A pop-up restaurant in Ransäter, Värmland, Sweden, roughly 217 miles (350 kilometers) from Stockholm serves solo diners only. In the age of physical distancing social distancing is exceedingly easy. Read more about the restaurant Table for One in Sweden.
Though Sweden doesn’t have physical-distancing restrictions, a Swedish couple, Rasmus Persson and Linda Karlsson (both 36), decided to open a small restaurant in the middle of a field: Table for One (Bord för en). There are recommendations that the couple has been following, and the guests are guaranteed no interaction with others.
Social-distancing protocols
According to their official website, only one person, adhering to social-distancing protocols, can dine at the table next to the couple’s home in the remote village. The Bord för en restaurant will be open through August 1 and one person a day, which means the couple can give its full focus to one guest at a time, so this unusual setup is an ode to sole dining.
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During the corona-crisis, the former professional chef, Persson, has been cooking dishes for his wife’s parents and serving them through the window. This birthed the idea of the “table for one” concept, which is not realized to make money.
“If you want to go out and eat at a restaurant by yourself, it’s kind of frowned upon, right? People look at you like you’re a loser of some sort — like you’re on a date and have been stood up,” Persson said. “We all are facing difficult times and there are people who have lost their jobs, a loved one or even their mind,” he adds, so the couple wanted to avoid the feeling of guests being watched while they eat their food.
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Pay what you wish
“For us, the sole act of eating is … an amazing experience,” Persson says. The solo diner, sitting in the field, will receive their food from the kitchen in their home about 150 feet away by a basket attached to a rope. One guest per night will have the pleasure of dining with themselves.
Each meal will consist of three courses made by Persson, along with drinks crafted by world-renowned mixologist Joel Söderbäck. “We welcome all, no matter what financial situation you are in. The price of the menu is up to the guest,” says Karlsson. The couple has opted for a pay-what-you-wish system in order to accommodate people who may be struggling financially during the coronavirus outbreak.
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Table For One in Sweden
Persson hopes dining at Table For One is a peaceful, introspective experience for visitors. He says each course of the three-course meal is curated with a poem, chosen by friends of the couple.
“We want to do our best to make sure every guest we have this summer has a respite … a break from all the stress and drama in life that everyone is facing right now,” Persson says and adds that the couple might expand the Table For One concept when this is all over.
Table For One in Sweden, written by Tor Kjolberg