While most standard restaurants and cafes around the world remain closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, one Swedish eatery claims to offer one of the safest dining experiences by only serving one person at a time, in the middle of an empty field.
Claiming to operate one of the world’s safest restaurants during a pandemic is a bold statement to make, but the creators of Bord för en (literally “Table for one”) can back it up. Not only does this unique eatery consist of a simple wooden table and a single chair located in the middle of a barren field, near the Swedish rural town of Ransäter (population 114), but it also has a series of guidelines to minimize the patrons’ risk of infection with the new coronavirus. Bord för en has been described as a creative approach to a post-Covid-19 restaurant concept.
Photo: Bord för en/Facebook
“One table. One chair. Right in the middle of a Swedish summer field. Bord för en is a solo dining experience, and as such one of the only true Covid-19 safe restaurants in the world,” a short description on the restaurant’s website reads. “Let’s face it, a table for one might be our only option for a while. So why not choose a table with style?”
Bord för en is the brainchild of Linda Karlsson and Rasmus Persson, a couple from the tiny town of Ransäter,, who firmly believe that solo-dining is the “ideal concept for eating”, as it offers no distractions from enjoying the taste of the food in front of you. The social distancing measures just happened to fit their concept of a single-table restaurant perfectly, and they went with it, coming up with a series of safety measures for diners.
First of all, Bord för en has no waiting staff, with diners asked to serve themselves the food and drinks from a picnic basket sent down to the table via rope, from a nearby kitchen window. Those lucky enough to book a reservation once the restaurant opens on May 10 will receive clear instructions on how to move from the Ransäter bus stop as to avoid social interaction. The table and chair will be disinfected six hours before the arrival of the guest, and the dishes will all be washed twice.
This quirky restaurant only offers one three-course vegetarian menu created by Rasmus Persson himself, as he happens to be a trained chef. The menu will be changed “as soon as the chef has grown tired of it—or when we have picked all the blueberries in Värmland county”, Linda Karlsson said. It currently consists of Råraka (a Swedish-style hashbrown), Black & Yellow (a main dish of sweet corn croquettes and serpent root ash), and a dessert called “Last Days of Summer” made with blueberries, iced buttermilk and viola sugar made from the couple’s homegrown beets.
As making a profit from a single-table restaurant is extremely difficult, Karlsson and Persson won’t even attempt it, opting instead for a “pay what you can” model. They plan to keep Bord för en open through August, and are already working on more original solo dining experiences.
