Julbordspizza anyone?

Does it sound like an unlikely combination for the palate? Not if you travel to just south of the Arctic Circle. 

• 

  Mahmoud Ismail at Mario’s pizzeria in Arvidsjaur shows off the ultimate julbords-pizza. Photo: Kent Norberg/Arvidsjaur kommun

• Julbord on top of pizza. We thought we'd heard it all... Office parties and family reunions around this time of the year in Sweden tend to center around, you guessed it, the julbord (a smorgasbord especially decked out with Christmas goodies). And everyone will try to get as much as possible out of the money spent.
  If you want a quick fix, go to Arvidsjaur in Sweden's north. Mahmoud Ismail at the restaurant Marios in Arvidsjaur has composed a special Christmas pizza.
  “Some customers like it, others won’t even taste it,” says Mahmoud Ismail to the magazine Restaurangvärlden. Ismail wanted to do something Christmassy for the Advent season (which means a lot in Sweden) and once he’d exchanged the cheese and the tomato sauce for a saffron sauce, the pizza began to take shape. On top of the saffron sauce, mashed potatoes, meatballs and a “prinskorv”, then into the oven with the pizza. After being baked, Ismail adds ham, smoked turkey, red beet salad, anchovies, smoked salmon and eggs with shrimp in mayonnaise. Last, but certainly not least, the pizza’s topped with a local delicacy – roast reindeer.

• Start planning your trip, go to Information on Arvidsjaur