A NEW restaurant giving Oxford diners an authentic taste of Sweden has been given a boost thanks to a top food hygiene rating.

The Skogen Kitchen, based in King Edward Street, was opened by Claire Anderson in June and since then has built up a strong following among tourists, students and the city's Swedish population.

Ms Anderson said she was inspired by family holidays in the Scandinavian country, which she has been visiting with her Swedish husband for more than 15 years.

She explained: "My husband's family have a summerhouse in the woods that we go to each year.

"We always have proper breakfasts with plenty of cheese, jam, soft bread and strong coffee.

"I also love the relaxed cafe culture there and wanted to bring a part of it back to Oxford."

Skogen brunch is one of the most popular items on the menu, which apart from the bread is all prepared fresh at the cafe.

This is made up of a soft seeded roll, beetroot salad, Scandi-cheese, cloudberry jam, tomatoes, cucumber, hard-boiled egg, and home-cured gravadlax (a salmon dish) or smashed avocado.

An enticing array of baked goods are also a favourite with customers, particularly kladdkaka – a dense sticky chocolate cake.

The mother-of-two said: "We're in a student area so we get them coming in and we also have a lot of Swedish customers who live in the city. You'd be surprised how many of them there are and having their approval means a lot because I really wanted it to be authentic.

"Many of the recipes are traditional ones that have come from the cook books of my husband's mother."

When an inspector from Oxford City Council's food hygiene team visited the cafe in September the cafe given a five-star rating – the highest possible score.

Ms Anderson said she was 'delighted' with the rating, saying: "I was worried about the fact we do our own curing on site and whether that would affect things but I had a really detailed process written out for how much cure per weight of the fish, which I think impressed the inspector."

She added: "Because we have a lot of salmon and other seafood on the menu having that trust with our customers is really important.

"The five stars really helps with that and it is good to know our hard work is paying off.

"Obviously there are always things that can be improved and we will keep working to ensure standards stay high but we are really pleased."

For more information and to view the cafe's menu visit skogen.kitchen