Green Rabbit — Specialty Store in Vasastan, Stockholm

Green Rabbit is an independent specialty shop on Tegnérgatan in Vasastan, and the first thing you meet is how little room there is: a compact bakery counter with a handful of window-side tables beside it. The café is small and lovingly decorated, and on a Monday around 10 am you may be the only customer in the room.

The levain loaf is the bread to take home, a sourdough with the distinct taste that runs through most of what is baked here. The cinnamon and cardamom buns are soft rather than sticky-sweet, and the almond semla is fresh enough to fall apart under a spoon. The pain au chocolat holds its own against any you have tried. The croissants are the compact, brioche-like kind rather than the flaky sort, and the rye cakes are the thing you keep reaching for after you have finished.

Beyond the sweet bakes there are sandwiches, including a ham and cheese one, and vegetarian salads that are tasty in their own right rather than an afterthought. Coffee comes black or as a cappuccino, and free bread is set out, very fresh, alongside what you order.

Prices sit in the ordinary bakery-café band: a loaf, a bun and a coffee is the usual spend, and a sandwich or a salad pushes it up a little. Nothing here is priced as a destination, which is part of why it works as a morning stop rather than a planned outing.

This suits anyone staying nearby who wants a proper loaf, a bun and a seat by the window before the day starts.