New Year and the ICEHOTEL®

In case you are wondering, you don’t need to eat whilst sitting ‘on ice!’ Two very welcoming restaurants, one almost opposite reception the other just a short walk from the ICEHOTEL, provide quite different dining experiences. Both incorporate the freshest local ingredients and offer a superb choice of first-rate food to enliven the taste buds and satisfy any appetite.

A traditional building surrounded by snow-covered pine trees and lit by lanterns is the location for the ICEHOTEL restaurant. The interior has a light and airy feel and the candle-lit tables are set with crisp white linens, white tableware and silver cutlery. This is where the generous breakfast buffet is set out each morning and for the evenings, there is a full service menu with delectable dishes put together by highly skilled chefs – traditionally based recipes as well as internationally inspired fusion food. Immaculately presented meals often feature reindeer, elk, grouse and Arctic char and the desserts are truly wicked! Complemented by an excellent wine list, this is fine dining in a very fine setting.

Less than a 20-minute walk from the ICEHOTEL (or speedier by kicksledge) is the Homestead restaurant. This log cabin style building, with crackling log fires and chequered tablecloths has a very rustic, homely feel. The food, once again, is first-rate but presented in a mix of buffet and waiter service. Hearty and home cooked best describes it and just as well there is a walk back to the hotel as no doubt you’ll leave here feeling rather full!

The Torne River ice often plays a part in the culinary delights offered by these restaurants with the fresh fruit salad for example, presented like a work of art in a carved ice dish – naturally.

One of the special features at the ICEHOTEL is the bar. Like the hotel itself, no two designs are alike and every year, a stunning bar, complete with ample reindeer-skin covered seating, see-through counter and stacks of chunky ice glasses, provides a great, albeit an unusual way for its international guests to while away an evening.

In 1994 a partnership between the ICEHOTEL and ABSOLUT resulted in the very first ‘ice bar’. And today, that partnership with the world’s third largest spirit brand is still going strong - ice bars have been launched in several capital cities, with the help of course, of Torne River ice. Their premium vodka, which comes in many exotic flavours and shades is mixed into cocktails and served not ‘on the rocks’ but rather ‘in the rocks!

Walking into the ABSOLUT ICEBAR, you’ll marvel at the innovative design and architectural brilliance – this large open space often boasts striking columns and an impressive vaulted ceiling as well as its own stylish sculptures, again lit superbly, creating a wonderful ambience. The bar itself is built of blocks of pure ice always with a creatively carved backdrop behind the rows of cleverly stacked vodka bottles. This is a place to chat to your fellow guests, share the day’s experiences and to admire the expert barmen as they create their colourful concoctions. You don’t have to drink vodka, if you’d prefer to warm up with a hot chocolate that’s fine – just don’t set your cup down on the bar!

Guests arriving at the ICEHOTEL pay a daytime visit to the bar, that’s when most people bring their cameras. In the evening however, it’s time to chill out in the coolest bar in the world…