Discover what’s new before everyone else:

Get our free on-the-go Nordic hotspot map!

The Nordic Nomad

The Nordics

The Nordic hot list
June 2025

The Nordics • Insider guides • The Nordic hot list June 2025

What we’re loving in June 2025 (and you will too)

Stay informed and stay inspired! The Nordic hot list is your monthly dossier of what’s shaping the cultural and creative landscape across the Nordics. From smart new openings and design-forward projects to events worth pencilling into your diary, we spotlight the ideas and initiatives that matter. Whether you’re a local with a keen eye on your surroundings or a traveller seeking authentic inspiration, this is your curated guide to the things that are getting our attention (and deserve your’s, too).

Be the first to know. Get on the list.

Top photography courtesy of Fyra Design Agency and Hotel Kämp

Ute: Dahlgren unplugged at Stockholm summer pop-up

Ute (meaning ‘outside’) is chef Mathias Dahlgren’s breezy summer pop-up, perched outside Matbaren at Stockholm’s Grand Hôtel. Ute It riffs on the Nordic outdoor lifestyle with clean lines, unfussy Grythyttan furniture and a laid-back mood that’s all sunshine and snap. The menu leans casual but smart – think well-crafted small plates and standout snacks, best paired with house-brewed beer or something sharper from the bar. No bookings – just turn up and grab a seat to experience Dahlgren unplugged. A pared-back but polished take on warm-weather dining with a distinctly Scandinavian flavour.

Ute
Södra Blasieholmshamnen 6
Stockholm
Sweden

Photography courtesy of Ute

Oas: Stockholm’s hands-on rebellion against fast fashion

Stockholm’s cult resortwear label, has unveiled its new Dye Studio and showroom in Södermalm – a minimalist, tactile space that doubles as a creative lab. Designed by IMDA Studio’s Victor Ingmo Magnergård and Johan Demling in collaboration with founder Oliver Lundgren, the studio features whitewashed walls, concrete floors and brushed metal fixtures, offering a raw but still refined backdrop for experimentation. Open by appointment only, the space produces one-of-a-kind, locally crafted pieces and invites visitors to engage with the dyeing process, blurring the line between consumer and creator. It’s a quiet rebellion against fast fashion.

Oas Studio
Åsögatan 128
Stockholm
Sweden

Photography courtesy of Oas Studio

Matateljén: still Stockholm’s best-kept secret?

After nearly a decade in cosy Gamla Enskede, Matateljén is closing the doors to its original home – not as an end, but a bold new beginning. This spring, founders Anna Klyvare and Henrik Sauer are moving operations to Slakthusområdet, Stockholm’s rising food and culture hub. The new space at Hallvägen 9 channels the same veg-forward, seasonal cooking but in a sharper, more industrial setting – neighbours now include Solen and Sin Ramen. Meanwhile, the original venue is being reimagined as Ateljéns Livs, a pocket-sized market hall with fresh produce, house-made goods and counter seating for spontaneous meals and glasses of something chilled. The heart stays the same. The setting just got louder.

Matateljén
Hallvägen 9
Johanneshov
Sweden

Photography courtesy of Matateljén

Hotel Kämp: subtle luxury, Finnish soul

Hotel Kämp’s latest chapter unfolds inside the historic Helander House, where 22 new rooms and suites blur the line between old-world grandeur and modern finesse. Finnish design studio Fyra channels Golden Age elegance with restored mouldings, reupholstered antiques and nods to Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck. Archer Humphryes Architects bring British polish to public spaces. The Sibelius Suite – with its private sauna and grand piano – is pure theatre. The Executive Park View rooms strike a quieter note. Kämp doesn’t shout. It seduces. The slightly overused word effortless comes to mind.

Hotel Kämp
Pohjoisesplanadi 29
Helsinki
Finland

Affiliate link (what is it?)

Photography courtesy of Fyra Design Agency and Hotel Kämp

Mother in the City: Copenhagen’s new Milan-inspired pizzeria

No warehouse grit, no Meatpacking sprawl – Mother in the City trades steel for stone and settles into their second Ny Østergade location with quiet swagger. The sourdough still ferments with seawater, the oven still spits fire and the pizza – especially the Porcella with confit porcini and fennel sausage – still lands like a warm handshake. Interiors are moodier, more Milan than market hall, with deep green walls and sleek terrazzo. House wines pour from taps, brewed beers use leftover yeast and the lunch crowd mixes linen suits with bike messengers. It’s Mother grown up, but not grown old. Same crust, sharper tailoring. A soft power move in the heart of the city.

Mother in the City
Ny Østergade 14
Copenhagen
Denmark

Photography courtesy of Mother

Lola Legacy: second hand but first class, in Stockholm

Set in a tactile, silver-accented space in Stockholm, Lola Legacy isn’t your average kids’ shop. Founded by Lisa Lindh and Hannah Bengtsson, the brand transforms discarded upholstery offcuts into upcycled mini sartorial statements with a wink of trompe l’oeil and a serious dose of Scandinavian polish. One of second hand elevated to design object. The store itself, more design studio than thrift boutique, reframes reuse as aspirational. With recycled textile flooring and plastic curtains that flirt with kitsch, Lola Legacy doesn’t just sell kids’ clothes. It reprograms how we value fashion – and proves sustainability can carry status.

Lola Legacy
Odengatan 72
Stockholm
Sweden

Photography courtesy of Lola Legacy

Riviera: Chiara Barla’s subtle statement in Copenhagen

Riviera is precise, elegant and a little subversive. Located on Nansensgade in a restored 1960s bakery, it’s the debut project from Italian chef Chiara Barla, previously of Apotek 57. The menu reads like a personal journal – pistachio croissants, fastelavnsboller (sweat, cream filled buns), figs with Parma ham – each item considered, not curated. Frama Studio’s interior strips back the excess birchwood, Encarnado Negrais marble, and a central trestle table that invites pause. There’s a softness to the space, but nothing ornamental. Riviera isn’t performing for Instagram. It’s built for people who notice detail, who care how light hits the floor at ten in the morning, who’d rather linger than scroll. No noise, just substance.

Riviera
Nansensgade 64
Copenhagen
Denmark

Photography courtesy of Riviera

Shii: Helsinki’s boldest dining secret

Shii doesn’t advertise its presence – you find it, or someone lets you in on the secret. Tucked behind an unmarked courtyard door on Fabianinkatu, it’s chef Nadim Nasser’s answer to Helsinki’s omakase fatigue. Stripped-back, intimate and a touch irreverent. The 11-course menu veers from pristine sashimi to left-field moves like shiokoji ice cream with caviar and pumpkin powder – bold, strange and brilliant. The room is all restraint with 15 counter seats, blonde wood, soft light. No theatrics. No ego. Just a sharp champagne and sake list, and Nadi talking you through every dish like you’re a guest at his kitchen table.

Shii
Fabianinkatu 17
Helsinki
Finland

Photography courtesy of Shii

Café Pascal Roastery: Stockholm’s temple of caffeine minimalism

The converted warehouse space that is Pascal’s new roastery, is stripped down to the essentials. Raw brick, polished concrete and a focus so tight it’s almost surgical. It is clear that, to the small Café Pascal chain of coffee shops, focus lies 100% in making immaculate coffee. In their newest addition, Café Pascal Roastery, beans are roasted on-site and brewed with intent. Filter or espresso, the beans are single-origin and sourced with rigour – Pascal has always been about being precise. And this space doubles down. There’s no kitchen, no brunch theatrics. A sharp lineup of pastries and a handful of stools is all you get, and all you need. It’s not a café. It’s a temple to technique – Stockholm’s clearest expression of caffeine minimalism.

Café Pascal Roastery
Gävlegatan 22
Stockholm
Sweden

Photography courtesy of Café Pascal

Lun: Copenhagen’s award-winning flavour with a split personality

Lun isn’t new, but 2025 just made it official. Named Denmark’s Best Restaurant by the Bartenders’ Choice Awards, the Copenhagen spot sharpens its dual identity. Refined Andalusian-inspired dining by day, high-octane cocktail bar by night. At ten sharp, the lights dip, the music swells and the energy flips, proving that this is no sleepy after-dinner lounge. It’s more Lower East Side than Østerbro. The wine bar, now a destination in its own right, serves small plates alongside bottles that feel handpicked, not algorithm-fed. Cocktails straddle classic and avant-garde, mirroring the kitchen’s global-meets-local ethos. With that, Lun defines the new blueprint for hybrid hospitality in the Nordics.