Restaurants to try in Oslo
Oslo restaurants, in the tradition of the New Nordic Food Movement, have the depth and sophistication you would expect from the capital city of Norway. Read our options for places to try.
In Oslo you find restaurants in all price categories and genres.
Norwegian cuisine in its traditional form is based largely on the raw materials readily available in Norway and its mountains, wilderness and coast. It differs in many respects from its continental counterparts with a stronger focus on game and fish. Many of the traditional dishes are results of using conserved materials, with respect to the long winters.
Here is a few of our favourites in Oslo's wide variety of restaurants:
- Lofoten Fish Restaurant, traditional and quaint with the broths and creamy fish options you would expect in Norway
- Restaurant Kontrast, near Mathallen, 1 Michelin-star restaurant with a moderate price tag (pictured above)
- Topp Hem, Norwegian, seasonal and local from nearby farms served as share-platters
- Maaemo
- Nedre Foss Gård, an old historic farm in Oslo that is now a refurbished (after a fire in 2016) restaurant/ bar with and outdoor courtyard. Nedre Foss Gård means Lower Waterfall (Foss) Farm.
- Theatercafeen
- Solsiden Restaurant
-De Fem Stuer, is located in the old wooden building from 1894 and is one of Oslo's best restaurant set in a great surrounding on top of hill overlooking Oslo - Ekebergrestauranten
- Engebret Café
- Frognerseteren Restaurant: Finstua
For less expensive restaurants, head to the Grunerlokka district. It is great place to take in the city's pulse in the city's more ethnically diverse east. In this once working-class area, the vital signs of budget Oslo are most apparent, with low-cost restaurants, second-hand clothes shops and student bars grouped around the streets Markveien and Thorvald Meyers Gate. Among them, the café bar Fru Hagen has a legion of blond locals seeking cheap eats. On a Sunday evening, when much of the city is almost deserted, Fru Hagen is heaving.
When in Oslo try these local cuisines:
Smoked Salmon or Røkt Laks
Kjøttboller - Meatballs
Krumkake - waffle-like pancake, which are then filled with whipped cream