Radisson Royal Viking, Stockholm, 21 September 2021

This is more like it! A breakfast buffet like in the good old days. There is everything (I think), including the ingredients to mix your own Virgin Mary. I didn’t see any vodka for making it a Bloody Mary, but, admittedly, I wasn’t looking for it. Excellent spread of different types of bread, cold cuts, including salmon, different types of cheeses, vegetables, pastries, fruit, juices, cereal and a warm bar. The bacon was crisp, the bread, including the croissants, was freshly baked and the butter was real butter (there was an alternative as well). Drawbacks? Very limited choice of tea (three or four types of bags and only one of them a black tea). And, if you are from East Asia, breakfast was Western only. But overall, this was top-notch and I’m happy to be back at this hotel and even happier to give it 8.5/10.

But one thing puzzles me. If you arrive at breakfast when the dining room has just opened and is practically empty, there are about 40 tables and there’s still a pandemic on, why do you decide to sit next to the only person in the room?