Acclaimed Swedish bakers team up to open their first London store

Daniel Karlsson and Sven-Gunnar Appelgren. Photo © Joe Sarah

Covent Garden is currently enjoying an exciting new Scandinavian addition to this fashionable area of London, with award winning Swedish bakers Daniel Karlsson and Sven-Gunnar Appelgren opening the doors to Bageriet their brand new bakery store at 24 Rose Street, London WC2.  The word “bageriet” quite simply translates from Swedish to English as “bakery” and Daniel and Sven-Gunnar are sharing the best Swedish food traditions with Londoners and tourists alike, at a time when Swedish food is enjoying huge popularity both in the capital city and nationwide.
 
After working in the bakery of Stockholm’s  most famous high-end department store NK, Daniel Karlsson moved to London in 2007 with dreams of setting up his own bakery store in the UK capital. He worked at the prestigious Ottolenghi restaurants for three years, then moved in to product development at Melrose & Morgan before starting up Bageriet a couple of years ago. Daniel has earned a reputation as one of London’s most sought-after bakers in recent years after hand crafting bespoke birthday cakes, traditional Kanelbulle cinnamon buns, Semlor buns, crisp-rolls, biscuits, desserts and pastries for the Swedish Embassy and a host of restaurants and stores across London including TotallySwedish and Stockholm Deli. Most recently Daniel featured on the BBC2 show 'Paul Hollywood's Bread', where he demonstrated to the TV celebrity baker how to make a traditional Swedish 'Semla' cream bun.  Daniel's business partner, Sven-Gunnar Appelgren is passionate about bread baking and for the past five years has worked at the Ottolenghi restaurants in London’s Notting Hill, Kensington, Belgravia and Islington as well as the fashionable restaurant The Wolseley.
 
In combining their expertise, Daniel and Sven-Gunnar aim to bring quality and originality to their newly launched operation as Daniel explains:  “We want to provide the best fresh bread, pastries and traditional Swedish open sandwiches in London.  We’re excited about introducing London to our open sandwiches with meatballs and home-made beetroot salad, as well as Gubbröra, a typical summer topping which includes smoked salmon, anchovies, onions, eggs and fresh dill and translates as ‘Old Man's Mix’.  We know that Swedish food is bang on trend and the fresh taste, quality ingredients appeal to the British taste buds, so we believe the timing is perfect for Bageriet to open”.
 
A delicious Mazarin pastry is a favourite Swedish delicacy with a mid-morning coffee, alongside the favourite Kanelbulle cinnamon buns, as Daniel testifies, “We pride ourselves on making London’s best cinnamon buns and so far after only being open a few days, our produce is proving very popular already with locals and tourists in Covent Garden!"