I paid $20 for a ticket to IKEA’s all-you-can-eat annual Swedish Christmas feast — here’s what it was like to attend ‘Julbord’ in NYC

The IKEA closest to my Manhattan apartment is in the Red Hook Neighborhood of Brooklyn. The trip took about an hour — two subway lines, then a 30-minute walk. There’s a free IKEA ferry that goes from Manhattan straight to the IKEA storefront, but it only runs on the weekend. I went on a Friday afternoon (and somehow convinced both my boyfriend and roommate to come with me).

The restaurant was closed — an upsetting turn of events. Then I saw the sign about Julbord, and everything was okay again. IKEA says on its website that Julbord tickets must be bought in advance, but after asking around, an IKEA employee said we could buy tickets right there and then.

For members of the IKEA Family loyalty program, which is free to sign up for, tickets cost $19.99 for adults and $9.99 for kids 12 and under. For non-members, they cost $24.99 and $12.99 respectively. Naturally, my first course of action was to become part of the IKEA Family.

The Brooklyn IKEA offered two Julbord seatings: one from 3-5 p.m. and another from 6-8 p.m. IKEA later told me that each seating at the location could accommodate around 200 people, and both were nearly sold out. I felt lucky that we were able to get tickets.

As we entered the cafeteria and handed over our tickets, an employee gave us a chance to write our names on the backs to enter a raffle. The prize was an advent calendar, a bottle of Vintersaga, and a tin of cookies.

There were star-shaped lanterns, which I later saw for sale, as well as evergreens. Christmas music played over the speakers, but there was also someone playing live music on a keyboard.

“Hej” means “hello” in Swedish — it’s also written throughout the store.

There was a cucumber salad, potato salad, beet and apple salad, a plate with deviled eggs, cheese, and ham on it, gravlax (cured salmon with dill), and pickled herring.

Finally, some meatballs! The hot food section had meatballs, lingonberry jam, stewed red cabbage, ham, a potato dish, mac and cheese, and salmon. I told an employee behind the counter what I wanted, and he made me a plate.

These tasted somewhere between a cracker and crostini.

On my final tray, I ended up with deviled eggs (which had tiny shrimp on them), cheese, cold ham, potato salad, knäckebröd, gravlax, pickled herring, mac and cheese, shredded potato casserole red cabbage with apples, hot ham, and finally, the famous meatballs with lingonberry jam and gravy.

I was shocked at how good everything tasted. Unsurprisingly, the meatballs ended up being my favorite, but the potatoes were a close second. I also made myself an open-faced sandwich of gravlax and cucumber salad with the knäckebröd, which was a perfect vessel.

Pickled herring might be a bit of an acquired taste for many, but I’m a fan — IKEA’s tasted as good as any I’ve had in the past, sour, sweet, and not too fishy.

“The menu is determined in partnership with our partners in Sweden,” IKEA told me. “We want the event to feel familiar and true to the traditions that our Swedish customers and co-workers might be missing, but we also want it to be approachable to customers that are unfamiliar with Swedish cuisine. It has evolved slightly over the years. We now incorporate more plant-based options, for example.”

I could see part of the Manhattan skyline from where I sat to eat, along with a parking lot full of school busses.

All the different desserts were set up buffet-style on a long table, some with little signs explaining what they were.

It tasted a bit similar to mulled wine, minus the alcohol. It was well-spiced, and not too sweet. It was also available to buy.

I got a piece of almond cake with daim (a type of Swedish chocolate bar), a cake with apple and a crumble on top, heart-shaped gingerbread cookies called pepparkakor, Swedish rice pudding, chocolate coconut balls, and a cinnamon-sugar scone.

It’s hard to choose a favorite, but I especially loved the almond cake and the rice pudding, which was topped with cinnamon and dried berries.

There was also gravlax and pickled herring in the refrigerated section, but I was too full to even think about buying more food (even to bring home).

Though I didn’t have any expectations going in since I ended up attending on a whim, I was blown away by the overall experience and could definitely see myself making plans to coming back next year just for Julbord. In New York City, where almost everything feels expensive and overpriced, $20 seemed like an almost laughably low price to pay for how good the food was and how much of it I got.

But it was more than just the food. IKEA did a great job of making the event feel special, from the festive decorations to the live music. I also feel like I got to learn a little bit about Swedish culture, food, and traditions.

The next IKEA Julbord is now a year away, sadly. Until then, I guess I’ll just have come back to try the regular cafeteria — they won’t have the whole spread, but I can at least get some more of those meatballs.