Not Your Ordinary Holiday Feast at Bitza
text Jahwanna Berglund
Palestinian and Mediterranean flavours take their place at the festive table as the Hornstull restaurant presents a ten-dish Christmas menu made for sharing.
The Swedish Christmas table comes with familiar expectations: pickled herring, cured salmon, Christmas ham and meatballs. At Bitza in Stockholm’s Hornstull, the festive season takes a different direction. Here, cold-fermented pizza, mint labneh and aubergine marinated in fenugreek form part of a Christmas menu rooted in Palestinian and Mediterranean food traditions.
Available from October, the ten-dish menu brings together the restaurant’s signature pizzas and mazmez with seasonal ingredients. Sharing is central to the experience, with dishes placed around the table for everyone to enjoy.
“With the Christmas menu, we adapt our flavours to the season and apply techniques and traditions from sunnier parts of the world to bring a little warmth to the winter darkness,” says Aadel Kersh, co-founder of Bitza. “We often joke that our flavours are probably closer to what people actually ate in the time and place where the Christmas story unfolds.”
The menu includes spiced meatballs in shakshuka sauce, fenugreek-marinated aubergine and a winter salad with dried figs, dates and a crisp filo pastry topping. Alongside these sit pizzas and mazmez, a regional term for the more familiar meze: an assortment of small dishes, dips and bites, including hummus, mint labneh and baked feta. The pizzas are made with cold-fermented dough and draw their seasoning from Palestinian culinary traditions.
image courtesy Bitza
For those gathering colleagues, family or friends, Bitza’s dining room accommodates up to 70 guests. A more intimate option is the Chef’s Table, where groups of 16 to 20 can share the menu in closer contact with the kitchen.
The appeal is in the gathering itself: a table filled with food, familiar company and something different to discover together. For anyone ready to vary their usual Christmas celebrations, Bitza offers a festive meal with its own sense of warmth and tradition.
The ten-dish Christmas menu costs SEK 550 per person, with two wine pairing options available. Dishes can also be ordered à la carte.
Bookings are available at bitza.se.
