After a four-hour dinner in the Blue Hall, guests at the 2025 Nobel banquet have moved to the Golden Hall for dancing. The royal family mingles with the laureates but does not dance. The evening featured impressive food, speeches, and some etiquette breaches.
The 2025 Nobel banquet took place on December 10 in Stockholm City Hall with about 1,300 guests, including the royal family except Princess Sofia, who is caring for her daughter Ines. Laureates, such as chemistry winner Omar M. Yaghi, had former German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a guest at the head table.
The dinner, created by chefs Tommy Myllymäki and Pi Le, started with Karljohansvamp soup with Almnäs tegelost, black winter truffle, and ginger oil, served with knäckebröd and truffle butter – the first time butter has been served at a Nobel dinner. The main course was turbot filled with sugar kelp and scallops, with roasted root celery glazed with lovage, butter-boiled potatoes, and a butter sauce of fermented quince. The dessert by pastry chef Frida Bäcke featured rowanberry sorbet with orange, allspice, and clove, topped with baked fresh cheese cream and a consommé of wild raspberries.
During the dinner, laureates gave speeches; medicine winner Mary E. Brunkow thanked female role models and expressed hope for young female scientists. Literature winner László Krasznahorkai thanked his 31 first loves, his brother, and more in an emotional address. Etiquette breaches occurred: physics laureate John M. Martinis and chemistry laureate Omar M. Yaghi used mobile phones, and a phone rang during economics laureate Joel Mokyr's speech, drawing angry glances.
Crown Princess Victoria wore Queen Silvia's 1994 dress by Jacques Zehnder, an example of reuse. Music by Jacob Mühlrad included a rendition of Swedish House Mafia's 'One', with members Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso present. After dinner, the table was broken, and the waltz began in the Golden Hall; the royal family mingled briefly before leaving.
