i. Biography
Olle Cellton’s line begins, in his own telling, in London in 2006, at the moment he first entered Jeremy Lee’s kitchen. “I have cooked the same way since 2006, when I first stepped into Jeremy Lee's kitchen in London.” From that point, the path bends back to Stockholm, where he became the founder of Babette and built a cooking language around restraint, preservation, wine, and food people might imagine making at home but rarely do.
Where It Started Before Babette became the Stockholm address most closely tied to his name, Cellton’s career moved through several of the city’s kitchens. He was a chef at Restaurant Niklas in Stockholm, then held head chef roles at 19 Glas and Restaurang Niklas, also in Stockholm. That sequence matters as lineage rather than résumé alone: the early chef post, the head chef titles, and the eventual founding role all point toward a cook who kept refining a compact, direct way of feeding people. His own description is plainspoken and exact: “When I'm asked what characterizes my cooking, I usually say that I cook food that most people could very well cook at home - but don't.” His signature work also reaches beyond Sweden. At Restaurant PatéPaté in Copenhagen, the famous pâtés and terrines are part of his story; Cellton has said the restaurant would not have been such a success without them.
Who Shaped Them The clearest named influence is Jeremy Lee’s London kitchen, which Cellton identifies as the place where his cooking settled into its enduring form. Rather than treating that influence as a style to quote from a distance, he frames it as a discipline that has stayed with him since 2006. Preservation is central to that inheritance. “For me as a chef, making pickles, terrines and jams has become a natural part of my job. It is one of the most important parts of my cooking.” The sentence draws a family line through jars, forcemeat, acidity, sweetness, and time: food prepared now so a future menu has more to say. That thinking also explains his pantry-driven rhythm. “My food is dependent on things we've done months before. Sometimes years in advance. We build up a pantry that gives us more choice in the future, mostly without having a clue what it will be used for.”
The Work Today
At Babette in Stockholm, Cellton is the founder, and his format is small plates with thin, crispy, strongly flavored Roman-style pizza. The toppings are restrained and ingredient-focused, designed to work alongside the wine list rather than overwhelm it. Recognition followed that compact idea. In 2025, Babette received a Michelin Bib Gourmand, won Star Wine List #1, and appeared on the Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe list at rank #96. His work in Stockholm now extends across multiple rooms. At The Bistro, where he is chef and owner, the cooking is simple, authentic bistro-style cuisine centered on local specialties and sharing dishes. At Stockholm Stadshotell, he is executive chef overseeing the tasting menu and is associated with produce-driven dining across the hotel’s two restaurants. Taken together, these roles show a cook working through the same core habits in different forms: preservation, local ingredients, shared plates, and a measured relationship between food and wine.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Olle
Who did Olle Cellton train under?
He connects his approach to Jeremy Lee’s kitchen in London, where he first stepped in 2006.
Where did Olle Cellton study or apprentice?
The formative place he names is Jeremy Lee’s kitchen in London in 2006.
