Food at Alex Sushi, Oslo, Norway

Alex Sushi

With a discreet storefront, small dining room with minimal furnishings and a quiet atmosphere, Alex Sushi’s demure ambiance belies the restaurant’s stratospheric reputation. After the three-Michelin-stared Maaemo, Alex Sushi is often named Oslo’s best restaurant—but it comes with a price tag. The sophisticated interior features a boat-shaped sushi bar and just two small tables, where patrons can either order à la carte, or opt for the splurge-worthy omakase menu. The cuisine is simple—think spicy salmon and tuna rolls—but it is of the highest quality. The tempura salad starter—a toppling concoction with asparagus, radishes, cucumber, seaweed salad, spicy shrimp and several sauces—is one of the most popular dishes. There is a second outpost in the trendy Tjuvholmen neighborhood, but the original location is the place to go for the real experience.

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Engebret Café

Since opening in 1857, Engebret Café has been a gathering place for creatives including Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Munch. The iconic restaurant is located in a two-story building on a bucolic square near the entrance to the Akershus Fortress. The classic but entirely unstuffy establishment has a lovely terrace, but the dining rooms, each of which is individually appointed, are so beautiful that it’s worth eating inside to soak up the Old World atmosphere. Featuring dark wood furnishings, hunter green walls and intricate molding, Engebret is a favorite for Norwegian classics like reindeer with celeriac puree, fresh vegetables and a game sauce with berries, or a warm bowl of creamy fish and seafood soup.

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Exterior View -  Festningen Restaurant, Oslo, Norway

Festningen Restaurant

Boasting the best views of any restaurant in Oslo, Festningen is perched on the old ramparts of the Akershus Fortress and offers stunning views of Aker Brygge, the harbor and the Oslo fjords. A crowd of beautiful locals arrives in late afternoon for the extensive raw bar and rosé, when the setting sun projects a dazzling array of colors onto the waterfront (note, however, that cruise ships occasionally park in front of the fortress and can mar the views). The contemporary brasserie implements seasonal ingredients from all around Norway in its dishes, which might include asparagus with ramson mayonnaise, grilled pollock from Norway’s Møre coast and the Festningens cheeseburger (which comes in a miniaturized size for children).

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Dinning Area at Hanami, Oslo, Norway

Hanami

Oslo locals often debate whether Alex Sushi or Hanami serves better Japanese cuisine, but the thing to consider when picking between the two is whether you would like a simple culinary experience or a hip, stylish scene. Hanami provides the latter, with a sleek waterfront location in the trendy Tjuvholmen area, modern interior décor and a scene that includes some of Oslo’s most beautiful citizens lazily sipping wine on the alfresco terrace (the best spot to dine). Billed as a modern Japanese restaurant, Hanami offers the standard menu one might expect at a Nobu (with such items as miso black cod, et al.) alongside a series of more elevated choices including roasted sweet potatoes with yuzu-tofu dressing and lobster with sea urchin and foie gras butter. The safest bet is to ask your waiter to take the reins—while it is not listed, the tasting menu is the way to go at Hanami.

HIMKOK

HIMKOK in Oslo is a cocktail bar and craft distillery serves signature cocktails using its own micro-distilled aquavit, gin and vodka.
Food at Kontrast, Oslo, Norway - Courtesy Marius Fiskum, Norwegian Seafood Council

Kontrast

One of just three Michelin-starred restaurants in Oslo, Kontrast was awarded a star in 2016, only a year after moving locations to the up-and-coming Vulcan neighborhood. Helmed by Swedish chef Mikael Svensson, Kontrast is an epicurean delight with a seasonal menu that might include grilled white asparagus glazed in juniper vinaigrette and King Crab from Finnmark with beer and flowering dill (most products are sourced from Norway). The cuisine can be enjoyed à la carte or as part of a six- or ten-course tasting menu, and is served in the sleek, minimalist dining room, featuring a concrete floor, exposed pipes and an open kitchen.

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Dinning Area at Le Benjamin, Oslo, Norway

Le Benjamin

A perfect Parisian bistro in Oslo’s Grünerløkka neighborhood, Le Benjamin is the type of neighborhood spot worth visiting when you’ve tired of Norwegian cuisine. The atmospheric dining room, featuring a dark wood bar, lots of tables à duex and wine bottle–lined walls, invites patrons to relax and unwind with French classics like onion soup, tarte flambée and entrecôte steak.

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Maaemo

Oslo’s most lauded restaurant, Maaemo is one of only two three-Michelin-starred restaurants in the Nordic countries (along with Copenhagen’s Geranuim), and an absolute must-visit for foodies. The tasting menu–only restaurant is a study in minimalism, with stark white walls, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, pastel ceramic plates and dishes that are simple, but innovative: think grilled spring onions served with a warm cream of pullet eggs or langoustines sautéed in pine butter and brushed with rapeseed oil. Of course, nearly all the produce is sourced from Norway, and all the ingredients are either organic, biodynamic or wild. Reservations should be made months ahead of time.

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Oslo Street Food

Oslo Street Food comprises four bars and 16 international culinary vendors, showcasing flavors from Greece, Mexico, Hungary, Peru, Hawaii and more.
Food at Sentralen Kafeteria, Oslo, Norway - Photo Courtesy : Lars Petter Pettersen

Sentralen Restaurant

It’s not often that a restaurant opens and immediately hits its stride. But Sentralen Restaurant (part of the Sentralen complex, a multipurpose space that is housed in two former bank buildings and home to concert halls and food and beverage outlets), was an Oslo hot spot—and an instant classic—upon opening in early 2016. If Maaemo put Oslo on the culinary map, Sentralen is responsible for popularizing it as a real foodie city, and one that is as much about both high quality cuisine as it is informal, social dining environments. The spacious, high-ceilinged dining room features exposed brick walls, graffiti-inspired drawings, an open-kitchen and an atmosphere that feels like a gathering place for friends to enjoy some of the best food in the city (all of which is meant to be shared). The restaurant is buzzing at both lunch and dinner, when diners can enjoy such flavor-packed dishes as 24-month-old Comté shaved into elegant curls and generously sprinkled over a sourdough crisp with sherry honey, or duck confit with pickled cabbage, brown butter, dill and fried shallots, served on a roll-it-yourself wrap.

Editors' Picks
Food at Smalhans, Oslo, Norway

Smalhans

The unassuming Smalhans is one of Oslo’s most beloved restaurants. With a casual, brick-walled dining room, rustic wood bar and upbeat music wafting throughout, the local favorite is the favored spot to dine in the St. Hanshaugen neighborhood. The lunch menu stars the Smalhans burger (which in a miniaturized version is offered to kids), while the dinner menu changes every two weeks. Patrons at dinner can choose between two family-style set menus, both of which are very well-priced and casual (think panzanella and gnocchi with Jerusalem artichoke) and comes served on trays or in pots and pans. Seatings are either between 6-6:45 or after 8:30. (Bonus: there is one daily dish offered from 4-6pm each afternoon.)

Solsiden

When the days begin to get long and the sun is shining on the harbor, locals flock to this seasonal, waterfront restaurant for the extensive raw bar and wine list. Located on the quayside just below the Akershus Fortress, Solsiden is a favorite for post-touring drinks, which can be enjoyed in the nautical-themed dining room or on the alfresco terrace, both of which offer stunning views of the fjord. The menu rotates, but one staple is the seafood platter, which includes oysters, coquille St. Jacques, crab, mussels, prawns, Norwegian crayfish, lobster and red king crab.

Theatercaféen

A gathering place for artists and intellectuals since opening in 1900, this Vienna-style café is an Oslo institution that has been owned by the same family for four generations. The Art Nouveau café, located on the ground floor of the Hotel Continental, was modernized in 1949, but architects were able to return it to its original style in 1971 using photographs of the old space, and the Old World atmosphere remains. The menu offers Norwegian specialties (reindeer, lutefisk) as well as classic brasserie fare like spicy moules frites and afternoon tea with open-face sandwiches.

Tjuvholmen Sjømagasin

Tjuvholmen Sjømagasin, near the Astrup Fearnley Museum, serves an array of fresh seafood dishes, including delicious langoustines.

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