Ikea Meatball Madness

It has become one of those signature dishes, a must-have item at the Swedish furniture store. Yes, for those who have been living in the caves for the last little while, this furniture giant runs restaurants too! The Ikea meatballs satisfies those cravings for protein but you just can't seem to get enough of them. Much like the fifty-cent hotdog and the dollar breakfasts, Ikea cheap eats is almost always wonderful. But what makes them so successful besides its pricing?

Ikea Meatballs with fries (Photo credits: Yun)

Simple, to put a long story short, the tremendous effort it takes to get to the food. You fight through traffic and made it to Ikea (it might even be a day's journey!) and then you walk through the maze of furnishings (maybe 2 kilometers) with a long shopping list. The Ikea restaurant magically appears, and draws you in before you proceed to the warehouse and marketplace to pick up your goodies. You might as well munch on something before the real workout, right? Oh, and there it shines, glowing under the menu light--the 15 Ikea meatballs with mashed potatoes. Suddenly you feel like a feast, (and it's okay because the calories will all be worked off in the warehouse!). The counter staff is working tirelessly like a meatball dish assembly line. 15 meatballs in 2 or 3 scoops, never 14 and never 16. You get your plate, got through the cashier, and finally finds a seat and gets ready to eat. All that effort for some Ikea meatballs, no wonder why they must taste so good!

Now, a (quick) look at the plate and onto the first bite into the meatball. I choose to take full bites, but I've seen many people who (still) retains manners and cuts them in half first (salute). The meatballs are really, decently sized and juicy enough. They are soft enough yet are chewy to slowly munch on to really taste the meat. Not quality meat, but good enough. The scoop of mashed potatoes really start to fill you up a bit by the last spoon, mixing those last bits of sweet lingonberry sauce in. I must express a little dissatisfaction though. The meal would be so much more complete with more gravy on the plate. There is not enough gravy to fully cover every of the 15 meatballs and to spread onto the potatoes. But a search for photos of Ikea meatballs shows some plates (clearly from outside Canada) to have flood-loads of gravy. It leaves me guessing as to whether Ikea-Coquitlam (in B.C.) is trying to save costs by giving less (just like taking out cashiers for the self-serve check outs?!).

Ikea meatballs (15) with mashed potatoes - $2.99 [5pm to closing Monday to Thursday until the end of 2010] Regular price: $5.99