The 2026 hot list: the 96 best new restaurants in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

In Malmö’s 16th-century Kockska Huset, Järn gives a historic dining address a different rhythm. Run by Andreas and Linda Pieplow alongside their established restaurant Årstiderna, the grill centres on meat from Swedish producers, with fish and vegetarian options too. Diners choose their main ingredient, then build the plate with sides, sauces and flavoured butters from a section called Smedjan. Open-fire cooking and a straightforward, flexible menu offer a more informal way to experience one of the city’s historic buildings.

Cin Cin puts wine at the centre without turning dinner into a tasting exercise. Food writer Karin Lei and Kennet Tao, the couple behind Taiwanese restaurant Sanlo, have teamed up with family friend and sommelier David Chan for a small neighbourhood bar at the S:t Knut area in Malmö. Chan brings more than a decade in wine, while the kitchen moves through western and southern European flavours in dishes designed around what is being poured. Wines by the glass are a major focus, joined by tastings and changing events. The name itself is a toast, with a subtle nod to Lei’s Chinese-Taiwanese background.

Soi is the Italian second act from Alexander Norén and Johanna Jarevik, the couple behind Malmö’s former Thai favourite Soi 29. The new S:t Knut restaurant works equally well inside its high-ceilinged dining room and outside beneath the trees out front. The short menu changes often, moving between focaccia, good olive oil, cured meats and pasta. On our visit, it featured a crudo of wild sea bass and halibut came with tomato vinaigrette, amarillo, melon and chilli. We also had gnocchetti sardi with salsiccia ragù bianco, chanterelles and parmesan. The service is personal and engaged, and the team is good at matching wines to the food.

Tuja Vinbar brings an easy, personal kind of wine drinking to central Malmö, with small-producer bottles, unfussy food and the sort of pavement seating that makes you want to order another glass. Marina Hägg runs the bar with her son Tiwaz, and the name combines those of her parents, Turid and Jan. The wine list moves broadly rather than following one school, with the team happy to guide you towards something unfamiliar. Small international dishes make it possible to stay for more than a drink. In warmer weather, choose the French-style chairs along Stora Nygatan: they turn the street into prime people-watching territory.

Olá Cervejaria Rua do Rei starts with Ola Rasmusson’s Lisbon link: years of eating, drinking and family visits through his wife’s Portuguese family, then a Malmö room built around the kind of cervejaria logic he missed at home. The name translates Kungsgatan into Portuguese, and the room follows with patterned tiles, Super Bock, Portuguese wines, Port & Tonic and food built for passing plates: bifana in papo seco, olives, conservas and pastel de nata from Malmö baker David Fernandes of Patisserie David. Order Chouriço à bombeiro, the sausage grilled at the table on a clay dish over a flame. Don’s miss: Cristiano Ronaldo gets a large, almost devotional bathroom cameo.

Malmö’s food cultures meet by the water at Cantin, a 3,000-square-metre container park in the former shipyard district of Varvsstaden. Permanent kitchens, visiting food trucks, three bars, music, markets and a sauna turn it into an open-air social hub, built with reclaimed materials wherever possible. Start with Mamak Shop’s roti prata, nasi lemak or beef rendang, then look to Kiosko by the Sea for its Mufuletta or fritto misto. Gaijin Izakaya brings Japanese cooking with a Swedish touch, while Verde Gelato’s pistachio flavour uses Bronte DOP nuts. It sits ten minutes on foot from Malmö Central and changes through pop-ups and seasonal arrivals.

Coffee, wine, bread and flowers is the brief, but the Gothenburg link is what gives Altona some backbone. This is the Malmö cousin to Cum Pane, the long-running Gothenburg bakery, with Cum Pane owner Robin Edberg also part of the setup here. The courtyard, taken over from old Liket territory, has exactly the sort of easy pull Malmö likes to pretend it discovered first. Go for bread and pastries, stay for wine and accept that half hip Malmö will be fighting for those tables once summer settles in properly.

Pink marble, spritz energy and a touch too much in the right way set the tone at Osteria Amore, the Milanese-leaning restaurant on Malmö’s canal edge. The project comes from Nicholas Hertzman, who previously made noise with Amore Fantasia in Helsingborg, and it carries the same sense of dinner drifting towards a party. Start with the charcuterie and a Negroni, then move into house-made pasta or the crisp pizza milanese the restaurant pushes hard. The room is pitched as a palazzo rather than a trattoria, which tells you plenty. Come for lunch if you must, but this place is built for later.

Inside Börshuset, the 1862 trading house by Malmö C, one address runs on three speeds. Niclas Jönsson, best known from two-starred Aloë, leads the food with Micke Björkman, whose CV runs through Nobu London, Vassa Eggen and Riche. Margaux handles the classic side, with three-course cooking and dishes such as duck liver brûlée, grilled beef tartare, red sole with Champagne sauce and grilled beef with café de Paris butter. Como comes in looser, serving lunch, from grilled sourdough with tomato, roasted garlic and anchovy to calamari fritti, beef tataki and grill skewers. Then comes Delibaren, for breakfast, lunch, coffee, bread, pastries and smaller sweets baked downstairs.

With fifteen seats and eleven courses, this omakase counter in Malmö neighbourhood Gamla Väster keeps the focus on craft, pace and the pleasure of watching dinner take shape. Umenoya is chef Takao Fujii’s set menu, shaped by his grandmother’s izakaya recipes and a fixation on tsukemono, Japanese pickles paired with seasonal local produce for bite and texture. Fujii grew up on a small island near Hiroshima, worked in Paris for Comme des Garçons, then moved into kitchens including Nobu Milan. The space is designed by Malmö architect Jonas Lindvall, with stone, wood and ceramics keeping the mood calm. Drinks run champagne, wine, sake, shōchū and thoughtful non-alcoholic pairings.

Canal-side beer is the first move because Bärstronomi is not a random bar with a tap list; it is Hyllie Bryggeri’s Södertull outpost. The independent Malmö craft brewery also runs its Stormgatan taproom by the tanks behind Malmö C, while this city taproom sits on the main pedestrian stretch with the canal in front and a sunny patio made for lingering. The kitchen pulls from Central Europe and the British Isles: schnitzel, club sandwich, langos, fish and chips, fries and small plates. On our visit, the food looked the part, though some flavours needed more bite. At Bärstronomi, the beer does the heavy lifting.