Broder Nord

One of the two best Swedish brunch places in Portland. Second only to the original Broder. Recommend the Danish pancake balls.

Cute little place.
Really good food.
WORST service I have ever had. The waiter had such an attitude. He would roll his eyes at us, stomp off OH! and after we paid our bill — with cash — he TIPPED HIMSELF! We were going to tip him anyway but isn’t is courteous to communicate with us and allow us to? Then he argued with us when we asked about our change.
I use to be a waiter too, nothing can justify trenching people terribly no matter how bad of a day your having!

Fantastic brunch spot. I love the Scandinavian cultural aspect that is present in all aspects; food, drinks, and establishment. Only thing keeping me from a 5 star is the price per portion. Perhaps it’s why the Scandinavian countries thrive in happiness while we thrive in obesity. Get the Danish pancake balls… Great appetizer.

I walked over for lunch today. Usually avoid Broder because of a gluten sensitivity, but today I was having a hard time giving a sh! t about that.
It was lovely. Good service (I sat at the bar and my server was attentive and, dare I say, delightful and good food. I got the Swedish Meatballs with a side of Smashed Potatoes. It came with some pickled stuff and walnut bread and compote of some sort. I did not walk away from that counter hungry!
I hadn’t been here in awhile, as mentioned previously, but it looks like they changed it up a little and I liked it better than what I think I remember it was, yikes.
Fair warning, the prices on the menu here on Unilocal*are wrong. Don’t forget your credit care (wink, wink).

Love their food! It’s fantastic. Can’t think of anything we’ve tried that we didn’t like. Their egg dishes are a favorite. The Swedish pancakes too.
My only complaint is that several out of friends I’ve brought have complained about their service. On several different occasions. With the exception of that issue, great brunch food with quick service!

I came here with my fiancée and his mother for a birthday brunch, and was disappointed.
The service was mediocre from the start, which I should have taken the time to enjoy because it got worse lol. Our server was snappy and impatient. Later during our meal, she’d come back a few times and blatantly interrupted our conversation. I love getting coffee refills, but brusquely cutting people off REPEATEDLY is annoying. And I didn’t ask for a side of annoyance.
Their food was OKAY. Nothing to write home about unfortunately. Now, that’s not to say that the cooks did a bad job! The food was thoroughly cooked but not burned even a little, and none of it was cooked so improperly so as to provide an exceptionally dry outcome. Also, nothing was added that I didn’t ask for (except for annoyance of course) nor was anything missing per se. But you know how it goes, they’re given specs and stick to it. Take the lefse for example, it had some kind of fish mousse and horseradish. Not typical but not entirely unheard of… Maybe it’s more popular in Sweden? Or the Swedish hash (pytt I panna) — it’s potatoes pork belly, bell pepper, onions, baked egg and apparently 8oz of salt? Really. Nobody needs that much salt in a pork dish. Trust me, I love salt enough for my doctor to tell me to quit it and EVEN I think it’s over salted.
When we’d finished our meal I asked about buying a broder t-​shirt, apparently the tables turned and I was the side of annoyance? Because when I brought one up to buy it, that jerk behind the counter rolled his eyes so hard I thought he needed a doctor.
Don’t bother with this place if you prefer good service. Now, if service is besides the point and just want good food then this may still not be the place for you! If you like paying 14 bucks to get heart disease and a smart mouthed server so you can be cool and say you’ve been to Broder Nord, don’t count on having the t-​shirt to prove it. Syoy and I hope your experience at Broder is 100% better than mine.

When my friend wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday, we ended up deciding to try Broder. Since the one on Interstate is the only one serving the smörgåsbord, we decided to go there.
When I heard smörgåsbord, I envisioned a long buffet table maybe including cold smoked salmon, pickled herring, something interesting with lingdonberries, apple pancakes and perhaps a unique coleslaw… to give you an idea.
My friend called and made reservations. In hindsight, I should have called and asked questions about what to expect, mia culpa.
Honestly, at $ 20 per person, I would have felt cheated. At $ 40 each, it was an outrage! There were approximately 6 – 7 items on the little menu. Each item was priced separately at $ 10-​$ 14. The smörgåsbord included all those items.
We were each given a small appetizer size plate. Each dish, the size of a soup bowl, was to be shared between the 2 of us.
One item was described as a beef and vegetable pie. Underneath some greens was a container about 2″ in diameter with no discernible crust nor did I taste the «beef.»
The dessert was in a container about 1−½″ diameter, maybe 3″ high. What there was of it was o.k. It was a mixture of berries, nuts, and I believe lemon curd. There was just enough for each of us to have a spoon full and a half.
We had both had very stressful, frustrating days so our focus was somewhat distracted. Had we been more focused on the here and now, we would have left and eaten elsewhere. I’m sure the fact that we were both overly hungry entered into our decision not to look else where.

We had the opportunity to experience Broder Nord on a Saturday early afternoon (12:30ish). We were a part of a large group of 9 celebrating our brother’s graduation from culinary school.
We were greeted by a very friendly host, our wait was less than expected on a weekend for brunch (approx. 25 min). We were able to order any drink as we waited which was happily taken advantage of by 3 in our party – the feedback was generally positive for both extra spicy and regular Bloody Marys.
Broder boasted of an intimate well paced atmosphere in an environment with plenty of space to enjoy all of the delectable offerings. Our waiter had a great sense of humor and was very helpful in exploring the menu and accommodating our large party.
I ordered the Danish Pancakes with lemon curd and lingonberry jam, a side of Wisconsin’s Finest Bacon and an almond milk latte. My husband ordered the Swedish Hash with Smoked Trout and a dark mocha. First of all, I’m not a pancake fan but do not be fooled – for the mere «layman» these are not your standard pancakes. They are delicious spheres of not too sweet yumminess that pair well with the sweetness of the jam and tartness of the curd. The bacon was exceptionally smoked and my latte was satisfying. My husbands’s trout was well seasoned and fresh; he reports his hash as a whole was «great». The rest of our party was pleased with their orders – including the Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Mustard Crème Fraiche and the Lamb Burger.
Overall Broder was pleasantly accommodating and the perfect place to celebrate the commencement of a culinary career :)

Food: A+ for lunch
Service: Bunch of assholes
Very small group celebrating a birthday. Not a hard table to take care of.
Work on training your staff Broder Nord and you would be a fine establishment.

I’ve been here twice for breakfast. The first time I ordered the baked eggs with smoked trout, with the unusual and fantastic baked grapefruit as a side. The second time I had the smoked trout hash. Both were very good and essentially the same dish, although the bake came with way more food even though the hash was more expensive, so that put me off. With the bake you get to pick a side, but not with the hash, so I kind of felt ripped off (and a little hungry).
The service here is stand-​offish and SLOW. Plan on waiting 25 – 30 minutes for your breakfast to come out, which probably contributes to slow table turnover and longer waits to be seated. No one is rude, but no one is warm and welcoming either. Given the price tag, they could up the service level.
The food is quite good. The environment is attractive and comfortable. But given the wait, the drive, and the service, I’ll probably only revisit when friends want to go here.

This is easily one of our favorite brekkie joints in town. I won’t lie though, the lines to this place can get ridiculous on the weekends! Here’s my simple advice: go early. I know it’s hard. But peel your arse out of bed you’ll thank me for it!
You get for the effort Stumptown coffee, warmed cream… And snappy service. When they’re in a hurry they may forget to smile. But when they have a moment. They smile, they wink, and they bring you the yummiest Swedish breakfast in town!
Oh yeah! And don’t forget the liquor! They make a mean Bloody Mary!

The only closest Swedish meal we’ve ever had was at IKEA, so I don’t think we really knew what we were getting ourselves into when our Portland friend recommended this place for brunch. When we arrived, the whole place was bustling and there was still quite a wait since the café itself is not very big. We read on Unilocal and knew that service wasn’t as amazing so we were prepared for the worst.
As soon as we were seated, it took awhile for our waitress to take care of our drinks/​ordering. It took even longer for our food to be served even though I’m constantly seeing food being plated in the kitchen — other people in front of us must all still be waiting for their food so we couldn’t complain much.
I ended up getting the Swedish meatballs with potato pancake while my husband opted for the gravlax with uunipuuro (Finnish oven porridge with jam & steamed cardamom milk). I really loved my dish and the potato pancake was to die for! The gravlax was also very good but I wasn’t a big fan of the porridge because I don’t like cardamom…
We were pleasantly surprised by the food and service was pretty good — I don’t know how authentic this place is but I like it!

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t quite have the same charm as the teeny, tiny, Nordic location in Southeast.
But it does have WAAAAAAY shorter wait times!
The SE location is a hermit crab that outgrew it’s shell.
Compared to Broder (South?) this space is down-​right CAVERNOUS.
The interior is still plenty quirky and the food is exactly the same as the SE location.
Again, how do you go wrong?
The only thing I grew to dislike about Broder were the INSANE wait times. You know a place is popular when there is over an hour wait… on a WEEK day.
Again, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

I wanted to try something different, so decided to check this place out. The wait was a little long for our party of 8 to be seated and it also took a while for our food to come out, but when it did, we all were super pleased with our experience there.
Our table started by splitting some danish pancakes. They were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside without being too dense, and the lemon and berry jelly that came with it was a perfect compliment. I really enjoyed these!
For the entrée, I got some baked eggs with mushrooms, onion and chevre. Presentation in a small square skillet was super cute and made the dish more fun to eat. For the side, I opted for the baked grapefruit and OMG it was heaven. Just the right amount of sweet and nutty flavor — not sour at all. Even those who disliked grapefruit seemed to enjoy the taste I gave them and the kids sucked whatever was left in the fruit dry. Delish.
Others at my table got trout hash, pork belly hash, and a few other items I can’t recall, but I didn’t hear one complaint about the food. The servers were very friendly and helpful in deciphering which items would be best suited per person, and though portion sizes were small, everything was filling and no one left hungry. Seems like some of the drinks were a bit hit or miss though… mainly in that they were different than typical /​expected.
Overall, we were all very pleased with our first Scandanavian food experience and this is definitely a place I’d recommend and frequent again… especially for the danish pancakes :9.
Sidenote to prepare for in bigger parties: 20% Gratuity is added and there is a 2 credit card max here.

Brunch on a Sunday morning can definitely lead to an hour or so wait. My friend and I arrived around 8:30 and was seated right away. Looking around there were a couple open spots. As 9:00 rolled by there was definitely a crowd at the door.
Today was my second time here, and I tried the baked egg scramble with the side of crispy smashed potatoes. The potatoes were amazing!!! They were covered in this delicious crème sauce!!! It is not your typical brunch place and I highly recommend coming here if you are in Portland! You have to try the aebelskivers (Danish pancakes)! They come with your choice of 2 jams! I love the lemon curd and lingonberry jams. :)

First things first, Broder Nord is awesomely decorated. Wooden birdcage structures, bright yellow barstools, giant mirrors. It shouldn’t work so well together, but somehow it does! All aesthetics aside, I thought the food here was kind of hit or miss. I ordered a scramble that was painfully unseasoned and I basically just dug through it to find the goat cheese pockets. The Lost Eggs were amazing though! We don’t live in Portland, but if we ever find ourselves back here, I’d go to Broder Nord and order those Lost Eggs.

So Portland clearly has a great food scene going on. I wouldn’t typically expect Scandinavian food to blow me away but they sure did with their amazing dinner menu.
We started out with Seared Peaches — ancient heritage cheese, bee local honey, cherry tomatoes & basil. Would never have thought of throwing peaches to the mix but this was truly an incredible appetizer. The peaches were sweet, had a great smokey flavor from being seared, surprisingly paired so nicely with the cheese and basil.
Beef Rydberg — seared shoulder tender, black garlic sauce, raw egg yolk & horseradish cream. Melt in your mouth tender beef. Chef recommends mixing in the raw yolk with the sauce which we did and the sauce turned out to be some of the most amazing flavor combinations we had tried. I’m personally a huge fan of saucy foods and this was on point.
Swedish Meatballs — sherry cream sauce, lingonberry mustard & new potatoes. How do I even begin to explain this deliciousness here. The sauce was to die for, the potatoes were crisp and tender. I’m salivating here from the thought of this wonderful dish alone. Do yourselves a favor and treat yourselves to this amazingness. You’ll thank me later.
Lamb Burger — aioli, butter lettuce, pickles, chevre, house made potato bun & crispy potatoes. Slightly on the gamey side but a super tasty burger nonetheless.
Ebelskivers — Danish pancakes served with lemon curd & lingonberry jam. A must whether you’re stuffed or not.
The drinks here are also impressive. A great date spot.

Broder Nord took me back to Norway and Sweden. Two or three years ago I went to Northern Europe and had a brunch that I still think about to this day. It was a board filled with cheeses, meats, breads, yogurt, and fruit. Since then, I haven’t found a single place with that same breakfast, but when I ordered the nord bord, I couldn’t believe my eyes after seeing it. The bord was the same brunch plate I had been looking for from Northern Europe, and I was beyond excited.
The nord bord was a board of meat, goat cheese, beets, whole grain and nut toast, yogurt and granola, sesame crisp, smoked trout, and grapefruit. It was healthy and filling, and I loved that I could mix and match anything on the board and it would pair perfectly. I would recommend the nord bord to all friends!
The ambience of the restaurant is hipster, casual, and cozy. The wooden furnishings and center tables make it seem very comfortable and easygoing. It wasn’t crowded, and the delicious food combined with warm environment made the restaurant a good place to relax and catch up with friends.

Broder is a welcome respite from the usual Portland fair. The food is well prepared, tasty, and ample for the price. We had the Nord Board and Swedish Meatballs with Potato Pancake. They absolutely nailed it and I applaud the food.
Where they fall short is the seating practices. We arrived around 9:30 and found multiple tables open. The very gracious host informed us we wouldn’t be seated at the available tables because the chef hadn’t ok’d it and there were quite a few food tickets to attend to.
The chef needs to put on some big girl panties and suck it up!!! Seat people at the open tables and explain there is a wait for the kitchen. Not only will you sell an extra cocktail or two, but you will better serve your patrons and prevent the clusterfuck that is your waiting area. If you have open food tickets to cook for you work on them one by one and don’t stress about it. The servers can inform the patrons of the kitchen wait. Leaving a lobby full of people when there are tables available is silly and poor for business. I’m not surprised to find a weak dude in this city (par for the course), but am sorely disappointed this practice is tolerated at such an awesome place.
The above paragraph aside, the service and food are excellent. I will be back to Broder for sure. Especially once the SW location opens for weekend business. Hopefully the food at this location is as top-​notch as in the north.

I’ve been here twice and was really unimpressed. Very upscale, hip ambiance unlike the other location, which is a cramped, miserable, sweat box for patrons, cooks, and servers alike. But that place has good food, and this one does not. Not to mention the fact that the location absolutely sucks.
The best thing I had here was my drink, and the best thing I can say about that was that it was strong.
The very, very expensive small portions of food are not worth it. The Swedish Meatballs are pitifully bland and flavorless, and that was the showcase of our dinner. The steamed muscles were okay, but I can’t help comparing them to the more flavorful versions I’ve had elsewhere.
It’s also irritating that a friend who ordered a very expensive gift card from Borders as a birthday present never arrived until we prodded them. Their apology should have at least included some comps. That’s an epic screw up. Also, we came here once during regular business hours only to find the place shuttered, no sign on the door or note of warning on their website. I take great offense when business owners fail in their obligation to warn patrons of closures.
Broder’s still has my love just for the lost eggs. It’s worth waiting in line for ridiculous amounts of time and then sitting in hell for. But for dinner, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice… The romance continues, but now the honeymoon is over.