Bröd & Salt — Specialty Store in Vasastan, Stockholm

Bröd & Salt is one branch of a Stockholm chain, and this one sits on Sveavägen in Vasastan, where the day starts early and the counter fills with bread and coffee before the neighbourhood has properly woken up.

The semla is the thing to order when it is on: a wheat bun filled with almond paste and cream. Almond buns, sweet and topped with almond, are the other reason to come back. Both are the kind of baking you eat standing up or take away in a paper bag.

Beyond the sweet counter there is a build-your-own salad bar, with sandwiches and coffee alongside it. You assemble a bowl from the spread, which is where the value sits if you want a proper lunch rather than a pastry. Coffee is served too, and the drinks are made with care.

The room is quiet and clean, cosy enough to linger in with a matcha latte, and dogs are welcome.

Prices sit in the everyday range for a bakery lunch: a pastry and a coffee, or a filled salad bowl, without spending much. Weekday mornings from 7 am are the calmest window; weekends start at 9 am and the room fills as the morning goes on.