Valhallabageriet - Odengatan — Specialty Store in Vasastan, Stockholm

This is one branch of the Valhalla bakery chain, sitting on Odengatan in Vasastan, and it is the branch where you can actually sit down. The sign outside is inconspicuous and the room is small: a compact baking display at the front, five small tables behind it, and a handful of seats outside when the weather allows.

Start with the kannebulle, the classic Swedish cinnamon bun, sweet but not too sweet. The dammsugare is a compact green marzipan roll, sized right for eating on the move. A rhubarb pastry turns up in season and is worth asking after, and the bread loaves hold their own against anything else in this part of town.

The coffee gets the same care as the baking, and this is the Valhalla branch that serves espresso, which the others do not. The room is calm and homey, with music low enough to read by, and the staff manner is warm and unhurried.

Seating is the catch: five tables inside and a few outside fill fast, so most pastries leave in bags. There is no guest toilet, which matters if you are settling in with coffee rather than grabbing a bun to go.

Weekday mornings from 7 am are the calmest window, and Saturday and Sunday hours run 8 am to 3 pm, so an afternoon visit on the weekend needs to be early. It suits anyone wandering Vasastan who wants a proper Swedish bun and a real espresso, and anyone content to eat it standing.