Sweden Kream

Sweden Kream
1472 National Street
454-5882


Sweden Kream is one of those places that I've driven by and made a mental note to return to. To make sure I did actually go, I gave myself an assignment--to check out the milkshakes. Of course, I enlisted the monkeys' (Satchel, 8, and Jiro, 6) help.

We headed down National around 6pm on a Friday night. Surprisingly, Sweden Kream wasn't at all busy. (I pictured it with a line down the parking lot like Jerry's.) Rather than standing in the parking lot, we went inside. There's an extremely small dining room with three tables and a bench. Since we had it to ourselves, it wasn't too small. I quite liked the checkerboard floor and the striped walls. It was funky, in a cool way.


My first order of business was scanning the milkshake list:


Their 16 flavors all sounded good, but I pretty quickly decided on peanut butter banana. Satchel and Jiro went for their standby flavors--vanilla for Satchel and chocolate for Jiro.

We couldn't help noticing that Sweden Kream had a lot of food on their menu too. Everything from burgers to PBJs, hot wings to fish filets. They even had a breakfast menu and kids' combos. The smells wafting out from the hot kitchen made it hard not to order ourselves some burgers and fries. The energetic and precise waitress behind the window asked if we wanted our shakes first and we wholeheartedly said yes.

Once Jiro put his order in, he went to sit down and play his DSi. (Despite many threats, I couldn't get him to stop playing and I was too tired to tackle him.) Satchel, for whatever reason, obeyed and left his in the car. That left him free to make annoying noises, punch me in the arm, wiggle endlessly, and squeeze various pressure points on my body. I was thrilled when the milkshakes came out.


They were smooth and creamy, perfectly cold, and they came right through the straw without too much effort. I tried all three flavors and they were all good, but mine was definitely the best. More peanut butter than banana.

I convinced Satchel to watch Jiro play his game so I could watch the girls in the kitchen and read the graffiti on the walls (Nay Nay -n- Main 4 Ever). Oh and Satchel somehow managed to drop his shake on the floor. Most of it was contained, but I needed another cup in order to salvage any of it. The other waitress gave me some paper towels when I asked, but didn't seem concerned about whether I cleaned the spill up or not. (There were plenty of old splashes against the walls.)

Customers steadily came up to the window, but it was never crowded. Despite this it took an eternity for our burgers and fries to come out. Of course this means they were made to order, but damn. It was a long wait. Thankfully, the burger proved to be absolutely delicious. Like in the ranks of the almighty Shirley burger at the Lamplighter. It was that kind of good. (And yes, better than Jerry's.)


Jiro, my burger connoisseur, described his as "GREAT!"


The fries on the other hand were a little disappointing. They were absolutely greasy as could be, yet they still managed to be crispy. It was weird--and not in a good way.

We left full and happy. I overlooked the dirty diaper in the parking lot and convinced the kids that we didn't need to take home the stray dog wandering in the parking lot. I was also very thankful that neither monkey had a bathroom emergency while we were there.