11.169 Swedish Meatballs

11.169

22 (Mon) June 2020

Swedish Meatballs

2.5

at IKEA

-Gomae, Giheung, Yongin, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with DJ and IZ

IKEA is a Swedish furniture company.   Founded 1943.  World’s largest furniture retailer as of 2008. 433 stores in 52 countries as of 2019, including 3 stores in Korea since 2014.  The name is an acronym of the founder’s initials and where he grew up: I(ngar) K(amprad) E(lmtaryd) A(gunnaryd). In addition to furniture, IKEA also sells food.

Prior to today, I had been to IKEA only once: in 2007, in Boston, with HSK, just days before DJ was born.  I can’t recall anything about IKEA from that visit, except that we still use the blue serving platter that I bought that day (see for example 11.087 Gul Jin Jjambbong).

This time, I was utterly overwhelmed, by sheer scale of the store, as well as the infinitely wide selection of items and unbelievably low prices.  

My favorite part, of course, was the restaurant.  The boys and I mostly hung out there, while W went shopping.

I am curious as to how the menus are tailored from country to country, what specialized dishes are available (e.g., Ham Kimchi Fried Rice).
Seems wholly unnecessary to label these as “Swedish” meatballs.

Ever since my culinary exchanges with reader Gustaf from Sweden (see generally 4.277 Köttbullar med Lingonsylt), I had been looking forward to trying the food at IKEA, especially the meatballs.

All items were ready-to-go, some self-service.
Some, plated upon order, like the meatballs.

Overall, the food was not that great.  Reasonably fresh ingredients, well-prepared and nicely plated, fun selection – personally, I was grateful to eat non-Asian food that wasn’t cooked by me, the first such opportunity since we arrived.  But ultimately, it tasted like cafeteria food.

I got the new iPhone 11 Pro, which has an amazing new camera, including a portrait function.
Unlike the rough uneven surface of homemade meatballs (see for example 7.263 Köttbullar with Spaghetti), these mass-produced/frozen/packaged meatballs had a smooth uniform outer crust, probably due to some process to preserve their integrity.

The meatballs were okay.  Pleasantly chewy and juicy.  Clean meaty flavor.   Good with the mashed potatoes, cream sauce, and lingonberry jam – alas, it didn’t come with fresh peas in pods, as per the photo.  Anyway, IKEA meatballs, check them off the bucket list.

I was very disappointed to learn that the store was out of lingonberry jam.

(For more details about the food, see WHAT)

(For more details about the venue, see WHERE IN KOREA)

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