From exclusive items to portion sizes, we wanted to find all the differences between IKEA food in the US and the UK. This is Food Wars.
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00:00 From exclusive items to portion sizes,
00:01 we wanted to find out all the differences
00:03 between IKEA food in the US and the UK.
00:05 This is Food Wars.
00:06 Quick note, it turns out IKEA does not offer
00:11 a takeout option, but fortunately,
00:12 they do sell lots of Tupperware containers.
00:14 So in case you're wondering why the food
00:15 looks a little bit sad, it's because we had to improvise.
00:17 On with the video.
00:18 - Let's start portion sizes with IKEA's claim to fame
00:21 when it comes to food, the Swedish meatballs.
00:24 In the US, IKEA's restaurant offer only one portion size
00:27 for meatballs, eight pieces.
00:29 But after that, you can get them in increments of four.
00:32 For instance, 12 meatballs.
00:37 - In the UK, IKEA's iconic meatballs
00:38 come in two portion sizes, eight or 12.
00:42 You can also add four extra meatballs to any order
00:44 for an extra £1.75, and there's seemingly no limit
00:47 to how many times you can do this.
00:49 In the UK, the meatballs come with either mashed potatoes
00:51 or chips on the side, as well as some garden peas,
00:54 lingonberry jam, and of course, their famous gravy.
00:57 - And of course, the meatball options
00:58 all come with a side of mashed potatoes and peas.
01:01 Let's get a load of that.
01:03 Also a little bit of cranberry sauce.
01:04 - We're gonna weigh eight meatballs in both countries
01:06 to see whose meatballs are bigger.
01:08 - One, two, three, four, five,
01:13 six, seven, eight.
01:15 - Let's also try and weigh our mash.
01:21 Now I do feel like the stats might be skewed slightly
01:23 because there's some peas embedded in this.
01:25 I will try and free it where I can.
01:28 (upbeat music)
01:30 We got way more mash than the UK, like almost double.
01:34 Ha ha ha ha ha.
01:35 They're feeding us at our IKEAs.
01:37 Vegans and vegetarians rejoice.
01:39 IKEA also offers vegetarian, vegan versions
01:41 of its meatballs right here.
01:43 We're doing a blind taste test.
01:45 Plant versus meat.
01:47 That's definitely plant-based.
01:51 What's the next one?
01:52 Oh, was that wrong?
01:54 Wait, okay, give me another one.
01:56 Okay, this is the other one?
01:58 Yeah, it's meat.
02:01 Not even close, not even close.
02:03 Thank you, Peter.
02:04 Neither were bad.
02:05 And if I was a vegetarian or vegan,
02:08 I would be perfectly happy with those plant foods.
02:10 Tasted perfectly fine,
02:11 but the difference is noticeable.
02:15 - We share a couple of dessert options with the US,
02:17 notably the dime cake.
02:18 - Over here, we call that the caramel almond cake.
02:20 Let's weigh a slice.
02:24 Another dessert option we share with the UK
02:26 is a soft serve ice cream,
02:28 which you get in vanilla or strawberry.
02:30 Okay, first of all, the gentleman who worked there
02:33 was adamant that it's actually frozen yogurt.
02:35 I don't know if that's true or not.
02:36 Regardless, they didn't have to-go cups
02:39 like Harry was able to get.
02:40 So all they would give us is like the small cup
02:43 where it's kind of poking out, like it's ready to eat.
02:46 It is 97 degrees in Los Angeles today.
02:49 There's absolutely no way that was making it
02:52 from Ikea to the car, let alone the studio.
02:54 So here's footage of me enjoying it in the lobby of Ikea.
02:58 So I'm sorry, I didn't bring the scale.
03:00 I don't know how much it weighs.
03:01 - We have soft serve ice cream in the UK too,
03:03 either as vanilla or vanilla with chocolate sauce.
03:05 Impressively, they've given us exactly 100 grams
03:08 of soft serve ice cream.
03:09 Ikea is also known for its hot dogs.
03:10 In the UK, you can get either a classic hot dog
03:13 or a veggie hot dog from the bistro stand.
03:14 We're gonna measure and weigh the classic hot dog
03:16 to compare with the US.
03:18 The hot dog in the UK is seven inches in length.
03:20 And with the toppings of pickles and onions,
03:22 it weighs 114 grams.
03:24 - Hot dog.
03:25 Our hot dog is five and a quarter inches long.
03:29 And our hot dog weighs 75 grams.
03:33 - Here are all the menu items from a UK Ikea
03:38 that you won't find in the US.
03:40 - Here's all the food you'll find at a US Ikea
03:42 you won't find in the UK.
03:44 Starting out down here, hot entrees.
03:47 This single piece of chicken is the Havana chicken.
03:51 Now it doesn't come alone.
03:52 It comes with plantains, rice, and beans,
03:54 which we will see in a little bit.
03:56 But just isolated the chicken,
03:58 it's been sitting for a minute, sorry.
04:00 Havana chicken, I wonder what makes it so Havana.
04:02 Yeah, I'm definitely getting some spices in here.
04:06 Very flavorful.
04:08 Not just like a standard piece of chicken.
04:10 It's actually really good.
04:11 - We'll start down this end with some main courses.
04:13 We have two different non-meat meatball options in the UK.
04:15 Firstly, we have the veggie balls.
04:17 These are meatballs which are formed of ground up vegetables
04:19 and they're also served with a vegetable couscous as well.
04:22 But for vegetarians who prefer something
04:23 a bit more reminiscent of meat, they also have plant balls.
04:26 Now I'm kind of intrigued by these
04:27 'cause they look really good.
04:28 These are a fake meat version of Ikea's classic meatballs.
04:32 Now compared to a classic meatball,
04:33 they're actually like almost more visually appealing,
04:35 I would say.
04:36 They're a nice dark golden brown color.
04:38 They look like they've been cooked in a similar way,
04:40 maybe even kind of like fried or cooked,
04:43 but longer than you would expect from these.
04:45 Let's do a very quick taste test.
04:46 Classic meatball.
04:47 We all know and love it.
04:51 These things are delicious.
04:52 And then one of the plant balls.
04:53 I will say the plant-based one doesn't have
04:57 that distinct Ikea meatball taste to it.
05:00 That said, still pretty tasty.
05:02 I think texture-wise, it's like almost identical
05:04 to the classic meatball.
05:05 - You can also get a salmon filet with pea pesto,
05:08 vegetable, medallions, and a corn medley,
05:11 which you can see right here.
05:12 I mean, salmon's okay, I guess.
05:16 This isn't, it's been sitting for a while.
05:18 If you like salmon, sure.
05:20 I don't know, you go to Ikea, you can get salmon?
05:23 Pea pesto's interesting, though.
05:24 Still in the mood for fish?
05:26 Before you go furniture shopping,
05:29 you can also get the garlic lemon cod
05:32 with, of course, mashed potatoes and peas.
05:34 Actually, that's a pretty good piece of fish.
05:36 You actually really like that.
05:38 Okay, I stand corrected.
05:39 I was dissing the fish.
05:42 That's actually pretty good.
05:44 We have a British classic dish, and that's fish and chips.
05:47 Now, the fish they serve at Ikea in the UK is pollock.
05:50 It comes with chips, peas, and some tartar sauce.
05:54 Now, unlike fish and chips that you might find
05:56 from a classic chippy in the UK,
05:57 they've actually breaded their fish
05:59 rather than battered and then fried it.
06:01 I generally prefer the battered fish texture.
06:03 I like the kind of crispy crunch on the outside
06:05 that you get from batter.
06:06 I'm gonna have a little try of this.
06:09 It's very weird tasting things on Food Wars
06:11 using a knife and fork.
06:12 I don't like it.
06:13 I respect that they have attempted to localize their menu
06:16 to the UK market,
06:18 but maybe put a bit more thought into your R&D there.
06:22 If you wanna see what proper fish and chips looks like,
06:24 go and check out our Food Tours
06:25 best fish and chips in London video.
06:27 Next up, we have another fish option.
06:28 It's a salmon fillet.
06:30 - Fillet?
06:31 (laughs)
06:33 - Next up, we have another fish option.
06:36 It's a salmon fillet.
06:38 In the UK, we generally lean more towards fillet
06:41 as the wording,
06:42 and also we spell it slightly differently.
06:43 Often we spell it with two Ls,
06:45 whereas I believe in the US, it tends to be spelled with one.
06:47 I think you can get a salmon fillet in the US.
06:49 However, like we say, we pronounce Ls slightly differently.
06:52 And also in the UK, ours comes with the veggie couscous.
06:55 - Chicken tenders.
06:56 - Kind of fries and broccoli.
07:01 - These tenders are actually very good.
07:05 - Like the breading, they're really breaded.
07:08 - Decent fries, hearty.
07:10 IKEA also has a few things on the menu
07:12 that were not available at the one we went to.
07:14 A chicken thigh with garlic chipotle sauce,
07:17 broccoli and rice.
07:18 It sounds actually pretty good.
07:19 Lingonberry barbecue ribs with mac and cheese.
07:21 Ah, I was so mad they didn't have those.
07:24 And a plant-based burger with fries,
07:25 also not available at time of filming this.
07:27 Now, lingonberries are majorly popular in Swedish cuisine,
07:31 and you're gonna see them pop up a few more times
07:33 in the IKEA menu.
07:34 - Next up is penne pasta with tomato sauce.
07:36 Penne, of course, refers to the shape of pasta
07:38 that they use here in IKEA.
07:40 Charlie's love that.
07:43 - It's really weird.
07:44 - Is that the only analysis you're gonna give?
07:46 What does penne mean?
07:47 - Penne refers to the shape, so it's a string way of describing
07:50 the shape.
07:51 - I think penne is maybe my least favorite pasta shape.
07:55 I do not respect penne.
07:58 Moving swiftly on from the penne,
07:59 we have a chicken katsu curry.
08:01 I think this is like a relatively new addition
08:02 to the UK IKEA menu.
08:04 So katsu refers to the chicken katsu fillet,
08:07 which is a breaded and fried piece of chicken,
08:09 and then it's served with rice and katsu sauce.
08:11 I've not tried this before.
08:13 That looks like one just massive piece of chicken, you know?
08:16 - Oh, why are you eating it?
08:18 - Science.
08:19 Other than a couple of like slightly disconcerting
08:21 dark patches inside the chicken breast,
08:24 it's actually not bad.
08:24 I think because of the size of the breast,
08:26 it's dried out quite a lot,
08:27 but the katsu sauce is really nice.
08:29 I like it with the rice.
08:30 I think particularly if we'd eaten this hot,
08:32 this actually would be pretty good.
08:33 Next up on the UK menu,
08:34 you can find a potato and cauliflower Rogan Josh curry.
08:38 A Rogan Josh is a curry that you'll find
08:39 on the menu of a lot of UK curry houses.
08:41 It's not super spicy, generally quite mild.
08:43 I'd say traditionally you would see this made with lamb,
08:46 but they've made a vegetarian version here,
08:47 obviously with potato and cauliflower
08:49 as the main bulk of it.
08:50 The Rogan Josh from IKEA is served with rice,
08:52 and then you can also get some side options,
08:54 which are designed to go with it,
08:56 including some pakoras, samosas, and a garlic naan.
08:59 Obviously the UK has a large British Indian population,
09:02 so I do think this is another attempt
09:03 to kind of localize the menu.
09:05 That's pretty good.
09:08 That's pretty flavorful.
09:09 There are some other main course options from UK IKEA's,
09:11 which unfortunately we couldn't find today.
09:13 These include such things as butternut squash
09:15 and sweet potato soup, mangalore chicken curry,
09:18 butternut squash, blue cheese, and caramelized onion pie,
09:22 chili sin kane, garlic butter chicken pie,
09:25 and leek and potato soup.
09:27 - I would like to move on to sides.
09:28 Right here we have the vegetable medallions.
09:33 I like veggies presented like this,
09:35 just like in a little puck, just bite into it.
09:37 Looks like it has some broccoli, mostly potato-friendly.
09:41 Little onion.
09:43 Yeah, not bad, decent side.
09:44 It's like, you know, it's like broccoli potatoes,
09:46 like broccoli mashed potatoes.
09:48 The Havana chicken that I mentioned earlier,
09:51 this is the beans and rice it comes with.
09:53 I don't know if they mix them up
09:54 or just got mixed up in transit,
09:55 but, you know, beans and rice, let's go.
09:58 This is just white, white, rice, black beans.
10:00 Like, I don't taste any additional flavor to this at all.
10:04 They do sometimes offer plantains.
10:06 Again, the Ikea we went to today did not have plantains,
10:09 but they did have a garlic bread.
10:11 I think that's an exclusive.
10:16 On to the Ikea cold dishes.
10:18 They have a veggie dog.
10:21 Well, the veggie dog wrap is one of the cold dishes,
10:25 according to the script, and this veggie dog is cold.
10:27 Maybe it's been sitting a while.
10:28 Either way, it's not very good.
10:29 Also, they have a Greek salad.
10:32 Also, the Caesar salad, which, once again,
10:34 I mean, this is a pretty low effort.
10:35 A Stockholm salad.
10:37 Not to be confused with Stockholm syndrome,
10:41 which I'm starting to feel right now eating this food.
10:43 Salmon, lettuce, lemon.
10:46 Sure.
10:48 That's not bad, actually.
10:51 I like this sauce that's turning color under these lights
10:56 and this salmon.
10:57 We're not quite sure what is in this salad,
11:00 what the sauce is right now,
11:01 but through the miracle of editing,
11:04 we can put that on the screen, right?
11:06 And that's what it is.
11:08 Tastes pretty good.
11:09 Also, you can get a BLT chicken wrap.
11:13 Not bad.
11:14 If you like wraps and BLT and chicken.
11:16 Also, at a U.S. Ikea, which was not available
11:19 at time of filming this at our Burbank Ikea,
11:22 is a Greek veggie ball wrap and marinated salmon.
11:25 The UK's cold plate menu is pretty bland in comparison.
11:28 The only one they had today was this marinated salmon plate,
11:31 but we can also get an egg and shrimp sandwich
11:33 with mayo, marinated salmon wrap, small salad bowl,
11:37 and a tomato and mozzarella salad.
11:38 I guess I'll give the salmon a quick try.
11:40 I do like smoked salmon.
11:42 Here, of course, they call it Grablaks
11:43 because it's the traditional Swedish way,
11:46 and it comes with a dill sauce and some lemon.
11:48 Fairly mild flavor.
11:49 I like the kind of herb crusting that you get.
11:51 The dill sauce is pretty dilly.
11:54 And now onto desserts.
11:55 There are three exclusive Ikea U.S. desserts.
11:58 I was only able to get one of them.
12:00 So the first would be the strawberry shortcake,
12:02 not available at time of shooting this.
12:03 The second is this, the caramel almond cake.
12:06 And the third is the infamous chocolate layered cake,
12:10 also known as the conspiracy cake.
12:12 I asked everyone there,
12:14 "Please tell me you have chocolate cake."
12:17 And they all said, "No."
12:19 No chocolate cake at the Burbank Ikea, today at least.
12:23 Tragically, we don't have the conspiracy cake
12:24 here in the UK,
12:25 but we do have some other exclusive dessert options.
12:27 For example, this delightful looking strawberry tart.
12:30 There's some real pieces of strawberry in there.
12:32 I like the pastry.
12:33 I like the cream.
12:34 I like the fresh strawberries.
12:35 Whatever the kind of strawberry syrup,
12:38 jelly stuff that they've kind of put around the outside is,
12:40 it's okay, but it has like a slightly,
12:42 almost like medicinal quality to it
12:44 that I don't really love.
12:45 It almost reminds me of a Calpol.
12:48 I don't know if you have that in the US,
12:49 but it's like a medicine
12:50 that's marketed towards children in the UK.
12:52 Next up, we have Ikea's famous dime cake.
12:55 Now you do have this on the menu in the US.
12:57 However, I believe you guys call it
12:58 something slightly different.
12:59 I think caramel almond cake.
13:00 Is dime not a particularly big brand name in the US?
13:03 Because over here in the UK,
13:04 I'd say most people are familiar with dime
13:06 as a chocolate brand.
13:08 - Harry was just talking a minute ago
13:09 about the dime cake, the D-A-M cake, D-A-A-M cake.
13:13 I've never heard of it.
13:14 I've never heard of that brand.
13:15 I have no idea what it is.
13:16 I'm sorry.
13:17 But we do have this,
13:18 which I think is supposed to be similar.
13:20 Oh yeah.
13:24 This is fantastic.
13:25 I'm getting one of these every time I go.
13:26 I'm gonna get one of these
13:27 and I'm gonna get that chocolate cake.
13:28 I'm gonna be on the lookout for it now.
13:29 - It's maybe not quite as popular in the UK as it used to be.
13:32 It reminds me of my granddad a lot
13:33 'cause he used to really love a dime bar.
13:35 I wouldn't see many people my age going for it,
13:37 but still very tasty if you're in the mood for it.
13:39 And this cake is sensational.
13:42 You get these layers of chocolate,
13:44 this kind of biscuity crumb,
13:46 and these kind of like,
13:47 I thought almost pancakes in the middle.
13:50 I think these dividing lines
13:50 might all almost be kind of cold, chilled pancakes.
13:55 This might be my favorite thing on the menu.
13:57 This is why I'm making excuses to go to Ikea.
13:59 - They did have these at the register
14:03 and this also says "Dime" on it.
14:07 Have you seen that?
14:08 Yeah, okay.
14:09 This tastes like this.
14:10 Never heard of this, but it's very good.
14:12 And this is fantastic.
14:13 I maybe just rebranded it
14:14 'cause no one in the US knows what dame cake, dime cake is.
14:18 - Our next dessert option is a cheesecake
14:20 with blueberries and raspberries.
14:21 It's a very soft cheesecake, really like easy to cut.
14:24 There's like a nice baked crumb on top.
14:27 There's a layer of the berry stuff,
14:28 so there's some blueberries in there, some raspberries.
14:30 Then finally, we have these
14:31 under the sea Rocky Road biscuits.
14:33 Obviously, Rocky Road in the UK is a dessert
14:35 which is usually like a no-bake dessert
14:37 made of things like melted chocolate,
14:38 golden syrup, marshmallows,
14:40 even things like cornflakes, pieces of biscuit,
14:43 that sort of thing.
14:44 All just kind of mixed together, left to set,
14:45 and then you have a nice, easy dessert.
14:47 It turns out what makes this under the sea
14:48 is that they have a kind of animal stamp
14:51 in icing on top of it.
14:52 Here we have this nice octopus,
14:54 and here we have a couple of dolphins.
14:56 I think when I eat a Rocky Road,
14:59 I kind of want some more distinct elements.
15:02 I like being able to bite into it
15:04 and crunch through a bit of biscuit
15:06 or chew through a raisin or something.
15:07 Whereas with this one, it's kind of all blended together,
15:09 so you don't really get the texture contrast.
15:11 The flavor's very much there.
15:12 It's still all those elements
15:13 that I'm used to in terms of the flavor.
15:15 You may also be able to find some other dessert options
15:17 on a UK menu, which we couldn't find today.
15:19 These include things like a caramelized biscuit cheesecake,
15:21 a chocolate clementine bomb,
15:23 an elderflower and lemon cake,
15:25 a gooey chocolatey cake, a lemon cheesecake,
15:28 rhubarb and custard cake, and a strawberry jelly.
15:30 - Aside from this restaurant,
15:31 Ikea also has the Swedish Bistro for quick bites.
15:34 The bistro serves quick bites,
15:36 like hot dogs and pizza slices
15:38 that you can generally grab on your way out of the store.
15:40 A few exclusives we had, of course, was pizza slice.
15:43 - There it is.
15:45 I went with cheese.
15:46 Is this like Costco or like, surprise,
15:50 Ikea has amazing pizza?
15:51 - This is a really good slice of pizza.
15:55 I can't tell, but I think this was oven cooked,
15:57 fire oven cooked, not just like the pizza.
15:59 This has like a, yeah, like a brick oven.
16:02 It's not as good as Costco, but it's pretty good.
16:06 Wow, weird.
16:07 Ikea's got good pizza.
16:08 Good on you, Ikea.
16:09 You can also get this giant bistro pretzel.
16:13 Everything is all, not in like a little braid here.
16:15 Look at me, I'm a Jedi.
16:16 - But you are not a Jedi yet.
16:18 - And it comes with mustard.
16:19 They didn't have the mustard either, man.
16:21 I don't know, is it 'cause I went at 1030 in the morning
16:23 and the stuff hadn't shown up yet?
16:25 They didn't have anything.
16:27 They have a pretzel with no mustard.
16:31 Oh no.
16:33 You guys get this stuff.
16:37 Also the US Ikea Bistro,
16:39 you can get a marinated salmon baguette.
16:42 They didn't have it.
16:42 We have a few exclusive bistro options of our own in the UK.
16:45 Firstly, if you like the onions on the hot dog,
16:47 you can just get a side of fried onions.
16:50 Next up we have these, which are chick-less strips.
16:53 So these are a plant-based version of a chicken tender.
16:57 I'd say they look pretty good.
16:58 They kind of passed the visual test.
17:00 Yeah, when I tore this apart,
17:01 I was worried that the texture wasn't gonna be right.
17:03 And unfortunately it's not.
17:04 It's very spongy, it's very mushy.
17:06 It just needs a little bit more texture.
17:07 It's just to make it resemble a chicken tender
17:09 a little bit more.
17:10 Obviously when you get an actual piece of chicken tender
17:12 or chicken breast, you can kind of tear it
17:13 and you see those strips and the fibers.
17:15 They just really haven't got that here.
17:16 Flavor's not too bad though.
17:17 We can also get chips from the bistro in the UK.
17:20 It doesn't seem like you guys can do this in the US.
17:21 We have our veggie dog option,
17:23 which comes with the same toppings as the regular hot dog.
17:25 So here we got fried onions.
17:26 You can also get some with pickles.
17:28 The veggie dog in the UK isn't like a plant-based meat thing.
17:31 It is just vegetables.
17:32 So it looks like there's some kale in there, some carrot,
17:35 maybe like some mustard seeds.
17:37 I think that with the fried onions,
17:39 with the pickles and some sauce,
17:40 actually a pretty good veggie option.
17:42 Then we have some drink options, notably milkshakes.
17:44 In the UK, you can get milkshakes in four flavors,
17:47 vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and banana.
17:49 We got a banana one today.
17:50 Have a little sip.
17:51 That's not bad.
17:54 Pretty gentle banana flavor.
17:55 It's mostly just ice cream,
17:56 but with like a little bit of flavoring in there,
17:58 which who can, who could say no?
18:00 Ikea in the UK does serve breakfast,
18:02 although unfortunately when we arrived today,
18:03 they weren't serving it.
18:05 The options that you'll find there
18:06 are pretty much everything that you would normally find
18:07 on a full English breakfast.
18:08 So it includes things like bacon, sausages,
18:11 hash browns, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, black pudding.
18:15 Sometimes you'll find things like patty scones as well,
18:18 and you can also get white or wholemeal toast.
18:20 If breakfast platters aren't your thing,
18:21 then you can also just go for some fruit or some porridge.
18:24 Breakfast!
18:25 The breakfast platter in the US
18:27 also comes in both regular and small sizes.
18:30 It's made of eggs, potatoes, bacon, Swedish pancakes,
18:34 and that's supposed to be topped with the lingonberry jam,
18:36 and then give it to us.
18:37 The US breakfast menu also offers
18:39 a Skagen croissant sandwich, which is a croissant
18:43 filled with traditional Swedish shrimp salad.
18:47 Eight and a half.
18:47 I think Ikea has its own line of drinks
18:50 available in its restaurant.
18:51 The US Ikea's, you'll find cola, sugar-free cola,
18:55 sparkling raspberry juice, lingonberry juice,
18:57 and sparkling lemonade.
18:59 I went ahead and got the lingonberry juice.
19:02 Straight up, no idea what a lingonberry is,
19:04 but it's fantastic.
19:05 There's no difference in the size cups.
19:07 You just have glasses that are the same size
19:09 with these to-go cups or whatever.
19:11 We have some drink options at the restaurant in the UK
19:12 that you guys might not have in the US.
19:14 There are a couple of options for kids,
19:15 which are these Pip Organic juices.
19:18 We have a couple of Robinson's options in the UK.
19:20 Robinson's is probably the most popular brand
19:21 of squash in the UK, and this is basically
19:24 just a diluted version of their squash.
19:26 Squash, for those who don't know,
19:27 is like a concentrated, fruity drink
19:29 that you kind of water down
19:30 to have a nice, refreshing beverage.
19:32 You can get a peach and mango version,
19:34 or a raspberry and apple version.
19:36 And if you feel like celebrating,
19:37 any of your purchases that you've just made from the IKEA,
19:39 you can also get alcohol.
19:41 We have three alcoholic options on the menu at a UK IKEA.
19:44 A rose wine, a red wine, or a dark lager.
19:48 Finally, IKEA has a Swedish market
19:50 where you can buy pre-packaged food items to take home.
19:53 The items on offer include some of their classic foods,
19:55 like the meatballs, which you can buy frozen,
19:57 or some gravy sachets, which you can make at home.
19:59 In the UK, you can also find the plant-based balls
20:01 on offer in there.
20:02 You can get a whole frozen dime cake,
20:04 which I will be taking home and eating all by myself.
20:06 And speaking of dime, you can also get the chocolate,
20:08 which the cake is based on.
20:09 Here, it's in bite-size form,
20:11 rather than as actual chocolate bars.
20:12 But as you can see, it's chocolate
20:14 with a kind of hard caramel center.
20:16 Charlie has dibs on these.
20:17 - Another thing at the US IKEA.
20:21 Maybe not exclusive per se,
20:24 but of course, they have a whole thing of frozen stuff.
20:28 How to scrap stuff that was interesting.
20:30 Come on, the cinna-buns, huh?
20:32 The cinnamon buns?
20:34 Meatballs, and you know, we were talking about
20:37 the dime cake, but they do have it frozen
20:43 and take home, and of course, it is the dime cake.
20:47 - Let's compare the nutritional information
20:51 of some iconic IKEA dishes in the US and the UK.
20:54 In the UK, eight IKEA meatballs contains the following.
20:57 342 calories, 25.1 grams of fat, 8.2 grams of carbs,
21:02 and 856 milligrams of sodium.
21:05 - In the US, the same plate of Swedish meatballs
21:07 contain 304 calories, 22.4 grams of fat,
21:11 6.4 grams of carbs, 592 milligrams of sodium.
21:16 The UK takes this round in every category.
21:18 What about the IKEA hot dog?
21:20 In the US, it contains 260 calories, 15 grams of fat,
21:24 24 grams of carbs, and 780 milligrams of sodium.
21:28 - And in the UK, the hot dog contains 293 calories,
21:31 15.2 grams of fat, 29.5 grams of carbs,
21:35 and 708 milligrams of sodium.
21:37 - Looks like the UK version is higher in calories
21:39 and fat once again.
21:41 USA, baby!
21:42 - What's actually in the iconic IKEA meatballs?
21:47 According to the IKEA website,
21:48 if you wanna make the meatballs at home,
21:49 you use the following ingredients.
21:51 Beef mince, pork mince, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs,
21:55 milk, egg, and salt and pepper to taste.
21:58 But is that actually the ingredients list
21:59 for proper IKEA meatballs?
22:01 Well, on the back of the frozen packet,
22:04 you'll find an ingredients list.
22:05 According to this packet, they contain beef, pork,
22:08 water, breadcrumbs, egg, dried onion, salt, egg powder,
22:13 black pepper extract, and allspice.
22:17 Overall, it seems like it's pretty close to the list
22:19 that they gave you on the website,
22:20 with a few more things like powdered ingredients
22:22 versus fresh ingredients,
22:23 and a couple of spice differences, too.
22:25 - I wasn't able to find it online or in the cafeteria.
22:30 - The ingredients list, but I got here
22:33 the frozen, precooked meatballs,
22:38 and those ingredients, hmm, actually not bad.
22:41 Assuming these are the ones that they have
22:42 in the cafeteria in the US,
22:44 the ingredients for this is beef, pork, water, breadcrumbs,
22:48 which are made of unbleached wheat flour, salt, yeast,
22:51 whole eggs, salt, dehydrated onion, a white,
22:54 that's not plural, a white, singular, spices.
23:00 That's not bad, I think, for a prepackaged product, right?
23:03 It's like, well, that's what's in 'em, right?
23:05 - While we're on the subject of IKEA ingredients,
23:07 one thing that UK viewers might remember
23:09 was our infamous horse meat scandal.
23:11 Back in 2013, a number of foods in the UK
23:16 claiming to be beef or pork were actually found
23:18 to contain traces of horse meat.
23:20 While this wasn't necessarily a health issue,
23:22 it did raise some major questions
23:24 concerning the traceability of foods
23:25 throughout supply chains.
23:27 And unfortunately, IKEA was also caught up in this scandal.
23:29 Czech authorities found traces of horse meat
23:31 in some IKEA meatballs that had been produced in Sweden
23:34 and shipped all around Europe.
23:35 Thankfully, the horse meat meatballs
23:37 were found before they reached consumers.
23:38 In total, 760 kilograms of meatballs were destroyed.
23:42 Given the fact that there's no health concerns
23:43 related to the consumption of horse meat,
23:45 I think they should've just leaned into it,
23:46 just passed them off as, like,
23:47 limited edition horse meatballs.
23:49 Just go with it, lads, it's fine.
23:50 - IKEA's food is almost suspiciously cheap,
23:56 and it's actually one of the ways it tricks you
23:57 into spending more time and money,
23:59 in its stores.
24:00 IKEA is basically willing to take its losses
24:03 with its cheap food prices,
24:04 because it's counting on you to spend a bunch of money
24:07 on furniture and other household items.
24:09 A former IKEA executive even referred to the meatballs
24:12 as the best sofa seller.
24:14 - In the UK, a plate of eight meatballs,
24:17 peas, mash or chips, gravy, and lingonberry jam
24:20 will set you back just £4.95.
24:22 At the time of recording, that's around $6.49.
24:25 I do have to say that's really cheap.
24:26 I don't think the quality's that bad.
24:28 It's really tasty food.
24:29 And yeah, it's a real bargain.
24:30 I will make an effort to go via the restaurant
24:32 if I'm just going through IKEA.
24:34 Even if I'm just popping in for, like, one or two bits,
24:36 I'm gonna sit down, eat a plate of meatballs.
24:38 It's good value, it's tasty, I love it.
24:39 - An eight-meatball meal in the US is $9.99,
24:43 which in the UK is £7.80.
24:45 That's a 54% increase in the States.
24:48 - Overall, I would say IKEA is pretty popular in the UK.
24:53 It's most people's go-to for basic furniture
24:56 and household needs, I would say,
24:57 especially when people are buying a house
24:59 or moving house or something like that.
25:01 - Personally, I love IKEA.
25:03 I love going there.
25:04 I do enjoy a trip.
25:05 It's fun.
25:06 I like the food.
25:07 I like walking around and pretending like,
25:09 "Ooh, that could be my apartment
25:10 "or my bedroom or my kitchen."
25:11 - I wouldn't say IKEA is somewhere I go often,
25:13 particularly because I live in quite central London,
25:15 and there aren't many in central London.
25:17 I think they're trying to open one
25:18 on Oxford Street right now.
25:19 At the time of recording this, it wasn't open,
25:21 but they're kind of trying to get there.
25:22 But so, like I say, it's more of a place
25:23 where you'll go specifically
25:25 when you need to do an IKEA shop.
25:26 - IKEA is so popular here.
25:29 I think it's popular in the whole country.
25:31 The one in Burbank, we went there at 10.30 in the morning.
25:34 It opens at 10 and at 10.30,
25:36 the parking lot was pretty full.
25:38 The cafeteria line was full.
25:40 So I'd say IKEA is pretty popular.
25:42 - I personally wouldn't go to IKEA just for the food.
25:44 Again, it might be because I don't live close enough to one
25:47 to make that worthwhile.
25:48 I do love the food.
25:49 The meatballs are great.
25:50 Like I said, the desserts are fantastic,
25:51 but I don't like it to the extent
25:53 that I would make the effort to travel to one
25:55 just to eat there.
25:56 - I'm not gonna say I go to IKEA for the food,
25:59 but the food definitely is a good motivator to go to IKEA.
26:03 - I will say overall, I do enjoy the experience
26:05 of going to an IKEA.
26:06 I am aware that it's kind of designed
26:08 to make us spend money.
26:09 Obviously, the restaurant plays a part of this as well,
26:11 'cause it's kind of encouraging you
26:12 to make a day of your trip to IKEA.
26:13 Really spend some time there, sit down,
26:15 take a break in the middle of the day, eat,
26:17 re-energize yourself and more shopping.
26:19 And as you can guess by my friends
26:20 on the table with me here,
26:21 I do think that their marketing is a really clever ploy
26:23 to make us spend more money there as well.
26:25 I'm joined here by my friend, Dungel Skog.
26:28 I'm really sorry, I'm gonna butcher these pronunciations.
26:30 And my friend, Blahai, who is the adorable little shark,
26:34 who is also, I think, a trans icon.
26:36 Love that.
26:37 You'll often see things like this
26:38 really getting like a reputation on the internet,
26:40 driving more commerce to IKEA stores.
26:42 I don't know if they're doing that deliberately
26:44 or if it's just kind of like a side effect
26:46 of making some very, very cute plush toys.
26:48 But everyone, I think, will generally have
26:50 at least one thing from IKEA in their home.
26:52 So whatever they're doing, it's kind of working.
26:54 I'm not mad about it either.
26:55 I support IKEA.
26:56 Keep up the good work, guys.
26:58 - I've just been informed by my fellow producer, Yuli,
27:00 that they went on dates at IKEA.
27:02 Explain, I'm gonna...
27:04 - Honestly, they kind of just talk about the couple.
27:06 'Cause it's like something that always happens.
27:08 - Yeah.
27:09 - Like, in the...
27:13 - I didn't think of it,
27:14 that's a good way to get to know someone.
27:15 First, you start eating.
27:16 The food's dirt cheap, so.
27:18 Great, okay, great.
27:19 And then you walk around and they'd be like,
27:21 this is the kind of couch I like,
27:22 this is the kind of art I like.
27:23 And you're like, no, none of that, huh?
27:24 If this goes the way we're thinking about it,
27:26 it's going, this is the kind of bedroom set up they want?
27:29 I don't know.
27:30 And also, if the person starts like dogging,
27:31 like you see something that you like
27:33 and they start dogging on it,
27:34 you're gonna be like, all right, this ain't gonna work out.
27:35 This ain't gonna work out.
27:36 What kind of weirdo wants a closet like this?
27:38 You're like, I do.
27:40 Take me home.
27:41 But if the date doesn't work,
27:42 that's like a long walk out of there.
27:44 - Silence, just like, cool.
27:46 - Silence.
27:47 'Cause you walk in there.
27:49 Yeah, and if you get to the kids' area,
27:51 it's all like the kid stuff and the baby stuff.
27:54 And if your partner's like, I don't want any of this crap,
27:56 you're like, all right, we're not doing this,
27:57 so we'll keep walking.
27:59 I didn't, that actually, yeah, it's actually a good idea.
28:01 Yeah, all right, a date at Ikea.
28:03 I didn't think about that.