Literally the smoke was puffing from the smoker stack as we easily walked from our railroad station…read morehotel along the waterfront to this very informal little fish shack. You order at their beautifully displayed fish counter (English is good enough to get what you want) and find your seat on their canopied deck (with heaters - no indoor dining here) overlooking a rocky jetty and beach. I had the smoked shrimp which was handed over on a paper plate, and my husband ordered the smoked salmon with sides - a dollop of sour creamy Swedish potato salad, a small lettuce/tomato/cucumber salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar, and a slice of dark bread with butter - which was brought to our table. The reason this place got a 5-star rating from us is that smoked fish doesn't get any better than this - the chili salmon was well-seasoned and expertly smoked, so good that my husband (a true smoked fish lover) went back for a piece of their lemon pepper smoked salmon as his dessert. It was almost creamy in texture with excellent flavor. My head-on smoked shrimp were peel-your-own and loaded with roe, nice texture and flavor without being over-smoked. The counter offers three dipping sauces - a traditional sour cream/dill sauce, a creamy "roe" sauce, and a sweet mustard/dill sauce. I noticed other diners enjoying fried fish, boiled/steamed shrimp, and French fries as well, so there is a range of seafood options available. Nothing fancy here - just top-notch smoked seafood at reasonable prices.

Excellent entree of Bornholm salmon over fresh pasta with frizzled beets and peas. Decadent…read morechocolate lava cake (called Blended Chocolate in Danish on menu). Wait staff were very helpful and helped us choose a Chilean rose that complemented the meal beautifully. Atmosphere is hip, lighting levels are good but not too bright and the noise level wasn't too bad even with a large group upstairs.

What a great find!! We tried the seafood soup which has to be the most amazing creamy fish soup…read moreI've ever had. It had salmon, a white fish and mussels in a cream sauce that had amazing herbs and i think lemon grass which gave it a nice tang. I would fly back to Sweden for this soup!

At first glance this place gives the impression of potential but a closer look reveals that it is…read more location and location alone that keeps this place open. The food is good, no denying that but it is not great, and although the staff is friendly they aren't friendly enough to justify the 200 kr lunch price. When the price is too high for what you get (food is good not great remember) then you'd at least expect to get ok service. At Buhres, they instead perfected the art of DIY by letting the guests do most of the work themselves. First you stand in line to order, you pay by the counter, go fetch your drinks and cutleries and seat yourself. If you need a high chair, be prepared to locate, and carry it yourself too, even if you are busy with a toddler and just paid 89kr for a kids plate with herring and mash (that they do sell for less in the Buhres herring shack next door). They might do better at dinner, but safe to say I won't be back to find out.

To be honest, I was a bit conflicted about how many stars to give this restaurant. I really wanted…read moreto give them a lower rating, but I just couldn't. The food was just too good. The reason I wanted to give this restaurant a lower rating was simple -- cleanliness. This is a harbor restaurant, and therefore there is an exceptionally large number of insects and bugs. When the weather is nice in Sweden, you sit outside. It's just what you do. And we tried. But within 2 minutes of sitting down, our menus and clothes were covered in tiny bugs. I even found some in my purse. So we moved inside.... and it was mainly better. There were a lot of flies (both dead and alive) by the window we were seated at. Since I was with my husband's family, I didn't really feel I had the authority to say "Can we please go somewhere else?" so I just dealt with it. If I had to rate the restaurant at this point, it would have been negative stars. I ordered the Toast Skagen (146 SEK; $21 USD) and Stekt Sill (herring) with mashed potatoes (89 SEK; $13 USD). The food was fantastic, and amazingly, the flies didn't bother us once food arrived (which was a miracle in itself). I'd had stekt sill before, and I was not a fan of the texture of the bones. I'm not sure if these were prepared differently, but I couldn't notice the bones at all. Three members of our group had the fish and chips, which received good reviews as well. I would absolutely visit Röken again in the winter, when I don't think bugs would be a problem.

This smokehouse was close to the house we rented in Balkastrand. I absolutely loved their lunch…read morebuffet, and think the price was super fair for the offer. The variety of fish, the quantities and freshness of the food was worth it. Make sure you try all the different types of herring and of course the fiskfillet with rye bread.