Kräftskiva (Swedish Crayfish Party) at IKEA Schaumburg

Last Friday was IKEA's annual Kräftskiva, the Swedish summertime crayfish party. Hats, bibs and songbooks were provided at each table.







The buffet included crisp bread, boiled eggs with shrimp, red-skinned potatoes, meatballs, gravad lax with mustard sauce and, of course, crayfish. Excellent aquavit from Northshore Distillery was available for a reasonable $3 a shot.









IKEA
1800 E McConnor Pkwy
Schaumburg IL
847-969-9700

My people are a strange people!

sundevilpeg wrote:My people are a strange people!

Feasting on crayfish & singing odes to booze? Sounds pretty cool to me!

Hi,

This Swedish Crayfish Party was a very affordable $9.99 plus tax. It also included soft drinks, coffee, tea and dessert.

I did locate another Swedish Crayfish Party costing $85 per person with a crayfish tasting. I just couldn't gather any enthusiasm for that.

IKEA also offers an annual Julebord for $9.99 as well. This year it will be on December 9th.

Despite its location in store, this was a delightful community event.

Regards,

Per the IKEA website the party continues this year on August 16th for the same price as previous years, $9.99.

"Swedish Crayfish Party!

Friday, August 16, 2013

Gather your friends to feast on crayfish during one of the most loved and celebrated Swedish festivals. Enjoy this all-you-can-eat buffet at IKEA!

IKEA FAMILY Member Price: $9.99 for adults; Children 12 & under $2.49 Non-Member Price: $12.99 for adult; Children 12 & under $4.99

Tickets are sold per seating and are on sale now. Ask a Restaurant co-worker for details. Seating is limited so don't wait to purchase your tickets! 4:00pm 6:30pm

The IKEA Restaurant will close at 2:00pm that day to prepare for this special event. Our Swedish Food Market and Bistro will be open and available all day."

Hi,

FYI -I take the shells home to make crayfish bisque.

I hope to make it again this year.

Regards,

third coast foodie wrote:Seating is limited so don't wait to purchase your tickets! 4:00pm 6:30pm

so is this from 4-6:30pm or are there two seatings? (one at 4pm, one at 6:30pm)

FWIW, it's not just at Schaumburg. I looked at the Bolingbrook site, for example, at it says 5:00pm - 8:00pm .

Sweet Willie wrote:

third coast foodie wrote:Seating is limited so don't wait to purchase your tickets! 4:00pm 6:30pm

so is this from 4-6:30pm or are there two seatings? (one at 4pm, one at 6:30pm)

It is two seatings. I just purchased 4 tickets. If anyone goes there be sure to sign up for the Ikea Family card on their website before you go to buy the tickets.

I must be more of a moron than I thought. I can't figure out how to get the family card or res and Ive been working on the phone and web for 15 minutes. Getting super steamed and I don't boil easily.

Gave up. Seemed like great wacky tasty fun.

Finally was able to get someone on the phone at IKEA. Tickets must be purchased at the store.

Ramon,

Sorry I wasn't following this thread when you were searching for answers.

I have two different types of experiences calling IKEA. When it is product related, they are prepared with answers. Calling to their dining area to get answers related to these dinners, they fall really short of perfection.

If you want me to pick up tickets for you, let me know.

Regards,

Sweet Willie wrote:

third coast foodie wrote:Seating is limited so don't wait to purchase your tickets! 4:00pm 6:30pm

so is this from 4-6:30pm or are there two seatings? (one at 4pm, one at 6:30pm)

We went to the Midsommar Smörgåsbord at the Schaumburg IKEA last month. That, too, was advertised for two seatings, so we got our tickets for the 6:30 seating.

In reality, I think we could have shown up at any time. My feeling was that they just break it into two seatings so that everyone doesn't show up at the same time.

It was a nice event, plenty of food and a bargain even at $12.99 (we didn't bother to sign up for the discount card). Instead of crayfish, the focus was salmon prepared a couple of different ways. They did not have the aquavit, which would have been a nice addition. Beer and wine were available for purchase; the selection was lackluster.

Jasubar wrote:We went to the Midsommar Smörgåsbord at the Schaumburg IKEA last month. That, too, was advertised for two seatings, so we got our tickets for the 6:30 seating.

In reality, I think we could have shown up at any time. My feeling was that they just break it into two seatings so that everyone doesn't show up at the same time.

It was a nice event, plenty of food and a bargain even at $12.99 (we didn't bother to sign up for the discount card). Instead of crayfish, the focus was salmon prepared a couple of different ways. They did not have the aquavit, which would have been a nice addition. Beer and wine were available for purchase; the selection was lackluster.

I went to the Midsommar Smörgåsbord at Schaumburg too. I think you are correct about the "seatings." Having gone to a few of these events, I appreciate their effort to even out attendance a bit. As I recall, cold poached salmon and gravad lax appear at each of the four seasonal smörgåsbords. Honestly, the salmon and crayfish aren't particularly fine examples but for $9.99 I'm not complaining too much. I enjoyed my first tastes of IKEA unsmoked ham and snappy, juicy Prinskorv (a little sausage). It was my first smörgåsbord without aquavit, which I missed. I think they might have it back for Kräftskiva. How can one sing songs about drinking snaps without proper inspiration?

Midsommar Smörgåsbord, 2013


Kräftskiva, 2012

Hi,

My sister queried them on why aquavit was not present recently. They buy it by the case, but complained it did not move fast. Yet their sales of liquor are so discrete, you're not always aware they are offering any.

Well I am certainly not their best customer sticking to the lingonberry drink.

Regards,

I bought tickets for this event - the 4 pm seating. The food is always pretty decent and the price is pretty good.

The ONLY way to get the tickets is to buy them IN PERSON at the CASHIER in the CAFETERIA. It is a real PITA as she is also the person who is checking out people in line with their food. The eight people in line behind me did NOT appreciate that at all! And that was at 2:30 pm, not the usual busy time.

======================================

To get the Family card, go in person and spend TWO minutes at the kiosk. It is a lot easier than trying to do it online - REALLY!

Friday, August 16th

Enjoy a traditional Swedish all-you-can-eat crayfish buffet. IKEA FAMILY members can purchase tickets are only $9.99 for adults and $2.49 for children under 12. Non member price $12.99. The menu will include favorites such as: crayfish, assorted herring dishes, shell-on prawn, meatballs with lingonberry sauce, sales, breads, desserts and more. Seating is limited, buy your tickets today.

Bolingbrook Seating: 6pm – 8pm
Schaumburg Seatings: 4:00 pm - 6:30 or 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

IKEA Bolingbrook: 750 E. Boughton Rd. Bolingbrook, IL 60440, @IKEA Bolingbrook
IKEA Schaumburg: 1800 E McConnor, Schaumburg, IL 60173, @IKEA_Schaumburg
888-888-4532

Please remind people that you need to buy the ticket for the event IN PERSON in the cafe. (Which is a PITA.)

See you there! I'll be wearing a blue and yellow Hawaiian shirt.

IKEABolingbrook wrote:Enjoy a traditional Swedish all-you-can-eat crayfish buffet. IKEA FAMILY members can purchase tickets are only $9.99 for adults and $2.49 for children under 12. Non member price $12.99. The menu will include favorites such as: crayfish, assorted herring dishes, shell-on prawn, meatballs with lingonberry sauce, sales, breads, desserts and more. Seating is limited, buy your tickets today.

There were no shell-on prawns served tonight in Schaumburg.

jlawrence01 wrote:

IKEABolingbrook wrote:Enjoy a traditional Swedish all-you-can-eat crayfish buffet. IKEA FAMILY members can purchase tickets are only $9.99 for adults and $2.49 for children under 12. Non member price $12.99. The menu will include favorites such as: crayfish, assorted herring dishes, shell-on prawn, meatballs with lingonberry sauce, sales, breads, desserts and more. Seating is limited, buy your tickets today.

There were no shell-on prawns served tonight in Schaumburg.

Hi,

What time were you there?

I talked to the manager when I was leaving after 8:00 pm. He said the first seating people wouldn't leave. This caused a backup for the later seating. I will come early next time.

Regards,

Went to the Bolingbrook location. This thing was ... strange. Does anyone know why the clientele was 75% Chinese? Was there some cultural crayfish crossover?

Anyway, Bolingbrook had shell-on shrimp. I found the crayfish pretty hard to eat/destroy, so we gave up on them quickly. The line was pretty bad at first, early, but got better. Everything served I want to say IKEA usually sells, so what made the event special was it being totally different from what I usually do with the family Friday night. There was no singing and dancing, but they did have funny bibs and hats. Which I think IKEA also sells year-round, or at least did as recently as a few weeks ago.

Anyone know what the "Swedish festive drink" or whatever was? It tasted like a slightly carbonated non-alcoholic version of Swedish punsch, maybe.

jlawrence01 wrote:The ONLY way to get the tickets is to buy them IN PERSON at the CASHIER in the CAFETERIA.

I had tried to get tickets last Sunday for a group but the 6:30pm seating was sold out.

Looks like I accidentally posted about this in a different forum, but ... does anyone have any insight as to why the crowd in Bolingbrook was maybe 75% Chinese? A striking cross-cultural turnout.

The percentage of Asians attending the Schaumburg "party" was upwards of 95%. Could it be that Ikea is doing a lot of marketing at places like H-mart and Mitsuwa? Having never attended any previous events at Ikea and being a full-blooded Swede I was hoping that this would have some semblance of an actual Swedish festival. Based on previous posts and pictures I expected that there would be funny hats and singing songs, dancing, doing shots, entertainment, something, anything festive. It was completely devoid of anything festive or anything Swedish. Are all the "parties" at Ikea like this? Are they all over-crowded under-supplied buffets?

We arrived shortly before our 6:30 seating and waited in line for over half an hour and seated in a corridor behind the restaurant some time after 7pm. No hats, bibs, songbooks were in evidence. Didn't see any Aquavit being sold.

After finally finding some small hot plates we proceeded to the cold items. There were none of the advertised shell-on shrimp and cocktail sauce. There were only scraps left of the salmon. I managed to get one small sliver of it. I later saw someone eating from a plate of nothing but salmon piled at least 4 inches high, which explains why there was no salmon available. After quickly finishing my small plate of cold items and 4 big crayfish, I went back to get more, but I couldn't find any plates. Other people had the same problem, so I went back to my table and got my dirty plate. By the time I got back to the buffet all the cold items were completely gone so I took a bunch of crayfish from the emptying bin, while being eyed nervously by the man behind me. Around 7:30 a voice on the P.A. Said they were closing the kitchen in 15 minutes. When I went back with my dirty plate in hand to get more crayfish, the bins were empty and several people were standing around waiting for more. When they were brought out I took about six and they were ice cold and flavorless, apparently from having been partially thawed out under running water. The fat in the body was frozen.

The dessert tray is completely empty. Again, I see the same person still eating his pile of salmon and he now has two plates piled high with desserts waiting.

So I guess the thing to do next time is go to the early seating, arrive an hour before, so as to get good tables up front, fill up multiple plates sky high with all the popular items, then camp out at the table and watch the rest of the people scramble over the leavings. Or maybe just stay home and have pizza.

Hi,

I was at Schaumburg, everything was just a bit different this year.

The first time I went a few years ago, it was a lot of older Swedish couples and sometimes they came with families. There were some Swedish dancers present, a little schnappes for sale and everyone had a pleasant time.

This time there were long lines and yes, lots of Asians. Many Asians are quite fond of seafood. If IKEA did an outreach or someone simply alerted their friends, the Swedish presence dimmed quite a bit.

The range of food diminished as the evening progressed as food ran out. I'm glad I got the salmon on the first round, because there were only scraps left when I returned. They seemed to have a bottomless pit of crayfish, though as quickly as they were delivered they ran out. People took one or two heaping plates away, then people had to wait for the next delivery.

If you wanted Swedish meatballs and potatoes, this never ran out because they were barely touched. When I left, the staff sat down to whatever was left, which was the meatballs, potatoes and some cucumber salad.

My tickets allowed seating at 6:30 pm, though there was quite a line which moved somewhat slowly. I talked to a manager who explained people who came for the 4:00 seating did not leave. Where the first wave was expected to leave, they did not.

I was lucky enough to be seated next to a couple whose family once were in the hospitality business downstate. We ate our share of crawfish and took the shells home to make bisque.

From my past experiences at these dinners, this was very different experience.

Regards,

wow, sorry to hear imsscott, your experience does seem a far cry from the OP's experience.

Can anyone else that went this year chime in?
-

Cathy2 wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:

IKEABolingbrook wrote:Enjoy a traditional Swedish all-you-can-eat crayfish buffet. IKEA FAMILY members can purchase tickets are only $9.99 for adults and $2.49 for children under 12. Non member price $12.99. The menu will include favorites such as: crayfish, assorted herring dishes, shell-on prawn, meatballs with lingonberry sauce, sales, breads, desserts and more. Seating is limited, buy your tickets today.

There were no shell-on prawns served tonight in Schaumburg.

Hi,

What time were you there?

I talked to the manager when I was leaving after 8:00 pm. He said the first seating people wouldn't leave. This caused a backup for the later seating. I will come early next time.

Regards,

Cathy,

I arrived at the store at 3 pm and watched them set up for a while. The first seating started promptly at 4 pm. They were about 75% full as I saw a number of open tables.

I left at 5:30 pm and I would estimate that at that time, about 60% of the people were gone.

I can believe that some people were still there LATE as some of the people were still grabbing plates of crawfish when I was leaving. In the future, they need to have some guidelines as to when people must be done by. As I was leaving, they were starting to tell people that they needed to close up at 6:00 pm for the later crowd.

========================================

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I was at Schaumburg, everything was just a bit different this year.

The first time I went a few years ago, it was a lot of older Swedish couples and sometimes they came with families. There were some Swedish dancers present, a little schnappes for sale and everyone had a pleasant time.

This time there were long lines and yes, lots of Asians. Many Asians are quite fond of seafood. If IKEA did an outreach or someone simply alerted their friends, the Swedish presence dimmed quite a bit.

The range of food diminished as the evening progressed as food ran out. I'm glad I got the salmon on the first round, because there were only scraps left when I returned. They seemed to have a bottomless pit of crayfish, though as quickly as they were delivered they ran out. People took one or two heaping plates away, then people had to wait for the next delivery.

If you wanted Swedish meatballs and potatoes, this never ran out because they were barely touched. When I left, the staff sat down to whatever was left, which was the meatballs, potatoes and some cucumber salad.

My tickets allowed seating at 6:30 pm, though there was quite a line which moved somewhat slowly. I talked to a manager who explained people who came for the 4:00 seating did not leave. Where the first wave was expected to leave, they did not.

I was lucky enough to be seated next to a couple whose family once were in the hospitality business downstate. We ate our share of crawfish and took the shells home to make bisque.

From my past experiences at these dinners, this was very different experience.

I sat with an Indian couple and a Norwegian couple. The crowd was evenly split between Asians and Swedes. There was no music and no dancers.

The food was plentiful. People were eating everything that was put out, including the meatballs - except for the three varieties of pickled herring.

The crawfish were good but did not have a lot of spice to them. The potatoes were a real flop as the cheese in them - tasted similar to Swiss - was completely overwhelming.

What was irritating was that some were carrying off plates of food - two or three per person before everyone even had a chance to get up there - and some people were pushing. I really, really hate to be pushed.

As a cultural event, there was no singing, dancing and the like. No festive punch. They did not even PLATE the desserts. They were just put out on sheet pans.


For $10, it was worth it for the ability to try a few new dishes. However, it is NOT really something that I would want to do very often.