FIKA

Take a break from the mad 5th Avenue Christmas rush, turn right on 58th Street and stop into FIKA, a contemporary Swedish coffee/sweets/sandwich shop. You'll be able to enjoy juniper-marinated gravlax, a sandwich with roast beef and Vasterbotten cheese, Swedish meatballs on baguette, and a daily soup (the other day, a delectable potato leek topped with homemade croutons). Make sure to try the excellent coffee, and accompany it with delightful sweets like kanelbulle, little cinnamon crullers coated with crystallized sugar, kladdkaka, a very sweet, dense chocolate cake with a dollop of whipped cream, or chocolate-lingonberry truffles. Soon you'll be recharged and ready for your holiday shopping! (I haven't even started...)

FIKA: 41 West 58th St., (212) 832-0028.