Meet the duo behind the two star Guide Michelin restaurant Aloë!

If you have seen too much of New Nordic minimalism in the Stockholm restaurant scene, do book a table at two star Guide Michelin Aloë. Luxury here is defined as an intimate, generous almost homely interior where culinary surprises abound. Aloë is amounts to a very special restaurant made out of contrasts between light and shadows, of dark warm wood, saturated colours in textiles, and a personal selection of furniture, all to accompany food that seems to be derived from an alchemist's laboratory.



”Aloë should be a special experience from the very moment you arrive to when you go home,” says Niclas Jönsson, who together with Daniel Höglander owns Aloë, ”it has to be tasteful and grand!” Niclas is proud to state that they have created all by themself, without any architect involved. ”The interior decor, the choice of music, we have set the movement through the space, we have even painted the ceiling, all in order to add our own personal touch to our creation.” Some of the communal atmosphere of the old Coop, where Aloë is situated, persists in what today look more like a big private house just outside the centre of Stockholm. There is no doubt that Niclas and Daniel are wary of being placed among the fine dining crowd, Michelin stars aside. The kitchen does also reflect a different road embarked if compared to the new Nordic trend with locally and season dependent ingredients: at Aloë the world at large is an inspiration with culinary surprises that brings one to far away beaches and summer hide aways.



Niclas and Daniel seems to have known each other ever since. They both worked at Fredsgatan F12, but not at the same time. Daniel was engaged at Vassa Eggen, at Operakällaren while Niclas went to Lloc, all of them part of Stockholm’s very best. Daniel opened the fabulous Esperanto at Jarlaplan, while Niclas helped start. ”I had started doing catering”, Niclas remembers, ”and I asked Daniel for help. In the midst of the chaos he just asked if we shouldn’t open a place together. I was to busy to even think about it, and here we are in my family’s house!”

Maybe their first star, acquired 2018, three years after opening also gave them the urge to reimagine their place and avoid an overly conservative fine dining classification. The very best restaurants doesn’t have to be uptight and strict, they can be a simple hawker stall in Singapore or Sukiyabashi Jiro Honten’s sushi marvel at the Ginza metro station in Tokyo. Aloë’s self conceived identity combines luxury with a homely atmosphere as their own take on contemporary society, along with an even more imaginative menu. Their rebirth earned them their second star last year. The expansion consists of an inviting anteroom with plenty of Design House Stockholm furniture pieces such as Alexander Lervik’s Luna, Chuck Mack’s Arco Desk, and especially Mathieu Gustafsson’s Air, which is Niclas absolute favourite since the rattan add depth to the space. ”Gastronomy means joy and warmth, community, generosity and tradition,” adds Daniel Höglander busy in the kitchen. ”Our motto is an including, contemporary, romantic gastronomy.” And do not expect to indulge in all niceties in your own closed bubble; tables are shared since both Niclas and Daniel are convinced that gastronomy should be experienced together.