Sundbergs Konditori — Specialty Store in Gamla Stan, Stockholm

Sundbergs Konditori is a single historic pastry shop on Järntorget, in Gamla Stan, and the walls inside carry the story: this is Stockholm's oldest cafe, opened in 1783, with its own place in the history of women going out unchaperoned. You feel the age of the room before you taste anything.

The princess cake is the slice to start with, and the Sarah Bernhardt pastry, almond and chocolate, is named alongside it as the other traditional choice. Cinnamon buns and cardamom snails are the everyday Swedish order, and the cheesecake and a raspberry cake hold their own on the same counter. Coffee and cappuccino are brewed well; the hot chocolate, served with cream, is the one to take on a cold afternoon.

The room is vintage and lovely, with teacups, pots and paintings, and it is small. On a rainy Sunday afternoon it fills up and gets noisy. When the weather allows, the terrace out on the square is the better seat, with heat lamps for the cooler hours.

Service is self-service rather than at the table, which is worth knowing before you sit down expecting otherwise, and prices run high for what a cafe stop usually costs in the city. The pastry selection is narrower than the grand interior suggests. Come anyway for the princess cake and the setting, and treat it as a coffee and cake stop rather than a full meal.

Everything runs from 9 am to 8 pm, seven days a week, so an early breakfast fika and an evening cake are both possible. The staff speak Polish as well as Swedish and English, which makes ordering easy for Polish-speaking travelers.