Vollmers

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Family Story That Begins with a Haberdashery

The Vollmer name in Swedish gastronomy traces back to 1920, when great-grandparents Ebbe and Bertha Vollmer arrived from Germany and opened a haberdashery in Malmö. After Ebbe was badly injured in a train accident, Bertha used the shop's proceeds to build what became a small restaurant empire across Scania — several restaurants and castles, eventually including a traveller's inn in Ugglarp inherited by the family's grandfather. The clothes hanger from that original haberdashery is today the restaurant's symbol, and the silver cutlery on every table is the same set that once graced the family's Sunday dinners. Mats Vollmer, who leads the restaurant today, notes that guests are welcome to sit however they like — unlike the children, who risked a fork from grandma if their elbows touched the table.

The Kitchen and the Dining Room

Head chef Alexander Fohlin grew up in the small village of Urshult in Småland, where his grandmother — whom he calls a taste genius — had him rolling meatballs from sixth grade onward. His cooking at Vollmers is shaped by forest broths and fermentation, infusions of pine cones, lichen, and chanterelles, and a deep instinct for drawing out flavour from raw ingredients. The food is described as a symbiosis of Mats Vollmer's vision and Fohlin's ability to create dishes of intense, pure taste using forest and nature as tools.

Front of house is led by Karin Vollmer, an award-winning sommelier named both Best Sommelier of the Year and Rising Star of the Year over her career. She selects wines in close collaboration with the kitchen, favouring small producers and elegant bottles that work in direct conversation with each dish. Together, she and her team guided Vollmers to first one, then two Michelin stars.

The Menu: Selection from the Granary

The tasting menu is called Selection from the Granary — kornboden, the affectionate Swedish nickname for Skåne, Sweden's most fertile agricultural region. Around 20 courses are served over approximately four hours, each dish carrying a strong connection to local producers and the distinct seasons of the Scanian landscape. Every main ingredient comes with a travel distance specification, a quiet but pointed reminder of the restaurant's commitment to its region.

White Guide has placed Vollmers at its Global Masters level, with reviewers describing the experience as approaching a shrine to higher gastronomy. The detail is meticulous: each dish arrives on a piece of ceramic designed specifically for it by Malmö artist Anna R Kinman. A zero-waste policy runs throughout the kitchen. The dish Skogsflora — chanterelles and cep purée beneath a crown dill jelly, topped with caramelised Jerusalem artichoke roasted for two hours at 145 degrees — arrives on a green-glazed plate resting on forest moss, and reportedly smells of the woods. Barndomsminnet, a reimagined cabbage pudding with roasted pointed cabbage, stringy pork, lardo, and pickled ramsons capers, plays acidity against fat with striking confidence.

Atmosphere and Approach

The dining room carries a scrupulously selected decor and a discrete colour palette that creates what one critic called a near-sanctified atmosphere — one immediately offset by cheerful, engaged service. The restaurant also operates a private home restaurant at Vollmerska gården, the family's farm in Svedala outside Malmö, for a more intimate setting. Dogs are welcome at the main restaurant with advance notice. The Scanian fine dining experience at Vollmers is, at its core, exactly what Mats Vollmer says it should be: a place where guests feel as at home as family around the dinner table.