Åsö Konditori & Bageri — Specialty Store in SoFo, Stockholm

Åsö Konditori & Bageri is an old bakery on Åsögatan in SoFo, and it has the look of a place that has been turning out bread and buns for a long time rather than dressing up for the neighbourhood. What you notice first is the breadth of the counter: breads, tarts and buns laid out together, with everything baked and cooked on site.

The princess cake is the thing to carry out. It is a layered celebration cake, and each layer holds its own against the next, which is why a second slice to take home makes sense. The semla is the other one worth timing a visit around: a cardamom bun filled with cream and almond paste, the bread fluffy and the filling generous, with small pieces of almond running through it. The saffron bun is a seasonal sweet bun, and the cinnamon and breakfast rolls come out soft inside with a crisp surface.

Sit down and the format is a cafe as much as a shop. A hot sandwich with a side salad makes a proper breakfast plate, and the coffee comes in a small pot that pours at least a couple of cups. There is a second floor, and the room can get loud and stuffy when it fills up.

Prices are modest for what you get. A coffee with cake comes to 51 kronor, a breakfast roll with coffee 77 kronor, a semla 58 kronor with the coffee at 35, and a pain au chocolat 42 kronor. Everything is cash only, so come with notes in your pocket.