Northern bites: Swedish food finds an Alpine refuge

Despite certain pop connotations, the word Björk actually means birch in Swedish, so the title works nicely alongside the café’s rustic design. The bleached wood cabinets and white tiles suggest a traditional Scandinavian country house, while modern furniture and vintage magazines add a touch of mid-century class.

The restaurant is the creation of native entrepreneur Giuliana Rosset, who founded the sportswear brand Napapijri. ‘We wanted to look into traditional Nordic cuisine and its modern evolution, using ingredients linked to the region and contemporary and light cooking techniques,’ she says. Milan-based architect Nicola Quadri designed the space.

It’s interesting to see the nostalgic cues of Nordic Naturalism, which we noted in our Stockholm Furniture Fair 2012 show report, popping up in unexpected corners of Europe.