whole cake next time and just buy the candy in the Swedish food marketplace.

Of course, almost anything in the restaurant was available for sale in the store, from the utensils, to the tables and chairs, to the glasses and plates and even the food. The Swedish food marketplace is right past the check-out counters and I picked up a bag of the frozen Swedish meatballs to make for dinner later that week.



Breakfast at IKEA:
IKEA also offers breakfast in the mornings, starting a half hour before the store opens. I arrived right at 9:30 am, when just the restaurant was open, and found out that IKEA offers free coffee before 10 am everyday.


Breakfast items are limited, there is the regular breakfast for $1.99 which is scrambled eggs, potatoes, two slices of bacon, and three french toast sticks. The small breakfast for 99 cents is the same thing, minus the french toast sticks. This is still cafeteria style so all the food is made in advance -- no special orders that I could tell. Also on the menu is a cinnamon bun for $1 and Swedish Pancakes for $1.99. I also saw bagels but no price by them. I ordered the Swedish pancakes and the small breakfast and picked up a coffee for free (normally 50 cents, still a great bargain). So, all together, my breakfast came to $3.17, including tax. Take that Denny's!


Everything was a large portion and the scrambled eggs were nice and fluffy. My only complaint was the bacon - I prefer extra crispy and this was not. The Swedish pancakes are really three crepes, folded into fourths, and then accompanied by a large scoop of lingonberry sauce. Again, I could tell these were not freshly made to order and had been sitting for awhile. The crepes were a little thicker than I expected and had a slight eggy taste but were pretty good, especially with the lingonberry sauce. All in all, a great value for a good breakfast.

Restaurant Review - IKEA Restaurant, 1000 IKEA Drive, Elizabeth, NJ

To finish up my reviews from my recent New Jersey trip, I decided to get a sneak peek at an internationally known restaurant that is coming here to Orlando this Fall. Yes, of course I'm talking about IKEA. Okay, I know IKEA is known the world over as a furniture store, but I was eager to try their Swedish food (I am Restaurant Mom after all).

Every IKEA has the same basic floor plan with a "restaurant" (really a cafeteria) and Swedish Food Market so you can bring your favorite goodies home (oh yeah, and they have furniture and stuff, too). I don't know if the restaurant prices at the Orlando store will be the same as the NJ store, but I can't imagine they will be that different. And I have to tell you that the IKEA cafeteria has the best kids' meal deal I have ever seen - Mac-n-Cheese and a drink for 99 cents. The kid's drink alone is 79 cents so this is a huge bargain. I figure it is a loss leader to lure folks in, just like their 99 cent breakfast special (I'll have to wait until the Orlando IKEA opens to try that). There other items on the kids menu are the Kid's Meatball Plate with five Swedish meatballs, potatoes, and lingonberries; and a PB&J that comes with a small fruit cup and a drink - both of these go for $1.99 - still a huge bargain. Oh, and milk and chocolate milk can be chosen as the kids' drink. What is also very cute are kid-sized trays so kids can carry their own food through the line.

The adult meals are just as reasonable. IKEA's specialty, of course, are the Swedish meatballs. These are offered in 10, 15, or 20 meatball portions, ranging from $4.29 to $5.99. Grandpa decided to get the 20 Meatball Plate so that he, Grandma, and my brother could share. The Plate also comes with potatoes and lingonberries. BB decided to get the PB&J which actually turned out to be a package of Uncrustables - I guess it is quick for IKEA but it would have been nice to have a freshly made sandwich. It came with a very small fruit cup that looked like canned fruit cocktail. Oh well, what do you want for $1.99? I got the Gravad Lox Plate ($4.99) which is similar to the lox you'll find at a bagel place, only a bit milder and smoother in flavor and texture. I also picked up a Daim cake which is an almond cake with what appears to be a coating of chocolate, almonds and toffee bits. It came with a Daim candy on the side, which is a Swedish version of a chocolate toffee candy (think Heath or Skor bar). Heading to the check-out lane, Grandpa grabbed a Lingonberry bottled soda. Everyone else went with a fountain beverage ($1.25) and we picked up our glasses and placed them on our trays. One un-kid-friendly thing is that they don't have kids' cups, plastic or otherwise (at least the NJ store didn't when we were there). So the kids have to drink out of small glasses. Also, I couldn't find a straw anywhere in the restaurant - even for the adults! They did sell straws inside the store on the first floor so maybe they were trying to increase sales (lol)?


After placing our trays down at the table, I went up to get drinks. I found lingonberry juice available at the fountain and decided to try it. I'm usually not a big fruit juice drinker but this was a really light juice, somewhere between a berry and grape taste. I got a regular cola for BB. Grandpa was a little peeved that he had bought the Lingonberry soda in a bottle because he didn't realize the juice was available at the soda fountain. BB blissfully ate his Uncrustable and fruit cup so I guess the pre-packaged food didn't bother him. My Gravad Lox was great - it was melt-in-your-mouth slightly salty flavor with a hint of fish taste - and the dill mustard that went with it was wonderful as well. I also stole one meatball from the Meatball Plate. By itself, it was very good - tender and tasty. Adding the cream sauce made it even better and then adding the lingonberry sauce to that was great - the tangy fruit really complementing the meat and cream sauce. Our one gripe was the temperature of everything on the meatball plate - it was all lukewarm - it would have been better hotter. My Daim cake for dessert was extremely sweet and rich. The cake itself was in very thin layers and was very light but the chocolate candy topping really put it over the top. At one point I picked off the topping and ate the rest of the cake underneath. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating the Daim candy that came with it - yummy chocolate toffee goodness, but in a small, palatable size.

Once you are done at the IKEA restaurant, you bus your own tables, bringing the trays up to a cart with your dirty plates on it. Signs all around say it is to keep the prices down - and really, it is nothing more than you would do at a fast food restaurant but now you are putting away real plates and utensils. I look forward to checking out the Orlando IKEA store when it rolls into town and trying some of the other menu items - and getting some more Gravad Lox!

Restaurant Review - Bread'n'Buns, 1200 Oakley Seaver Drive, Clermont, FL

On a recent week night, Grandma, Grandpa, LB and I decided to try out the new Bread'n'Buns Scandinavian Bakery and Cafe that recently opened in Clermont, behind the Sonny's BBQ on S.R. 50. The decor is very simple with laminate wood floors and the same look for the tables, with lots of space. The chairs are black or orange with one small "living-room type" couch area. There is also outside seating in the courtyard by Gator's dockside. Clermonters have apparently already discovered Bread'n'Buns as other patrons clearly were there for a return visit and commented on which danishes were their favorites and how great the coffee is. Must be a great place for breakfast (they are open 6 am to 8 pm M - F; and open at 8 am on weekends - still too early for me). There is also a small bin of puzzles and toys for kids to borrow that I ended up using on one earlier visit for LB because he was getting a little wild crawling and jumping around the couch area.

You step up to the counter to order, which has a display case of all of the bakery goodies such as cakes, pastries, breads and rolls. They all look very yummy. I'm guessing the "Scandinavian" part of the tagline is actually Iceland as a few items reference that. The menu features sandwiches (with unique combinations for $6.99 - $8.49 for wholes and $3.99 - $5.49 for halves), salads (again interesting combinations for about the same prices as the sandwiches), and soups. Soups are $3.49 ($2 extra in a bread bowl) with Onion Soup available everyday and then a different soup featured each day. There is no written kids' menu, which is strange, but if you ask they have a plain ham and cheese or turkey and cheese sandwich on a bun for $1.79. However, they also offer half versions of their sandwiches and BB was happy with that on our previous visit (he got the half Proscuitto Mozzarella with proscuitto, arugula, mozzarella, basil, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, and sour cream - he liked it but thought the proscuitto was a little strong - we'll probably order the same sandwich but with regular ham next time for him). The one kid-unfriendly thing is the drinks. They do offer fruit punch and lemonade for fountain drinks but they only have one size - and it is pretty large. One other strange thing - the price for the drink is listed as $1.79 on the menu yet I was charged $1.99 every time - I guess they need to reprint their menus. They also have coffee drinks, bottled drinks and iced teas, and fruit smoothies. The smoothies are made with frozen fruit and the Icelandic milk product Skyr. Skyr is similar to yogurt in taste and texture. We tried a banana and strawberry Skyr smoothie last time (we asked for the 12 oz $3.99 and somehow got the 16 oz $4.99). None of us could taste the fruit at all - it just tasted like a plain yogurt shake. So either the Skyr is a lot stronger tasting than yogurt or there was not enough fruit mixed in.


Grandma, Grandpa and I all decided to get the "Triple of the Day" which is two of the following: half sandwich, half salad, or soup; plus the pastry of the day for $7.79. It is a great way to try the whole menu including the pastries. I ordered the ham and cheese kids sandwich for LB.


My choices were the half Bacon & Brie sandwich and the soup of the day (Curry Coconut Creamed Vegetable Soup for Wednesday). My sandwich was on thick (about 1 1/2 inches) and hearty dark bread with crisp bacon, arugula, brie, sun dried tomato paste, and green bell peppers. The tanginess of the sun dried tomatoes paired well with the creaminess of the brie and the slight bitter aftertaste of the arugula. The only thing that didn't really fit well, tastewise, was the bell peppers. I think I'll ask for the sandwich without it next time. The soup was fantastic - very creamy with a strong coconut taste (I love coconut). On my previous visit (on a Saturday) I had the Tomato Basil soup and it was terrific as well - I have a feeling all the soups are great - I'll have to come back every day to try them all! (Here they are in case you are interested: Monday - Cream of Forest Mushroom; Tuesday - Creamy Carrot; Wednesday - Curry Coconut; Thursday - Creamy Soup of Sweet Potatoes and Pancetta; Friday - Lobster Bisque; Saturday - Tomato Basil; Sunday - Creamy Soup of Leek and Tomatoes).




Grandpa chose the Onion Soup (delicious) and the half Crab Meat Burger. I have no idea why they call it the Crab Meat Burger because it is actually a crab salad sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, avocado, fresh coriander, sour cream, and "spicy" tomato dressing. He said at first it tasted strange but then he got used to it. It just wasn't what he expected of a crab salad sandwich but he said he might order it again. Grandma got the half Pears & Gorgonzola salad with lettuce, pears, gorgonzola, walnuts, dried cherries, grapes, croutons in a lemon vinaigrette and the half Provencal Chicken sandwich - sliced chicken breast with lettuce, kalamata olives, roasted tomato, avocado, parmesan cheese and pesto sauce on a foccacia bread. She loved the salad but didn't really like the sandwich because it was hard to eat and kept falling apart. LB like his sandwich although he picked it apart and ate the cheese, ham, and bread separately.

The last part of our meal was our Pastry of the Day. I found out it was a cinnamon roll today and, not that there is anything wrong with the cinnmon roll, asked if I could have the danish instead and was told "sure!". I had gotten it last time and it was really delicious. Yes, it is just called a "danish" (I asked). No special name like Crown Danish that they also have - it is simply known as a danish and it has this wonderfully sweet almond paste inside. Grandpa really liked his cinnamon roll, I was happy with the danish that I shared with LB. Grandma tried my danish but thought it was a little too sweet for her. I really like the offerings at Bread'n'Buns, especially the half sandwich, soup, pastry combo. I'm definitely coming back to try the other soups!