“In Sweden, pizza was shaped by Turkish immigrants decades ago, then influenced by Iraqi, Kurdish, Somali … all sorts of communities,” Tania Mohammed tells Broadsheet. “It’s not Italian, or Turkish, it’s just … Swedish. And Swedes love it.”
Mohammed and Firas Jawad opened Swede Stop – the only Swedish pizzeria in the UK – on a quiet stretch of King Street in Hammersmith, a five-minute walk from Stamford Brook Station in late 2025. And they insist there is nothing else remotely like a Swedish pizza in London’s saturated pizzeria market.
“We kept thinking that if someone opened a Swedish pizzeria in London, it would be a hit,” Mohammed says. “Our friends were always asking us and other Swedes and Swedish immigrants here in London, ‘What’s so special about Swedish pizza? What does it taste like?’”
Inside Swede Stop, bright lamps hang low, casting a light on walls painted in the blue and yellow of the Swedish flag. The space feels somewhere between a traditional kebab shop and an Ikea showroom. “Swede Stop is authentic Swedish pizza,” Mohammed and Jawad’s son Mostafa Jawad says. “People have driven from Birmingham just to get a taste of home.”
Swedish pizza emerged when Middle Eastern and Balkan migrants began working in Swedish pizzerias in the early 1980s. “My dad’s originally Iraqi,” Mostafa says. “When he came to Sweden, his first job was in a pizzeria. Eventually he and my uncle took over a pizzeria in Gothenburg.”
The kebabpizza – a Swedish pizzeria staple – is the most popular menu item, and arrives covered in a mound of shaved döner meat, lettuce, tomato, red onion, peperoncino and a swirl of tangy, slightly spicy sauce. It is accompanied by pizzasallad (a vinegary slaw of shaved white cabbage, oil and oregano), and has a thin, crisp base baked in a Pizza Master oven imported from Sweden. The non-traditional Swedish meatball pizza is dotted with miniature kötbullar (meatballs), peppers and mushrooms. It’s spicier and topped with the same spiral of sauce. Each pizza comes with an optional topping of fries. Some might call it culinary heresy. And yet, it works.
Why bring Swedish pizza to London? It’s the product of secondary migration: people who grew up in Sweden, whose parents weren’t originally Swedish, coming to the UK and bringing their food culture with them. Swede Stop is not trying to compete with the ubiquitous Neapolitan pizza, or pop-ups offering regional varieties of American pizza; it caters to an already-loyal following of homesick Swedes and curious Londoners. And there is already talk of expanding the menu. “People have asked for the Africana pizza,” Mostafa says with a laugh. It’s a divisive classic featuring beef, banana slices, onion and curry powder, and is traditionally served with béarnaise sauce.
“At first, we thought the pizzeria would mainly attract Swedes, immigrants, and people who were simply curious to try something different,” Mohammed laughs. “We didn’t expect it to be this popular.”
Swede Stop
300 King Street, W6 0RR
Hours:
Daily 1pm–11pm
