Name: Stf Blåhammaren Fjällstation
Address: 830 15, Rundhogen, STF Blahammaren Fjallstation, Storlien, Storlien, Storlien, 83015, Sweden
Rating: 9

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Stf Blåhammaren Fjällstation

Coming back again after a few years but still as perfect as ever. We needed 4 hours skiing from storulvån but it was worth it. The famous fruitsoup from 1913 wonderful,  we had s nice room and the sauna with its magnificent view. Anf the eastern evening dinner was marvellous. Perfect stay and my favourite restaurant all categories. 

If you are here in the winter och in the summer you must have dinner in the restaurant. They serve a 3 course dinner for resonable money. In summer you can use your own tent but I recommend to book a private room if you want some peace and quiet.

I heard about this lodge and its famous three-course meal while in the very different, space-station-like STF Sylarna, and made a reservation from there. I had had a great meal at the rustic STF Helags a couple days earlier and figured, why not go a step beyond and have this unique culinary experience in an old mountaintop farmhouse.  

I hiked the 19 km to Blahammaren a bit too fast on a clear and rather warm day and arrived quite drained. Upon presenting myself to reception, there was a problem with pre-payment - lightning strikes had knocked out the card payment system the night before. The reception proposed an option to pay in euros, then quoted an outdated rate of only 9.1 SEK to the euro. This effectively increased the price of a not low-cost meal by more than 10%. Especially since the card problem was fixed by the next morning (when I was still around), the reception's haste to overcharge me in euros (in Sweden, a supposedly cashless society) left a sour taste in my mouth.  

At 6 pm sharp, the doors to the old farmhouse's dining hall opened and some 50 diners filed in. There were some welcome speeches from servers and drink orders were taken. I remembered too late that "exklusive dryck" in Swedish does not mean that you are served a special drink with dinner, it means that the price of the dinner, 55 euros by this time, does not include drinks :D. Then everyone got up, table by table, to serve themselves the first course. 

The salads were beautiful. Five or six vegetable dishes, almost more like dishes in their own right. The first course, marinated char under vegetable shavings at the bottom of little bowls, was positioned at the far end of the salads, and it looked like an afterthought. Not having understood the Swedish-only preamble by the servers, I almost opted not to pick one up (my plate was brimming with the salads) but fortunately my fellow diners brought this to my attention -  this was indeed THE first course and the rest was accompaniment. The first course had a subtle Asian fusion character, very nice. 

Second course was thinly sliced rare roast reindeer. Lovely, melt-in-mouth. Quite a bit of time had elapsed by the time the 2nd course was brought out, and tired as I was, I found it a struggle to keep up conversation, although my fellow diners were lovely and indulged me by switching into English. This being a 100-year-old farmhouse, I got the feeling that proportions were designed more for people from 100 years ago - seating was a little cramped, elbows almost brushing elbows, not enough room on table. 

Third course was inspired by the Carolean Death March (and not to be unkind, but since 3 hours had elapsed since seating, the dinner was starting to feel like one to this tired foreign solo hiker). Still, a great dessert - my type of dessert. Just a hint of sweetness in a certainly very high-almond content marzipan base and a whipped fruit topping.

Now here's the thing. This was a very good meal, to be sure. But actually, when you think about it, what I had had at Helags a few nights earlier was much the same, and it only cost 280 SEK, not 495 SEK (or 55 euros). The courses at Helags were served simultaneously, in one grand buffet, so dinner didn't extend to 3.5 hours. The meat course at Helags was more like reindeer sirloin tips in a cream sauce, not sliced rare fillet, but I'm pretty sure the price covered the extra food cost. Also, a detail - the dessert at Helags was also all you can eat, while it was pretty clear that the Carolean Death March dessert at Blahammaren was one to a customer, or at least I wasn't going to be the one to ask for another one. Wines (for those brave enough to spend on something over 3.5% alcohol) add to the special draw of Blahammaren, though.

Fabulous place to come to after a day in the mountains. It has a great charm with its interior from late 1800 preserved together with the fantastic kitchen based on local traditions and ingredients. The standard is what you can expect on such a remote place, but it feels as just the right after having walked for a day. The sauna is a must and have a fabulous view from within. This is a highly recommend place to go to for anyone that wants a mountain experience outside of the usual. 

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Second-best meal in the Jämtland mountain lodges

Always on top!

Charmig place in the middle of nowhere 

Fantastic food when in the mountains

The hut is in a nice position and the staff pleasant but.....
The prices are ridiculous and exploitative.  
A mattress on the floor in the annexe, with no inside toilet: 525 SKr!  (You would pay 120 NKr for that in a Norwegian serviced hut, 187 NKr for a bed in a dormitory.)

Also, you generally have to book - which is definitely not supportive of people walking from hut to hut and dependent on the weather. 

The main building has a few inside toilets (3?) and showers.  However, you are directed to the outside toilets if there is a long queue - so, presumably there is a problem at certain times. 
There is a sauna, if that is important to you and if it is in use.

There is very little comfortable seating for a long evening.

The hut is very proud of its food and it was good.  However, if you are going to ask people to pay 425SKr for one meal it is rather risky to offer only one choice, raw venison, for the main course.

We won't be using the Swedish hut system again.

Silly prices

Extremely rude and lazy staff. They charge you very over prized for the meat stew and then they don’t even have bread ready for it... The feeling is that you need to apologize as a guest. The other mountain stations in the area are really nice, so this was a chock. If you can avoid, don’t go there!

Stf Blåhammaren Fjällstation

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