There comes a point in every girl’s life where she realises she may have turned into her mother.
This terrifying moment of clarity hit me on my last day in Helsingborg.
Valentina & I were lounging upside down on the sofa (this wasn’t the moment, I’m pretty sure my mother doesn’t do this) in our pyjamas discussing what we should do with our last day together.
Should we go check out cute boys at the beach?
Go to the mall & shop ’til we drop?
Or go for a walk around the old palace gardens together?
Sold! To the upside down old ladies in PJs!
We headed up to the Sofiero gardens for a walk our mothers would be proud of.
Sunshine yellow dress from MG , sandals from ASOS , bag from Ralph ( similar ), jacket (out of shot) by Burberry, overzealous smile courtesy of Valentina.
V showed me the real way to throw a coin into a wishing well. (Apparently I’ve been doing it wrong all these years and you have to throw it behind you like this…)
The gardens are an impressive mix of perfect & wild. One second you can be strolling through manicured rose beds, the next you’re climbing into an unkempt valley of ferns (and freaking out Valentina with the idea of snakes!).
![]() |
Creeper in the creepers. |
Having taken in our fill of botanical beauty we headed to lunch at PรภlsjรภKrog. A beautiful restaurant by the sea with my favourite sort of menu, a small one. I feel like food in restaurants has gotten so over the top. There are so many options, so many variations & flavours… I wish more places would simplify it all. While this ‘tavern’ has a normal menu at supper time, the lunch menu is just written on a board. 3 options. 1 meat. 1 fish. 1 salad. It’s whatever the chef thinks is good, whatever’s fresh & local. Basically eat what you’re given or go hungry (ahem… turning into my mother again). We made our choices & sat back with a glass of wine each to chatter & enjoy the view.
Valentina went for meat, I went for fish & we agreed (with a handshake) to trade half way through so we’d get the best of both. The fish dish was gravlax with delicious, warm new potatoes in a creamy dill sauce.
The meat was slow cooked pork belly with roast parsnips, asparagus & roasted new potatoes. The top could have been crispier, but the meat was perfectly tender & the bottom almost caramelised.
Pudding was a jar of ice cream, chocolate mousse & crunchy… stuff.
Seriously, that’s how they described it.
Whatever the stuff was, it was naughty & I liked it. I would love to be able to link you to their website but the restaurant was only recently taken over & the website hasn’t been updated. If you want to visit (and you should) then you’ll find it at the end of the beach in Helsingborg. It’s big ‘n’ yellow & a little bit American lookin’.
Finally Valentina & I said our “see you soons” (not goodbyes) and I flew back to London.
See you soon, Sweden!