Gotthard's restaurant in Umeå, Sweden wins European Hotel Design Award

Gotthards Krog, a plush, salt-stained restaurant where diners travel from one classic port city to another dish by dish, has won Best Hotel Restaurant at the 2014 European Hotel Design Awards.

It’s the third EHDA win for Swedish designers Stylt Trampoli. Last year, their “nerd habitat” hotel bar won Best Bar, and in 200X Stenungsbaden Yacht Club was awarded Best X. All three concepts were based on local history, and all three are unique experiences with a true sense of place.

Gotthard’s Restaurant is part of Stora Hotellet Umeå, which occupies a building that once housed the local Seamen’s Mission as well as the hotel. In the hotel’s corridors and salons, captains and old salts fresh from circumnavigating the globe would rub shoulders with the town society - even, on occasion, with royalty. That clash between the rough and the refined - sailcloth and velvet, sea-spray and champagne - provided the inspiration for the hotel concept, which, as with all Stylt projects, guided the development of all aspects of the overall experience.

The restaurant is named for one of the hotel’s early proprietors, Gotthard Zetterberg, an energetic manager, respected citizen, bon viveur and erstwhile member of Nordenskiöld’s 1883 expedition to Greenland. He had sailed as a purser, and never afterward lost his longing for the sea. The hotel, just yards from the river and the quay, suited him perfectly, and he ran a tight ship at Stora Hotellet for many years, building a reputation for generous hospitality and good humour.

The restaurant interior is a mix of rough-hewn wooden tables, brass ship’s lanterns and deep velvet settees. In the brass-topped bar, curiosities, souvenirs and bric-a-brac from around the world add to the atmosphere.

“Stora Hotellet and Gotthard’s are our pride and joy,” says Stylt founder and creative director Erik Nissen Johansen. “We are incredibly proud of it, and especially of the way Ume locals, visitors, and now also awards judges, have taken the hotel to their hearts.”