I'm back in Stockholm, Sweden, one of my three "hometowns". I lived here as a teenager and have been back and forth quite a few times over the years. Oddly enough, I actually have more friends here in Stockholm than in America, so it always feels great and somehow familiar to come back.
I wasn't particularly interested in food when I was living here, but one thing that left a strong impression was the very un-Swedish (yet very Swedish) kebab. This kind of food may seem common to most Europeans nowadays, but I'd never come across the stuff growing up in Oregon, and at the time it seemed very exotic. My friends and I swore by Kebab Kungen ("The Kebab King"), a hole-in-the-wall (by Swedish standards, anyway) place in Södermalm that served what were the cheapest kebabs in town (I think they were 19 kronor back then?). I recall skipping gymansiet (the Swedish equivalent of high school) to come down there, fill up on kebab, then explore the city. Nostalgia and a desire for chippped beef brought me back to Götgatan, only to find that Kebab Kungen has been replaced by a shop selling sporting equipment for children or some other rubbish... I was forced to walk directly across the street to Jerusalem Kebab, Kebab Kungen's direct competitor, and a place I had seen countless times, but had never entered on strict moral grounds:
Like most (all?) kebab places in Stockholm, you can order beef or chicken kebab, in a pita or on a plate (with pommes frites), in addition to pitas or plates of felafel or deep-fried eggplant:
I've always wanted to try the other dishes (does anybody ever order anything but kebab?), but haven't got around to it yet... My 25 kronor (125 baht, about 2 US dollars) got me a kebab i bröd with everything. The bulging pita (pictured above) was filled with a generous amount of salty, spiced chipped beef, which was covered with lettuce, red onions, bell pepper, yogurt and chili sauce, and my personal fav, pickled chilies. It's messy, but absoultely delicious, and by Stockholm standards, very cheap.
Incidentally, in trying to find the address for this place I came across a site called Allt om kebab ("Everything about kebab"), which looks to be a great reference for kebab fans in Stockholm, but which unfortunately appears to be down at the moment.
By the way, är det nån som vet vad hände med Kebab Kungen?
Jerusalem Kebab
Götgatan 59 (near Medborgarplatsen subway station)