Review of restaurants in Stavanger

City Brasserie & Vinbar–decent food but disappointed by the wine bar

2011-09-21T10:40:00.001-07:00

A few years back this place was called “Bryggeriet” I think and right before City Brasserie & vinbar took over they installed “wine machines” – a machine where the bottles are kept with nitrogen I guess to preserve it longer (I have seen similar ones in butcher shops in Tuscany – see this trip report). The result was of course that they could offer many wines by the glass every day which I really enjoyed. Anyway, City Bistro took over and turned it into City Brasserie & vinbar and I had big expectations as there isn’t really a proper wine bar in Stavanger. So I was a bit peeved when the first thing they did was to remove the machines. I asked them why and they had some sort of explanation that they wanted the wine experience to be more personal and exclusive. But I’m not sure that it has turned out the way I wanted it to at least – when I have gone there I don’t feel like they had lots of options of wine by the glass and buying a whole bottle is normally out of the question.

Today City Brasserie & vinbar is split into three sections: the lower floor is the brasserie, the mezzanine level is the champagne lounge and wine bar and the upper floor is the restaurant. I have been there a few times and I have eaten both upstairs and downstairs but this will mainly be about my latest visit in September 2011. Nikki and I went there to have a meal at the restaurant upstairs but when we came all the lights were turned off. I asked them what was going on and the head waiter said that due to personnel being off sick they had closed the restaurant and only had the brasserie open. When I have been there before there has not been many visitors to the restaurant so I speculate that they closed it off as they didn’t have any reservations but that is just my personal opinion.

We were offered to go to the brasserie instead and the menu is quite short which is not a problem – but I would like to have seen the menu on their website but I guess that is tricky if they claim that it changes daily. They had a three course meal for 499 Norwegian Kroner (about 85 USD these days) if I’m not mistaken but as we were not that hungry we decided to go for a starter and main and that was about 450 kroner. I went for the foie gras as a starter and pork as the main meal. They did have a few options of wine by the glass but I do get a bit worried when I get to a restaurant early in the evening and they bring out a bottle of red wine where there is hardly anything left in the bottle – does that mean that it was opened yesterday or even the day before? So I got to try one wine and as it seemed to be a bit on the border of going bad, I went for the other Italian red wine alternative. My starter turned out to be not quite what I hoped for – foie gras can be excellent but I got some sort of bloc de foie gras which was more of a pate – still good but not quite the same as the real deal. It was served with shredded lemon and with a lemon sorbet type ice cream which was actually a good combination. Nikki went for a seafood risotto as a starter and it seemed like she enjoyed it and the was a good lobster taste as far as I can remember – the only problem was that it was not warm enough when it was served.

My pork main was one piece of pork belly and one piece of tenderloin I guess served with a block on potatoes and some sort of “cabbage package“ and sauce came on the side. The meat was quite good but the tenderloin was a bit on the dry side but the portion size was quite good.

All in all the service is quite good and the atmosphere is nice in this small restaurant located on the Skagen side of the Stavanger harbor. But it seems like it is quite empty on most days when I have been there and I’m not sure there everyone gets the “three sections” concept as I described earlier on. I’m a bit disappointed that a champagne and wine bar does not have more varieties by the glass on offer but it is nice to have a glass of Mumm champagne while sitting by the fire place in the lounge. So if you are looking for a place to go for a decent snack before going to e.g. the movies, City Brasserie & vinbar might be a good option – but don’t expect to be blown away by the vast variety of wine by the glass or food. You can read more about the place and book a table on their homepage http://www.citybrasserie.no/

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Café Sting – now you can dine with a view

2011-06-05T13:01:00.001-07:00

We have gone to Sting many times over the years as it is a great informal place for a snack before going to e.g. the movies. One of the highlights at this place is the annual garlic festival in March/April where they have a special focus on…you guess it, garlic. The place is located at the top of the hill right next to Valbergstårnet so the location is pretty unique as most other restaurants and bars are located closer to the waterfront. And this location is also what makes their new feature so spectacular: they have opened a new rooftop terrace! I saw the sign for this new rooftop terrace a few months back but I could not really see how this could happen – but the other day when I stopped by they had just installed a sliding door in the middle of the main seating area leading out this new terrace and with a staircase leading up to the rooftop terrace.

We came there at about 5 pm on a Saturday to have a snack before going to the movies. The weather was beautiful as the sun was shining from a cloud free sky but it was also a bit of a chill in the air. But we went to the rooftop terrace and we were happy to see that there were a few tables available. I think this will soon change when the word gets spread that this terrace is now open. The rooftop terrace is placed in such a way that most of the tables did get sunlight and that is always a plus in a cold place like Norway. The rooftop terrace still needs the last finishing touches but nothing that prevents it from being a nice hangout spot already.

As always I had to go to the cashier to place the order and we decided to go for the burger (as we have tried that at various places lately). Sting is also the only(?) place in Stavanger were you get wine by the glass by the weight. They just place the glass on a scale and they ask you to “say when” as they pour the wine in. They have a few bottles to choose from when it comes to wine but with the new rooftop terrace I think it can turn into an even more popular spot for a cold beer as long as the weather cooperates.

It was great to sit in the sun and enjoy the view of Stavanger while waiting for the burger – and the burger was served sooner than expected. We talked a bit to the girl who served us the burger and she said that it had been a bit chaotic earlier on and people had been waiting for quite some time to get their food served. I guess that is something that the management has to deal with – they have just more or less double the seating capacity but it seems like they have the same kitchen and staff. That could spell disaster if they don’t plan for it. The burger was served with small, fried potatoes on the side and a garlic dip. But where was the tomato sauce or ketchup? The burger itself was good but I would have enjoyed pickles on mine instead of just cucumber. We were never asked how we wanted our burger done but it seemed like medium was the default setting so Nikki found her burger to be a bit too rare. The garlic dip really had lots of garlic in it by the way – I could feel my garlic breath myself the rest of the evening. Not that it is a negative thing but just be aware of it ;-) So I think the burger at Matbaren is still the best burger in town so far (you can read the Matbaren review here). The burger at Sting is 169 Kroner – with the current currency value that spells about 32 US dollars or 22 €.

But all in all – Café Sting is still a great place to go for a bit of snack. Even if their menu is limited you should be able to find something that you like. And it looks like there are lots of new things happening at this place and I’m sure they will stay in business for many years to come. With their new rooftop terrace I’m sure they will attract new crowds when the sun hits Stavanger in the summer months. You can read more about Sting on their homepage http://www.cafe-sting.no/ . It does not seem like their homepage is in English but click on Mat (meaning food) to see the menu, it is both in Norwegian and English.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Renaa Matbaren–still a great option for a meal!

2011-05-24T13:58:00.001-07:00

It has been almost 2 years since Renaa took over both Jans and Craigs Kjøkken and created Renaa Matbaren and Renaa Restauranten. Matbaren is the more informal hangout spot while Restauranten has replaced Jans as a fine dining and gourmet restaurant. I was invited to the opening a couple of years back (as you can see here) but after that I have been back a number of time – after all Stavanger is a small place and there are not that many restaurants to choose from ;-)

This is just a few words about Renaa Matbaren which I have checked out many times. First of all: the good news is that it seems like the place is going really good and most days when I have been there it is always crowded. We have just popped in a few time in connection with going to the movies and it is not always easy getting a table – so if you want to make sure to get a seat, make a reservation!

We stopped by there on a weekday before going to the movies and as I had gotten recommendations from Whitney (from the Thanks for the food blog) about the hamburger I decided to go for that. The setup at Renaa is quite cool – the menu, cutlery, glasses, menu and butter is already laid out on the table so when you sit down you can just start looking at the menu…which is both in Norwegian and English. Well done guys! Their menu also varies a bit and I have attached the menu for evening – for some reason I took a photo of the Norwegian version – my bad. But it contains smaller portions like oysters, or local blue mussels, or mozzarella with Parma ham and local tomatoes and basil, beef tartar etc. Other larger options are tagine, homemade sausages and also a variety of barbeque stuff. They actually have a coal barbeque in the kitchen where they fry up burgers, meat and fish.

I went for the burger as I mentioned and in this place they actually ask you how you want the burger fried…that does not happen very often in Stavanger. The burger took a while to get served but in the mean time we got some bread and the butter is already on the plate…an organic butter from Rørosmeieriet. The burger was served split as you can see on the photo and it was quite a challenge to deal with. It is always a delicate decision – try to eat it in a civilized way with fork and knife OR just put it together and use your hands to dig in. I’m not sure my mouth is big enough so I went for the fork and knife option and the burger was excellent. It was fried to medium as I asked for and it had a great barbeque taste as well (most likely from the coal fired barbeque). On it there were cheese, bacon, large slices of tomato, onion and pickles. And on the side fresh and hot (as in very warm) French fries with two sauces on the side. An excellent meal, presented in a nice way (as nice as you can present a burger I guess) with fresh ingredients and a great taste. So not much to complain about in other words. The burger is 220 Norwegian kroner (about 40 USD).

The second time I went there lately I went there on a Friday evening. It was still early but already full so we had to sit in the bar. Not the best place at least if you want to talk to your company as you are not facing each other and you have the noise from the kitchen. But as you are facing the kitchen it can also be interesting – obviously they are confident in their product if they allow people to look straight into their main operation. I wasn’t that hungry this evening so I just went for a platter of Italian ham and a selection of cheese while my friend went for the fish of the day fried on the barbeque. I think they were a bit busy this evening and they seemed to forget us a bit in terms of serving us e.g. bread. It was also a bit when they came to serve the fish as they brought two portions and I said that I was still waiting for my ham and cheese. But they seemed to handle the challenge pretty well…the fish was sent back to the kitchen and I got my food pretty fast. I love the combination of salami and cheese and this was served in a rustic way…on two wooden boards and with a bit of rocket and honey. The meat and cheese was good but it would have been great to get just a short presentation of what I was actually eating. The salami/ham plate was 185 Norwegian Kroner (33 USD) and 150 Kroner for the cheese (27 USD).

Conclusion is that Renaa Matbaren still works and they still serve some great food in a nice environment. So if you haven’t been there already, there is no reason to not try it out :-) Enjoy. You can check out their homepage on http://www.restaurantrenaa.no/ . It would be great to see the menu online by the way!

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Stavanger wine festival coming up

2011-04-16T02:05:00.001-07:00

The annual Stavanger wine festival is coming soon – this year it is from April 27th to April 30th. The “Route de vin” is already sold out unfortunately but there are of course other activities. You can read more about the wine festival on http://www.stavangervinfest.no/

Matmagasinet–our new little gem in Stavanger?

2011-04-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

It is not that easy to find new places to check out in a small town like Stavanger – and certainly not on a Sunday afternoon. We were going out with some friends and as the weather was good we looked into places like Bølgen & Moi (full), Sting (only opens at 3 PM), Hall Toll (closed on a Sunday) etc. In the end we decided to go for a new place called Matmagasinet located on the corner of Løkkeveien/Eiganesveien. Well, it has been there for a while I guess but it is new to me at least. The place is quite small and it seems to follow the concept that quite a few stores in Stavanger is following these days…it is part café, part coffee shop, part restaurant and part shop where you can buy food products (including Kusmi tea) to bring back home. The same concept is being used my e.g. FoodStory, Ostehuset etc. Anyway, we came there about 2 pm on a lazy Sunday afternoon and there were a table for us – they even have a few tables in the backyard if the weather behaves, how excellent is that? We decided to go for an antipasti menu as a shared starter while Nikki went for the risotto a fruite de mare (seafood risotto) while I was a bit more boring and went for the lasagna. This is not a restaurant by the way so you just place your order by the cashier and pay up front and the food will be served at your table. I tried to tell the young Swedish girl behind the counter that we wanted the antipasti as a starter but I’m not sure she totally understood my Stavanger dialect

We had to wait quite a bit for the antipasti to be served but it was a excellent platter: Brie de maux, pecorini, Parma ham, Italian salami, artichokes, olives, capers flowers(?), pesto etc. It was an excellent selection and a good starter for the four of us. The only problem was that it took so long to get it that we were only half way through it when the main dish was served – so you guys have to work on your timing a little bit! Nikki’s risotto was quite a sight when it was served. A good portion of risotto served with a big crayfish on top and with 3-4 scallops. It was of course Nikki’s food but she allowed me to taste a bit as I love risotto – the risotto was maybe a bit over cooked but with a great taste of seafood so I think good stock has been used here. It could also have been seasoned a bit more with salt and pepper but apart from that it was excellent and Nikki was also happy with the crayfish and scallops. Actually this risotto was far better than risottos we’ve had in many other fancy restaurants!

My lasagna was also a good portion and what seemed to be good chunks of meat in it. On the menu it says lasagne with meat ragu and that is actually what it tasted like…like the ragu I had in Bologna last year (see my Bologna trip report). It was maybe a bit on the dry side but I guess I’m just a bit spoiled as I make it all fresh at home from time to time (and there is nothing like home cooking right? ;-) We were actually quite full already but as it had been so great so far we decided to go all the way and also go for dessert. Nikki went for the carrot muffin and I went for the tiramisu (quite a boring choice once again). Nikki was not totally crazy about the carrot muffin as it was a bit compact and it also contained chocolate chips. My tiramisu was served in a small bowl and the taste was good but serving it in a bowl like this makes it look pretty messy if you ask me. I would have like to see more defined layers of cream and ladyfingers. I always try the caffe mocha hoping to find one that can match the one at Charlie Brown but I think I will stick to double espresso the next time.

But all in all I think we have found a small gem in Stavanger It is only a few minutes walk away from the city center but I doubt that it is as crowded as e.g. Ostehuset on a Saturday afternoon but I will certainly check it out. From the web pages I see that this place has been open since the end of 2007 and I’m wondering how I have been able to miss it. The owners, Ruth and Else, seems to have lots of experience from around the world and are inspired by the Italian kitchen – my kinda place in other words. Well guys, I will certainly be your guest again, that is for sure and I will certainly recommended your place to people that I meet. There are some details that could be improved like a web page in English, a larger selection of wine, timing of the starter vs. the main dish etc. But these things are only details – I will be looking forward to my next visit and the next time I’ll try Ruth’s famous chocolate cake.

The antipasti was about 175 Kroner (32 USD), the ristotto was 245 kroner (45 USD) and my lasagna was 28 USD). Here is the link to the Matmagasinet homepage: http://www.matmagasinet.no/ . The also have wi-fi available and you‘ll get the password if you ask them politely ;-)

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Mogul India–not quite what we hoped for

2011-04-10T02:46:00.001-07:00

We have been to Mogul India before and Nikki went there recently and found it to be quite good. So we decided to do a re-visit before going to the movies one day. The restaurant is located at Verksgaten 9 and it has the same entrance as Piren Pub – not the most upscale pub in town. We did not have a reservation when we went there but they did have a table for us. The rooms are painted in a salmon reddish color that works OK in the restaurant – but in the toilet it is over the top as it is painted in the reddish color and has a pinkish toilet and sink. But enough about interior – we decided to have some vegetable pakora for starter, Nikki went for the lamb rogan josh, I went for a lamb dish (lamb mullaman?)that was recommended by the chef and we wanted it served with raita, pickled vegetables and garlic naan bread. We got a question about how spicy we wanted the found and we went for medium +. It is always difficult to answer this as most Indian restaurants has a tendency to make the dishes a lot milder to fit the Norwegian palate. But we do like it a bit spicy and that is why we went for medium to spicy. We first got a mint sauce and some chopped up chili/garlic(?) and a poppadum, and we soon also got the vegetable pakora which was pretty tasty. We soon got our main dishes served as well in little bowls with a small candle underneath to keep it warm.

My first impression of my dish was that it was tasty but a bit on the salty side, not spicy at all and not sizzling warm. Nikki had the same comment about her dish when it comes to the dish not being spicy and not being warm enough. My dish had lots of chunks of lamb in it so the portions were generous for us – but Nikki’s portion had not that many pieces of lamb but quite a lot of sauce and the sauce was a lot less rich compared to what I have experienced before in rogan josh dishes. The garlic naan bread was good and Nikki seemed to enjoy her pickled vegetables. We had almost forgotten about the raita when a waiter came to the table to serve it and by that time we were almost done with our meal.

So all in all I would say that this was an average meal. The portions were good but the taste of the dishes that we had did not blow us away in an way. It was also a bit of a letdown to have the food served a bit on the lukewarm side and having raita served way too late. We will go there again in the future but there are room for improvement. And one last word of advice – I know this is an Indian restaurant run by Indians but you have to get someone to spell check the Norwegian menu. It is full of mistakes and it doesn’t make a good first impression. Our food came to about 600 Norwegian kroner (about 110 USD). You can read more about the restaurant on http://www.indiamogul.com/

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Big Horn Steakhouse in Stavanger–a bit too rare and cold

2011-03-26T02:33:00.001-07:00

We went to Big Horn Steakhouse at 8 PM on a Friday night before going to the movies and we were a party of three. The restaurant is located in the middle of town at the Hotel Victoria and it is a part of a restaurant chain so you can also find a branch in e.g. Sandnes and 27 other places around Norway.

When we sat down at the table a waitress came over to ask us if we wanted to have something to drink and she was speaking in English. This always throws me off a bit as I’m not sure if the waitress don’t know Norwegian or that she assumes that we are non-Norwegians but it is not a big deal for me as I am able to make myself understood (more or less ) in both languages. I went for onion rings to start with and a t-bone steak as the main. My friend was joking that we would be out of there in an hour and he was wondering how we would kill time before going to the movies. I didn’t take him seriously but it only took like a few minutes before the onion rings were served and I started thinking that he might be right. My wife went for the salad bar instead of a starter but as they waitress pointed out “it only includes one serving”. The salad bar was not very impressive in my opinion. The 4 onion rings I got was a nice portion – not some gigantic thing that we have seen on some restaurants the world – and the taste was not bad.

My wife was still eating her salad when the two waitresses came over with our main meal – and I was just done with the onion rings. We were amazed on how fast the meal was served and we were starting to wonder if they had started preparing our meal the minute we walking through the door! My t-bone steak meal included the meat, half a large tomato, some fried corn, potatoes of your choice, sauce of choice and butter of your choice. I had ordered my t-bone steak medium done and on the menu it said that when you receive the meat you should cut it in half to make sure that the meat is like you wanted it. But this sounds a bit strange to me – don’t you lose a bit of the juice in the meat if you cut it in half and it turns out that it has to be fried more? Anyway, my meat was more medium-raw but the main “problem” was that it was a bit on the cold side so there was no point in putting the butter on top as it didn’t melt. But the meat itself was not bad and was quite tender. The tomato was supposed to be a fried tomato but again it seemed like it had barely touched the frying pan and it was just a raw tomato basically. My garlic and creamed potatoes were excellent – nice portion and piping hot. I also ordered the coleslaw and it was also quite good as it came in a good size portion and chunky vegetables. I went for béarnaise sauce and I found it to be OK – my wife is lactose intolerant and she asked if the sauce contained cream and the waitress answered that it only contained egg and butter but we doubt it.

My wife was not that lucky with her tenderloin – the meat came out too rare. And she followed the advice in the menu by cutting the meat in two but by that time the waitresses were long gone and after trying to get their attention without any success , she just gave up and ate some of the meat that were fried. Her meat was also quite cold by the way. The waitress finally came over to ask us what the meat was like and we informed her of the steak that my wife found cold. The waitress immediately asked if my wife wanted a new piece of meat and when my wife said that it was a bit late, the waitress said that she could get a dessert for free – I think this was very well handled by the waitress.

The meal was about 400 NOK per person (about 70 USD) for the starters, a glass of red wine and the main meal. We were not impressed by Big Horn Steakhouse this time but I have been there in the past and I have been more satisfied at least. I’m not sure why they wanted to serve us the food so super fast this time – I mean, I don’t like waiting around for hours for the food but it is nice if you at least get to finish the starter before the main meal is served.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Egon in Stavanger – not a culinary adventure

2010-07-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

Recently a new restaurant opened in Stavanger and that does not happen every day. This time it was a place called Egon – a part of the Egon franchise that you can read more about on http://www.egon.no . We stopped by the place on a Sunday afternoon as we wanted a quick snack – the last time we ate at Egon was actually in Tromsø (read the trip report here) – the Egon restaurants are located all over Norway and I think the Stavanger one is the largest one of them all. The places is located at the harbor in Stavanger (Vågen) so the location is perfect – another things that is nice with the location is the fact that they also have a small area outside where you enjoy your meal on nice sunny days (when that happens in Stavanger ).

The first impression of the restaurant when you enter is also quite good – they have created a theme to honor Stavanger’s history and there is a focus on our maritime, canning and oil history. But the place is also a bit confusing with tables on lots of levels and staircases in many directions. And what is up with all the steps that you have to look out for? We saw lots of people almost falling as they were not aware of a step up or down.

The menu at Egon is quite extensive and one positive thing is that it comes in many languages so I guess this place is ready for the hordes of cruise ship tourists pouring in I think the menu was available in English, German, Norwegian etc. The restaurant opens early so in this place you can enjoy both breakfast and lunch and even various buffets. I chose a crispy chicken wrap from the lunch menu costing 129 Norwegian kroner (about 20 USD) and Nikki went for the burger and that was 155 Kroner (about 25 USD). The place is very informal so you just make a note of your table number and then you head over to the cashier to order, pay for the meal and pick up your drinks. Egon is licensed to serve beer, wine etc by the way.

The food was brought to our table after a few minutes and the first thing that Nikki noticed was that there were only like 4 onion rings served with the hamburger and lots of French fries. It also turned out that the french fries was lukewarm and were a bit on the chewy side – I guess they were not that fresh. But what was also surprising was the fact the the hamburger was also lukewarm and I’m not sure how that is possible. But at this point we were quite hungry so Nikki ate the burger and the onion rings but left the fries as a silent protest

My crispy chicken wrap was not bad at all actually. It contained chicken in some sort of soy sauce and with some vegetables and it was served with some sort of sour cream dip and together with melon. And as you can see from the photo the presentation of the dish was not bad either. It would have been good to also have some sort of salsa sauce on the side but I guess you can’t have it all. I was starving too at this point so I ate all of it

So what is the conclusion? I think Egon will make it in Stavanger. The location of the restaurant is great, the menu is large and it serves standard food that most people like (like burgers, pizza, salads etc) to eat. As the title says, this is not the place for a culinary adventure but rather a place that you stop by when you are hungry and need some food fast and you want to avoid going to the fastfood stores nearby. The prices are not that bad either – the lunch items range from 110 to 150 Kroner and burgers are from 150 to 170 kroner – not bad when you compare it to other Norwegian restaurants. Well, I’m not dying to go to Egon again but I’m pretty sure that I will end up going there again in the future

Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Sharing menu at Timbuktu

2010-01-23T04:06:00.000-08:00

In the end of January we went to Timbuktu…no, I’m not talking about the town in the African country of Mali but the restaurant in Stavanger that serves “an innovative fusion of Asian and European cuisine”. As we were going to the movies we booked a table as early as 7 pm. The restaurant is located right by the harbor in Stavanger on the Skagen side so it is not hard to find. Please see this page for more info: http://www.herlige-restauranter.no/timbuktu/

Photo from http://www.herlige-restauranter.no/timbuktu/

The place is a mix between a bar (downstairs) and the restaurant upstairs. And when seated in the restaurant you look down on the guests in the bar. I guess Timbuktu is Asian inspired as they have Buddha figures etc. But also the huge red lanterns in the ceiling reminds me of the flying lanterns that you sometimes see in Asia (e.g. in Thailand). Anyway, we decided to go for the sharing menu that Timbuktu offers and that gives you a taste of all the starters and main courses. You can also order a la carte and they even have some sushi on the menu. The lighting in the restaurant was dim – it usually is like that to create the right mood. But for me it is kinda annoying as it makes it hard to read the menu. But hey, there was a candle on the table that I could use to light up the menu. It was also pretty cold in the restaurant but I guess it gets warmer later in the evening when there are more guests.

The starters that we got was a bit of sushi, a warm potato and leek soup served in a shot glass with smoked eel and blue mussel, scallop with blueberry syrup and Earl Grey jelly and tuna tartar with some tofu. The soup was wonderful and it had a nice taste of the smoked eel and you can’t really go wrong with scallop (unless you fry it up the wrong way). The scallop here was made in the right way and tasted great. I’m not sure what fish that was used on the sushi (maybe it was scallop too) and it was served with soy sauce and wasabi of course. I’m not a great fan of sushi but it was fun trying it in Japan (see my trip report from Japan here). The tuna tartar was good but the tofu on top was horrible. But I don’t have much experience with tofu so maybe that is the way it should be?

I had the wine package together with the meal and I think it is a bit expensive with close to 300 kroner for 3 glasses of wine. And I would also have preferred to have the wine served with the food instead of 10 minutes before the food was saved. I have a tendency to start tasting the wine and all of a sudden you are almost out before the food is served.

The second round was fish and I also got white wine with this. The wine menu is not too bad but as usual the wine is expensive. A quick look at the menu shows that the price are multiplied by about 3 compared to the local Vinmonopol which is a shame but that is common practice for restaurants here. A Chianti La Pieve 2007 was 525 kroner, Barbera D’Alba Gagliasso was 560 kroner, la Bracchesa Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2006 was 725 kroner to give you some idea of the prices. In the second round we got smoked sea bass with a Dijon sauce, black cod with mushroom and poached salmon with an orange sauce. The sea bass and cod were pretty good but I would have enjoy the salmon a bit more cooked. But maybe that is what poaching is all about. We also got some ratatouille and salad on the side.

To round it of we went over to the meat section and this was served with red wine. As you can see from the photos the sharing menu is more like a tasting menu and the pieces are quite small. Due to this I would have enjoyed to see heated plates as the plated cooled down the food very quickly. We got pork rib served with canneline pure, deer tenderloin with a red wine sauce and duck marinated with teriyaki. All of the meat was nice and tasty and with a nice red wine it was delicious.

All in all it was a pretty good meal and I do enjoy the small tasting menus compared to just a huge portion of one thing. But as you have seen from the test above there are some things that can be improved. The sharing menu that we had was 490 kroner per person and my wine “deal” was 285 kroner for 3 glasses of wine. As I mentioned, this is both a bar and restaurant so if you get there a bit later I think the noise level can be high so keep that in mind if you want a romantic date.

Joke about Norwegian food

2010-01-22T09:35:00.001-08:00

I have just found a great new comic series called "Lunch" by Børge Lund. A lot of the jokes are focused on the office environment and you will recognize many of the issues if you have been in the business for a while. Most of his stuff is in Norwegian but I came across this lovely little piece in English about Norwegian food and it is spot on. I have tried the smalahove (see a photo here) but I haven't tried rakfisk and I'm not too much of a fan of lutefisk :-) Well, press the link if you want to read more Lunch by Børge Lund.

There is a new restaurant in town

2009-11-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well, actually it is not really one new restaurant but two. Renaa Restauranter is actually 2 restaurants located where Craigs kjøkken and Jans mat og vinhus was located. Craigs when bankrupt this year but I think that Jans did OK but the whole place is now taken over by Sven Erik Renaa and that should hopefull spell success. He has been voted chef of the year, he has been on the Norwegian Bocuse d'Or and together with Jostein Medhus and Sebastian Myhre they seem to be quite a powerful team (see http://restaurantrenaa.no/omoss.htm)

Anyway, the restaurant is split in 2: upstairs (in the former Craigs kjøkken) you can now find Renaa: Matbaren which seems to be a place for informal dining. Downstairs they have done a bit of work to the old Jans mat og vinhus place and this is now called Renaa: Restauranten and this will be the place for fine dining.

I had the pleasure to drop by the opening party held at the restaurant yesterday and we got to look around, drink some champagne and taste some samples of food that might be served when they open the restaurant. I think they have their first guests today and would you like to wish them the best of luck. I look forward to trying out the restaurant soon. Read more about the restaurant on http://restaurantrenaa.no/index.htm

Here are some photos from the place.

Charles & De in - the best alternative in Sandnes

2009-08-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

There are not that many places to eat in Stavanger's neighbor city Sandnes but when Charles & De opened a few years back, that helped a lot. We went there in the beginning of August 2009 before going to the movies and we had the Tom Yam that was not spicy enough according to Nikki and too salty. Gard had the cheddar burger which was a bit on the boring side. But we did like the fact that the portions were not too big and that we got fried potatoes instead of french fries to go with the burger. The menu at Charles & De is not bad and we will certainly try the place again...but then again, there are not that many places to choose from in Sandnes ;-) Check out the menu and opening hours on http://www.charlesogde.no/ . They also sell various food stuff to bring back home...and maybe you can even bring home some of the desserts that they had on display. Our meal today was about 300 kroner. Below is a video with a summary of what we thought and some photos of our meal :-)

Delhi Indisk restaurant & bar – the new Indian place in town

2009-07-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

In the last few months a few restaurants in Stavanger have closed down due to the economic situation in Stavanger. One of the restaurants that closed down was Soleado despite the fact that reviews were good. But it is great to see that new restaurants are popping up where the others have closed down. A few weeks back we heard that a new Indian place was going to open up in the same place where Soleado was located. When we came there on a weekday in mid-July, the first thing I noticed was the text on the window saying “A part of Indian Tandoori”. Indian Tandoori is one of the oldest (if not the oldest Indian restaurant in town) and we have been there many times to enjoy Indian food.

Delhi looks a lot more modern that Indian Tandoori that’s for sure and we got a table even if we didn’t have a reservation. Our waitress came over to ask us if we had made up our minds and we were a bit confused when she spoke in English…did she maybe just assume that we spoke English? Based on what she was speaking to one of her colleagues I would guess she was from Eastern Europe somewhere. We decided to go for (and I’m quoting the bill here) no. 32 Hariyali Lahsuni Tikka and no. 42 Malai Makhi Masala – with Lasani naan bread and rice on the side. One thing that our waitress forgot was to ask us if we wanted it mild or spicy.

The food came to our table pretty fast and my dish (the tikka) was pieces of chicken marinaded on garlic served on onion, a salad on the side and a sauce to go along with it. The chicken was very good indeed but the onion that it was served on was not fried long enough so it had not gotten to the stage where it turns nice and sweet. It would also have been nice to have the sauce a bit more on the spicy side. Nikki seemed pleased with her masala but she also commented on the fact that she would have liked to have it spicier. We did not get the naan bread to start with and we just assumed that they had forgotten about it and we didn’t bother asking for it as it looked like there was enough food. But halfway through our meal we got it. The naan bread was a bit different from what we are used to from Indian Tandoori…and it was not as good as the one that we are used to.

All in all we had to pay 515 kroner for the meal including a glass of red wine. I’m sure we will go back as the location is convenient in connection with going to the movies in Stavanger and the food was pretty good. You can find a bit more information on http://www.delhi.no/ - hopefully the menu will be posted here eventually :-)

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Brasserie Myhregaarden - several things that can be improved

2009-07-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

We walked around Stavanger on a nice summer day in July and we walked past one of Stavanger newest hotels, Myhregaarden hotell, and we noticed that their restaurant called Brasserie Myhregaarden had expanded to also offer tables outside of the restaurant. We checked out the menu and decided to try it out for lunch as they had available tables in the sun. It was free seating so we just grabbed a table and as the menu was limited it didn’t take us that long to decide on what to eat….Nikki wanted the hamburger and I wanted to try the Caesar’s salad. Shouldn’t the menu be in both Norwegian and English by the way?

We had to wait a while for the waiter and he even took an order from people that had arrived after us and in the end we had to sort of wave to get his attention. Nikki ordered a glass of Coke with no ice, the hamburger with no cheese and I just went for the salad and water. After a couple of minutes we got the drinks but Nikki’s Coke (or was it a Pepsi) contained lots of ice. It didn’t take that long for the food to come either but the first thing we noticed was that the hamburger had cheese on it. As Nikki is lactose intolerant she prefers to not have too much cheese. So we informed the waiter about the cheese and he was like sighing and told us that it was the kitchen that had made the mistake and not him. Come on guys….you should work as a team and not blame each other. But the waiter removed the hamburger and came back with it pretty fast and they had just scraped of the cheese…fair enough. So now we were almost ready to eat….Nikki just had to ask for cutlery first. At this point we felt that we had asked the waiter for so many things that Nikki felt a bit awkward about asking for some tomato sauce for the potatoes that came with the hamburger.

Let’s start with the Caesar’s salad…this salad is a classic and it is just romano salad served with a special dressing, parmesan shaving etc…Brasserie Myhregaarden’s salad was also served with chicken and bread crotons (which is very common as well). The salad and dressing was good but the chicken was very dry and I think the bread crotons must be the worst crotons that I have tasted….ever. Nikki’s burger seemed to be OK but it was served on a tiny plate so it was a bit tricky eating it without showing the potatoes out of the plate.
In the end we asked for the bill and it took a while to get that. When we finally got it we were informed that they did not take cards only cash!! Eh…for once I did have cash in my wallet but normally I only use cards when going out to eat. I do hope that this is just a temporary problem at the restaurant.

Conclusion
As you understand we were not that happy with our meal at Brasserie Myhregaarden. Our waiter seemed inexperienced, there were problems with our orders and the food was not outstanding. I hope that this is just a problem for the lunch menu but I have to admit that I’m skeptical about going back to try out their dinner menu.
The hotel and restaurant is located at Nygaten 24 and you can check out the hotel homepage here: http://www.myhregaardenhotel.no/

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Ostehuset has moved into a new place

2009-07-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

If you have a good memory you might remember that I have been to Ostehuset before – back then it was a bit of a disaster as I found a rubber band in my food (see review from back then). Even though it put me of a bit to say the least, we have gone back there several times as it is a great place for a fast snack in an informal atmosphere. Recently they moved from their previous location in Klubbgata to a new place in Hospitalgata…only about 100 meter from the old location. The new place is better in my opinion…bigger, lots of light coming in from the big windows and still the informal atmosphere.

Nikki and I went there before going to the movies a day in June and as you can see from their menu on http://www.ostehuset.no/ the selection of stuff to eat is pretty good. I ended up ordering the risotto fennel with chicken confit and Nikki went for a bacon and shrimp sandwich. We only had 40 minutes before the movie was starting and I asked if this would be a problem and the girl behind the counter said no problem. Well, I guess that depends on your definition of “no problem” as we got the food 10 minutes before the movie was about to start.

My risotto was simply delicious…it had the texture that I feel a risotto should have and it tasted excellent. There were big chunks of juice chicken in it and the fennel was sprinkled on top with parmesan cheese and rocket leaves. Nikki’s sandwich on the other hand looked pretty naked…due to her lactose intolerance she had asked to get the dressing on the side and she was left with just pieces of bread with bacon and shrimp – were there not supposed to be any form of salad on the sandwich I wonder?
Anyway…the conclusion is that Ostehuset is still a nice place to grab some snack in an informal environment. Note that you can also get tapas here to bring back home, buy cheese, olive oil etc that you might need for cooking. If I had know that Transformers 2 would be as bad as it was I think I would have skipped it and spent more time eating my risotto ;-)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Great champagne lunch at Tango

2009-06-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

For some years I have heard about the champagne lunch at Tango but we have never gotten around to trying it out. We have eaten at restaurant Tango before and that was a pretty good experience but not outstanding in any way. But we decided to try out the champagne lunch on a Saturday in June after it was recommended by friends and I sent an e-mail in advance to book a table – it was a good thing I did that as there were only 1 table left. After a bit of bus trouble we finally arrived at Tango about 1 hour late – I did call the restaurant to make sure they didn’t give away our table and the table was still there waiting for us ;-) The first thing I noticed when I walked into the restaurant was that I was the only guy there! I don’t mind that of course but it was a bit weird – are champagne lunches a chick thing?
The champagne lunch at Tango is very simple: the menu is a set 2 course meal with the option of dessert and you can of course get champagne. So the first question we got at the table was “Do you guys want some champagne today” and we said of course. The champagne was a Grémillet Brut Selection and it was 400 kroner per bottle (about 60 USD at the moment) or 95 per glass if I’m not mistaken (about 14 USD). This is actually not that bad taken into consideration that it cost 210 kroner at the Vinmonopolet and many restaurants actually triple the prices when they sell it. I’m not an expert on champagne but the Grémillet Brut Selection was easy to drink – or maybe I was just very thirsty as we arrived late :-) The waiter just left the bottle on the table but it was a bit strange that it was not put in a cooler.
After that the waiter came over to present the short set menu and as Nikki has a bit of lactose intolerance she asked if they could modify the dishes a bit and this was no problem at all. The first dish came to the table pretty fast and it was a small portion of pasta, mussels, shrimp, tomato, avocado paste and saffron foam maybe. Anyway, it was a delicious dish with lots of flavors to it.

The location of Tango is great on a nice summer day (like this Saturday was) – when you step outside the restaurant you are at the harbor of Stavanger. When we were there they were preparing for the annual beach volleyball tournament and there were two cruise ships docked.

But back to the food – the main dish of the day was chicken breast, with potatoes and cabbage. I know, it sounds terribly boring and chicken breast can easily turn into a dry disaster. But that was not the case at all at Tango – the chicken breast was delicious and the sauce was full of flavors – enough to compensate for the more anonymous flavors of the potatoes and cabbage.

We decided to go for the dessert as well while we were at it – I got the pannacotta that was on the menu served with strawberries and strawberry sauce and a small ball of lime sherbet on top. Due to Nikki’s allergy, the kitchen whipped up a separate dessert for her: ice cream served on a sweet cracker and sweet almonds. The total price including coffee, some Baileys etc added up to 1250 kroner (190 USD) – the lunch was 275 kroner per person and the dessert was 95 kroner per person.

Conclusion
So there you have it – if you want a lunch with your partner (or with your friends) I can easily recommend Tango and the champagne lunch. Make sure you book a table in advance as it seems to be popular and the seating is limited. You can find the contact details of the restaurant homepage http://tango-bk.no/ - but don’t expect to find much more. Thanks for a great lunch Nikki – you looked stunning in your black and yellow outfit.

You can check out the location of the restaurant in my Stavanger Google map.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Visiting Uncle Toni again - Ristorante Allegro

2009-06-17T12:30:00.001-07:00

I have been to Allegro a few times before and it has always been a great experience. The only problems have been the lack of tables and chairs and that it has been a bit cold in the restaurant as there has always been a draft when people come in the entrance door. To avoid the first problem I booked a table in advance for me and a couple of friends for a week night in May 2009.

When we got there I had to go to the bathroom and I noticed that there was a staircase leading up to the second floor and I had never seen this before. So I went upstairs and it turns out that the restaurant has expanded and the upstairs facilities looked better and warmer than the original restaurant downstairs. So I asked our waiter kindly if we could move up and that was not a problem.

Allegro is a small Italian restaurant and I associate it with Uncle Toni (or Antonio Bjelancic) and I think he has run the restaurant since 2001. My previous visits have been great as it reminds me a lot of Italy…the food is 'simple' but yet very tasty and it seems like he only uses the best ingredients. Nikki and I have gone here many times on special occasions. But this night it was time to see if Uncle Toni could also pass the test on my friends that had never eaten there.

We decided to go for a 5 course menu each and we started by having a 2006 Monsanto Chianti Classico. I started with the scallops in a sauce - you can’t go wrong with scallops and there were even 4 of them in this dish. The soup that came along with the scallops was thick and rich…excellent. After a while it was time for starter number 2 and it was a big prawn. I have never actually seen big prawns like this in a restaurant in Stavanger so I was a bit surprised. Once again it was a very tasty little dish.

From there we moved over to a fish on a bed of noodles. I’m not a big fan of noodles but this was not a bad dish at all. For main course I decided to have the monk fish on a bed of risotto. The risotto was a bit different than what I’m used to but it contained lots of chunks of vegetable and the fish on top was excellent.

In the middle of the meal we did go for bottle of wine number 2 and in order to compare the Chianti Classico we decided to go for a Rosso del Montalcino (Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona). For dessert I had a difficult choice…chocolate fondant or tiramisu. Life is difficult sometime. I did end up with the chocolate fondant and it was just like the one that I make at home…which means that Toni used good butter, good chocolate and lots of eggs :-)

We rounded of the meal with some limoncello and coffee and before we knew it we had spent the entire evening there. In the end we even got to meet the Godfather himself…uncle Toni and he even gave us a limoncello on the house.

Once again I had a great evening at Allegro and the food is excellent at this place. I’m pretty sure that their web site http://www.allegromat.no/no/index.html.htm won’t win any prizes but don’t let that fool you: Allegro is one of the best Italian restaurants in Stavanger. I will certainly be going there again in the future :-)

You can check out the location of the restaurant in my Stavanger Google map.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Nero is still great - but there are some issues...

2008-08-31T01:42:00.000-07:00

I went to the Italian Restaurant Nero in the end of August 2008 in connection with a business dinner. I have been there a few times before and it has always been a real pleasure (as you can see from this review http://eatingoutinstavanger.blogspot.com/2007/10/bravissimo-nero.html

We came to the restaurant at about 7 PM and as always it is a pleasure to return to Nero as they have a personal touch to it. When we arrived we were greeted with a handshake by Sebatstien, one of the owners of Nero, and we were led into the bar in order to have an aperitif before sitting down. We visited the restaurant in the middle of ONS week (one of the largest oil & gas conferences/exhibitions in the world) and this has some negative side effects of course. I was hoping to go for the 7 course dinner but instead I found out that they "only" had a 5 course dinner and the prices had been adjusted up :-( But what can you do...it is the same all over town during this week.

Anyway, we went into the bar to have an aperitif before dinner and I asked if I could get some sparkling Italian wine and to my big surprise Sebastien had to inform me that they didn't have any. So I went down on my list and asked for a Kir Royal and once again Sebastien had to inform me that he couldn't serve it as they were out of Creme de Cassis. I can accept the fact that they don't have creme de cassis at an Italian restaurant but it seems a bit strange when they don't have some Italian sparkling wine. But Sebastien saved the day by suggesting that we go for an Americano - no, not the coffee but the drink made from Campari, Cinzano Rosso and club soda. It was a tiny little drink at least when it was 100 kroner (18$) per glass.

Soon we were ready to get seated and we got our first dish pretty fast. Well, it turned out that it was not the first dish but just an appetizer from the kitchen: some olives, ham and some sort of bread. We also got our first wine of the evening...and Italian sparkling type wine that reminded me of a a rosé wine. It was good with the first appetizer and the following dishes. The second appetizer from the kitchen was a pea soup served with caviar (big style) and some fish. Eating large fish eggs is always a bit of an experience...it is a strange sensation to feel the eggs pop in your mouth :-)

We finally came to the first real dish of the evening...the wonderful, rich and creamy lobster soup served with crab on top. This has become a signature dish of Restaurant Nero and it is delicious indeed :-) Next we moved over to another starter: a huge ravioli served with chicken pieces, foie gras and apples. I have to admit that I enjoy fois gras in limited amounts and this was just right :-) Next in line was the first "main" course and the fish of the evening was the turbot served with black caviar on top and served on a bed of vegetables. Again a nice dish and the fish was perfectly prepared. As a resting dish before the main meal we got a tiny little dark berry shake :-)

I'm a bit ashamed to say that I'm not quite sure what meat we had for the main meal but I think it was lamb (I guess that is what happens when you don't take notes when you are eating). But what I do remember is that we all thought it was nice and it was served with Brunello wine on the side :-) To round of the evening we got the tiramisu served with dark, dark chocolate and vanilla ice cream on the side :-) Sebastien claims that this was made after his mothers recipe and it was very, very tasty and the dark chocolate ice cream was very rich :-) We also got a sweet dessert shot after this to round of the entire meal. In the end we ordered some coffee and my colleagues wanted cognac but to our surprise they did not have any cognac at all...just grappa. This is a bit strange as Norwegian love their cognac after a good meal :-) But I was even more surprised to see that the waitress had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for a limoncello. The bill this evening was about 6100 kroner (1125$) which is more expensive than the previous times I have been there.

Conclusion
This was another great meal at Restaurant Nero but as you might read out of my review this time there are a couple of issues that they need to look into. First of all you have the ONS issue where you "pay more and get less" in my opinion but I guess there is not much to do about that when the whole city adjusts to this mode. But it seems a bit strange not having Italian sparkling wine as aperitifs, not having cognac on the menu along with the coffee (Norwegians love their cognac) and the waitress that had no clue whatsoever what limoncello was. And even if we got a bit better wine we didn't get very much of it...this was however a blessing in disguise as we were going to work the next morning :-) Maybe I'm just being picky....it was a very nice meal and Restaurant Nero is still highly recommended in my opinion. Sorry for the quality of the images by the way. They were all taken with my cell phone. You can find more info about the restaurant on the homepage http://restaurant-nero.no/

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Mediocre food at Al Forno

2008-08-30T01:42:00.001-07:00

In the end of August 2008 Nikki and I went into town to grab something to eat before we went to a concert. We decided to try something new and we ended up going to Pizzeria Al Forno located at Skagen in Stavanger. It was during ONS (a big oil conference) so when we came there we had to wait for a couple of minutes as we didn’t have a reservation but at least we got a table. We got the table close to the entrance door and it was constantly open so it was a good thing there were blankets on the chairs so that we could keep warm

The menu is quite extensive and I was thrilled to see that they had risotto, gnocchi, pizza etc on the menu. The wine selection on the other hand was very sad…only like 3-4 red wines that you could get by the bottle (or half a bottle) and only one kind by the glass. Anyway, I ordered the gnocchi con carne for starter, Calzone con pesto e pollo for main and Nikki went for lasagne. One positive thing with the menu was that it was possible to order small portions of the pasta dishes for half the price.

The restaurant is located in the very middle of town so the location ideal. As the restaurant was full it took quite a bit of time to get the food. I was actually impressed to see that the main waiter managed to keep up to speed with all the new guest, people ordering food etc. But I did at least get the wine pretty fast. But I never did get to see what wine it was as the waitress ran of as soon as she had poured it into my glass :-)

When the food was served I was very disappointed. The gnocchi that I had ordered was not gnocchi but dry pasta shaped to resemble gnocchi. Come on guys, you know and I know that this is not gnocchi so why write it on the menu? The dish itself was not bad once I got over the disappointment and it contained real meat and not just minced meat. Nikkis lasagne was drowning in cheese so they had been pretty generous with it. As Nikki is lactose intolerant I got to steal most of the cheese. The lasagne was OK but not the best I have tasted (but not the worst either).

After a few minutes I also got my Calzone con pesto e pollo served. It looked pretty nice as it was in a perfect shape served with a few basil leaves on top. But as I started digging into it I found out that the appearance was misleading. The pizza was extremely boring in taste as it seemed like the only content was fried chicken breast (which can be extremely dry and boring), cheese and something that I assume were pesto. But it was a big thing so at least it was filling.

Conclusion
I don’t think we will be going back to this place soon. Well, maybe if we want to grab something fast to eat before going to the movies but not for a romantic dinner. I was very disappointed to see that the gnocchi was not gnocchi at all and I’m wondering if they are faking other dishes as well. Italian food can be simple and very tasty…at Al forno it was just simple. So if you want a great Italian meal in Stavanger you should rather go to Allegro or Restaurant Nero.

For this meal we had to pay 75 Kroner (about 14 $) for the gnocchi and the same for the lasagne (these were ordered as small portions) and 145 kroner (27$) for the pizza. The glass of wine was 62 kroner (12$)…the same as a bottle would cost me on a restaurant in South Africa J. So the bill came to about 400 kroner (74$) which is not bad for Norwegian standards.

Check out the restaurant homepage on http://www.pizzeria-alforno.no/ for mor information.

Bravissimo Nero

2007-10-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

This summer I went to Tuscany and Florence and I enjoyed the food, wine and scenery there (check out the trip report on http://gardkarlsen.com/florence_italy_travelogue.htm ). When we got home the annual food festival had started in Stavanger and I was thrilled to see that there was a new stand called Restaurant Nero there. I asked them where they were located and the daily manager Cato Ødemark had to admit that they had not opened yet but they would soon. And finally in the beginning of October 2007 the new restaurant opened in the same place where the good restaurant Cartellet once was located.

As I’m a sucker for good food and a sucker for Italian food it didn’t take long before I got to try out this restaurant. So in the middle of October I was ready to check it out and I came there a bit early and I got a tour of the place by Cato Ødemark himself. I was the first one there and it did take long before I got a Kir Royale to start with and freshly made grissini…still warm from the oven it was delicious :-) The restaurant is not that big and I think we are only talking about 40-50 seats at the moment. Cato says that even without any advertising, people still seem to be finding the way to the restaurant so they are satisfied with the opening weeks.

I never did get to try Cartellet so I’m not sure how it looked back then but Cato explained that they had kept the original layout and the facilities looks quite stylish with a combination of brick walls, old rock foundation, red tiles on the floor, stylish art and last but not least….some funky looking furniture made in Italy of course. Inside the restaurant there is also a small cooler and the idea is to sell Italian products like pecorino, sausages etc but according to Cato they have just been to busy to prioritize this part so far.

This dinner was a company dinner and it didn’t take long before the rest of the guest arrived and we decided to go for a 4 course menu. But we all got to order aperitifs to start with and we also got a plate of snacks…grissini wrapped in parma ham, olives from Puglia, aged parmesan cheese, Italian sausages etc. When we sat down at the table we got a complimentary snack/starter and the most interesting thing on the plate was the panna cotta with mashed cauliflower and fried onion. I thought that panna cotta was only used for dessert :-) Other things on the plate were the classic mozzarella and tomato, prune in parma ham and shrimp.
We got another complimentary snack after this and it was a small soup. It was good but I’m actually not sure which kind of soup it was. It was just a little bit; just enough really as we were going through lots of food.

The first primi was salmon in two different ways served with fennel and citrus fruits. Again it was a pretty exciting combination. I don’t think I have been served salmon this way before but it was both refreshing and delicious. The next primi was the classical risotto alla Milanese…risotto with saffron. The risotto was as it should be and this is one of my favourites. On the side we got parmesan cheese and once again I have to admit that I have never had that before. It was weird to eat the cold ice cream and still taste the distinctive taste of parmesan cheese. It worked very well with the risotto and it is fun to see that Nero tried to re-invent the different classical dishes :-)

We were seated in the “chambre séparée” (I think that what it is called when you are separated from the rest of the restaurant) and as there is room for about 14 in there we had some space to ourselves and we had a direct view to the stylish blue lights in the wine “cellar”. The wine selection seemed to be a bit limited at the moment but according to Cato they are still working on installing the cooling system in the wine cellar and after that they will fill it up with good Italian wine :-)

Before we got the main meal of the evening we got a crushed ice and apple “sorbet” to freshen up the pallet. Our main dish this evening was a tenderloin I think served with fois gras and polenta. The combination of the meat and the fois gras was great and the polenta was piping hot so it was clearly fresh out of the oven. The fois gras it always interesting....it is great in smaller portions. I’m sorry to say that I can’t really give details about the wine selection this evening as we just asked the waiter to recommend new wines for each course. It is a pretty international staff at Nero: Cato is Norwegian, his partner Sebastien is from Italy, our waitress was from Poland etc. Our waitress seemed to be a bit nervous by the way and she was having a bit of trouble opening some of the wines, she seemed a bit nervous when introducing the meals etc. But all in all she did a good job.

To round of the evening we had a chocolate fondant with rosemary ice cream on the side if I’m not mistaken. The taste was great but I would have enjoyed having the muffin even softer in the middle. And together with the dessert we had a delicious sweet red wine.

Conclusion
We had a lovely evening at Nero this night and I certainly hope to go there again soon. The food was delicious; we got great service, the wine good etc. The restaurant is stylish and it seems to be a nice place both for a business dinner and for a romantic date.
The meal cost us about 1000 Norwegian kroner (about 185$) per person including aperitifs, a 4 course meal (with various complimentary snacks in between), wine…so actually the price was not bad compared to other fancy places in town. If you like Italian food and you want to try it with a “twist” this seems to be the place to go. If you do go there send my regards to Cato and Sebastien :-)

Check out the restaurant homepage http://www.restaurant-nero.no/ for more information. The restaurant is located in the “basement” of Victoria hotel in the middle of Stavanger so it should be easy to find.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Buffet table at Akropolis

2007-08-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

Akropolis is the only Greek restaurant in Stavanger to my knowledge and is has been around for quite some time. Nikki and I went to visit the place on a Sunday afternoon in the beginning of August 2007. to test out their Sunday buffet table. I think you can get the buffet table until about 6 PM. We did not have a problem getting a table when we went there but it can be pretty busy at times so it might be a good idea to book a table in advance. One of the advantages with the buffet table is that you don't have to wait...it is just a matter of digging in :-) The selection in the buffet includes a very good Greek salad with feta cheese on the side so that you can get the right ratio between salad and cheese :-) Apart from that you can also get lamb chops, great sausages with lots of herbs and garlic, potatoes, rice, regular and boring hot dogs and french fries for the kids, onion rings, meat balls, proper pieces of chicken meat, moussaka, bread, olives, soup, etc. All in all I would say that the selection is pretty good.

There is not really that much more to say about the place. It will ccst you 149 kroner (about 25 USD) for the buffet and that is really cheap if you compare it with regular restaurant prices here in Norway. The only problem with the buffet is that you get tempted to take at least one portion too much and you end up leaving the place pretty stuffed :-) But if you are able to limit yourself this is a pretty good place for a Sunday dinner. You will find Akropolis at Sølvberggata not to far from the library and cinema in Stavanger. The restaurant has a homepage http://www.akropolis-stavanger.com/ but at the moment it does not really contain any useful information.

Regards

Gard

http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Problems with the timing at Bølgen & Moi

2007-08-25T04:22:00.000-07:00

I have been to the restaurant Bølgen & Moi a couple of times this year and you can read about my last experience on http://eatingoutinstavanger.blogspot.com/2007/04/fine-dining-with-fine-view-at-blgen-moi.html . This time I went to Bølgen & Moi due to some family celebration and we went there on a Friday night in the end of August 2007. The last time I went there I was very happy with the food and service but I was not that happy this time and I will get back to the details in this review.

We arrived at the restaurant at 7 PM and we had booked a table in advance. We got a nice table with a great view of the harbour in Stavanger and for once this summer there was nice weather :-) But after we had sat down it took a long time before we got further follow up...we did not get any question about having a aperitif and it took about half an hour before we got the menu! The menu was only "Menu for the evening" that consisted of 5 courses. We asked if it was possible to order from the a la carte menu but we got told that this was not possible as the restaurant was full. I'm not sure that this is a good answer but we ordered from the evening menu and waited in anticipation.

To start with we got a small asparagus soup that was very good...and the focaccia bread also finally came to the table and this was served with a nice aioli. The first real dish for me was the pan fried monk fish served with carrot candy, fennel and lime beurre blanc. The fish was pretty good and the same goes for the Lois wine from Austria. Two of us had monk fish for starter and two others had saffron poached halibut ....but the halibut was not served until after we had finished the monk fish. This seemed to be a typical problem this evening...it just seemed like they had too much to do in the restaurant and they struggled with the timing the entire evening.

The main dish that night was entrecôte of veal with a puree and broccoli and asparagus and morel sauce. One of the members of the party had only ordered this main dish and dessert and normally the size of the portions varies according to how many dished you have. But here it seemed like we all got the same portion. We started eating the meat and after about 5 minutes the waiter all of a sudden brought in some potatoes. We were well into the meat and we didn't know that we would get potatoes as he didn't inform us about this...another evidence on the timing problem that I have mentioned. It turned out that the potatoes were quite dry so it didn't really matter if they were served a bit late. The veal was good but not as tender as I had hoped it would be and it would also be nice to have it a bit more fried. But the wine, a Chianti Classico from Felsina, was pretty good :-)

Two of the members of the party went for a cheese platter as well and this was served together with some dark bread and some sweet syrup. We got a brie de meaux, a blue veined cheese and another French cheese that I can't remember the name of. The cheese was very good and so was the dark bread that came with it. The wine was a Symphonie de Novembre.

The dessert of the evening was only described as Chocolate on the menu. When the waiter cleared away the cheese platter we asked if we could get some coffee to go along with the dessert and he said no problem. But it turned out to not be that easy...the coffee was served 5-10 minutes before the dessert and with no sugar and cream on the table. So we were more or less done with the coffee before the dessert was served...and before the sugar and cream was brought to the table. The dessert was excellent and was a nice combination of a really dark chocolate cake, a fruit cocktail and vanilla ice cream. I wouldn't mind having the recipe for the chocolate cake as it was pure candy. The wine for the dessert was Recioto Della Valpolicella, a sweet red wine and that was excellent to the dessert.

Conclusion: The last time I went to Bølgen & Moi I was very happy with both service and food but this time they struggled with the timing and that led to a bit of waiting. The food this time was good but not excellent but the annoyance was the waiting...not getting the starters at the same time, it took us 30 minutes to get the menu, they didn't manage to serve the coffee at the same time as dessert, we had to wait to get more wine etc. I hope that they will focus on improving this in the future.

We paid about 3900 kroner (about 660USD) for 5 people . Here are the prices of the various menus (with and without wine)
3 course : 465 kroner (80 USD) / 765 kroner (130 USD)
4 course : 525 kroner (90USD) / 925 kroner (160 USD)
5 course 595 kroner (100 USD) / 1180 kroner (200 USD)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Gourmet-light at Soleado

2007-06-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

Note that Soleado has closed down :-(

In the continuing saga of "Gard's testing out places to eat in Stavanger" we have reached the small tapas restaurant Soleado. I visited this in the middle of June and I figured that it would be worth trying after the place got a very positive review in the local newspaper a few weeks back.

Soleado is located right in the middle of town...next to the cinema and library in the place called Sølvberget. It is a pretty small place and in the past I have had the impression that there has been focus on the bar...but now it seems like they are focusing on the food. We arrived at about 8 PM and I was planning to have a Kir Royal as usual...but unfortunately they didn't have the stuff needed so I ended up having sparkling wine instead. We had an English speaking guest with us so it was disappointing to find that the menu was only in Norwegian. But I translated the menu together with the waitress so it was not a big problem. We went for the 8 course dinner that cost 469 kroner per person (about 80$). While we were waiting to get started we got a bit of snack...almonds, homemade chips, aioli, misc bread, big and excellent green olives etc. Make sure that you don't get full before the first course arrives :-)

First course was salt marinated mackerel with apple and apple foam. It was a strange combination but as I have mentioned before it is nice to get exciting combination and this worked out pretty good in a strange way. We also ordered wine to go along with the food. I was hoping to get different wines for each course but this did not seem to be possible. So we bought a bottle of white wine to start with and a red wine later on.

Back to the meal...the second dish was marinated raw shrimp with mustard flowers! I'm not that fond of raw seafood and I didn't really think this dish was that good. But there were some exciting flavors from the flowers...and you don't get flowers for dinner every day (literary speaking of course).

Next dish was crab ”cornet” with mango and avocado. When we got the dish we were a bit uncertain about the meal. We got to bowls of lentils and it were 6 little cones. It turned out that there were 2 cones each and the lentils were not to be eaten :-) The small crab cones were quite tasty and the combination of crab and mango/avocado was exciting.

We were now ready for the main meals. The first was halibut with cauliflower, capers and a lovely sauce. I also think there was some mashed potato underneath the fish. The white fish was excellent and the sauce was to die for....I don't think they used any diet margarine in this sauce :-)

The highlight of the evening for me came with the next dish...veal meat with bread and a foam of some sort. The meat was just unbelievable tender and the dark glazing on the meat was beyond excellent. We continued with more meat in the next course....chicken with ecological mashed carrot. The chicken was OK but when it was served after the highlight of the evening it didn't quite stand the test.

The next dish was just served in a tiny bottle with a straw....limonchello Soleado. I guess it was just lemon lemonade :-) The first real dessert was cardamom cream with rhubarb jam. I guess the cream was just standard egg cream with some cardamom added and it was lovely. And I was also surprised by the rhubarb jam...my childhood memory of rhubarb is that it was always very sour. We ended the evening with foam of coco with "fried" pine apple and cinnamon crumbles. The pineapple was "fried" at the table by our waitress by pouring flaming cognac over the pineapple.

Conclusion: Soleado is informal compared to some of the best restaurants in Stavanger (like NB Sørensen, Jans Mat og Vinhus etc) . But this 8 course menu was exciting and had some nice highlights :-) But it would have been even better if we had gotten different wines for the different food. So if you want a nice evening with some exciting food and combinations that you didn't know was possible, you should try Soleado...I can recommended. I guess I'll call it gourmet-light :-)
The meal ended up costing about ca 2500 kroner (about 410$) for the 3 of us. It was the two bottles of wine that drove up the price :-(

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Not totally convinced by City Bistro

2007-06-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

It is not always easy to get a table on short notice in Stavanger. I noticed that when I tried to book a table for a Thursday evening and I started calling on Thursday afternoon. But when I called City Bistro it was not a problem getting a table. In my impression City Bistro is first of all a good choice near Christmas when they serve stuff like smalahove (see this pictures) and lutefisk (cod in lye…don’t ask). The place is located a bit outside Stavanger so it is not a place that you just run into…but it is only like 10 minutes walk outside downtown Stavanger.

We went there at about 7 pm and the place was empty when we came there. I had a Kir Royal as usual to start with and all the others joined in as most had not tried it before. The Kir Royal was very good by the way…I should have paid attention to the champagne that was being used.

We decided to go for the pre-set 4 course menu…aka “Asparagus menu”. Each year when the asparagus are on the market they make a big fuzz about this at City Bistro. I have never really had a thing for asparagus so I had really never had the urge to visit the place due to this. Before we got the first dish we got a small appetizer. We got a soup and can you take a wild guess which soup? Asparagus of course :-) The soup was good and it was great to get started as we were getting hungry. The first dish we got was scallops, creamed chevre and asparagus. Scallops are pretty standard at restaurants and to be honest I’m getting a bit tired of this as a starter. Before I continue I also have to mention that I had just come home from Thailand when I went to City Bistro and I was coming down with a cold and I was a bit jetlagged so maybe this is influencing this review. The menu that we got had 4 wine recommendations but we got another wine. The young lady that had served us Kir Royal in the bar was also the waitress and she was very quiet and she had a hard time getting the attention when presenting the wine.

The next dish was trout served with asparagus flan, vanilla and lemongrass sauce. The trout was good but I have to admit that it was a bit strange to get this flan as a side dish. But it OK and I guess it is good to get some unusual combinations from time to time. The main dish of the evening was chicken breast with white asparagus, potatoes and truffle hollandaise. The main dish was a bit larger compared to the main dish you get when you have a 7/8 course dinner. The chicken was good.

I guess the strangest dish of the evening was the dessert. This was the asparagus menu so the dessert was asparagus ice cream with liquorish syrup, strawberry and rhubarb salad. The ice cream didn’t taste that much asparagus but at least it sounded very exotic. The food was 565 Kroner (95$) per person and the wine package was 375 Kroner per person(60$).

Conclusion: I think I was influenced by my cold because this was not a very exciting meal in my opinion. Or maybe my taste buds were still in shock after having lots of good food in Thailand :-). City Bistro is not in the same league as places like Jans, Craigs, NB Sørensen etc but I will probably try it out again in the future…at least towards Christmas time when I can get smalahove.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

A lovely evening at NB Sørensen

2007-05-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

I went to NB Sørensen 2. etage in Stavanger in the beginning of May 2007 on a work related dinner. I had to leave for South Africa the next day and then to Thailand (see http://gardkarlsen.com/thailand2007.htm ) so I’m afraid that I can’t recall in detail how all the different meals tasted. But I’ll do my best :-)

At the moment NB Sørensen is regarded to be one of the best restaurants in Stavanger (see the review from the local newspaper http://www.rogalandsavis.no/bruland/article2609317.ece(only in Norwegian)) so we knew that we were in for a treat when we went there. I would just like to say that there is a lot of difference between the NB Sørensen located on the ground floor and the NB Sørensen located on the first floor. The one of the ground floor serves “standard” restaurant food and I have had very mixed experienced there. The restaurant on the first floor on the other had is a gourmet type restaurant and it is popular so be sure to book in advance if you want to check it out.

The whole restaurant is located in an old house used in the fishing industry in the old days. I guess it is a reminder that Stavanger was once an important town for fishing and canning…just like it now is for the oil and gas industry. We started out in the rustic bar on the ground floor where I went for Kir Royale as usual. It was a bit funny when the waitress asked if I wanted to have it with champagne as she seemed a bit reluctant to open a new bottle. But as far as I know the Kir Royale is with champagne and Kir is with white wine.

At 8 PM we went upstairs to the restaurant and I was once again a bit surprised to see how tiny the place is. We were 8 in our party and were places on a table next to another party and there was just enough room for the waitresses to walk past us. We had booked in advance that we wanted to go for the 8 course menu and as one expressed “it is a good thing that I eat fish” as there was quite a lot of fish on the menu.
After we had tasted a bit of starters (e.g. homemade potato chips), we started out with our first course for the evening. It was blackened trout with ginger, avocado and oyster. The trout could have been more blackened if it was up to me but it was really interesting with the tiny oyster vinaigrette seen in the four corners of the plate. I’m not much of an oyster person but in small doses they do have a great taste.

We continued with something I have never tasted before: Kamtsjatka crab (or also known as king crab). This huge crab has been spreading down the Norwegian coast from the Russian border and it has been a bit of a pest. But it has also been discovered that it tastes pretty good and hence it is being used in nice restaurants. We got it served together with Swedish caviar and it was a good meal.
The next course was also fish…this time Monk fish with mussel cavatelli, grape fruit and mussel foam. I’m not sure what cavatelli is but monk fish is my favourite fish and this was not a let down in any way. It was easy to smell and taste that saffron had been used in this dish and I guess that also gives it its yellow colour.

We continued with more fish… cod with brandade, fried anchovies and lobster sauce. Once again a great course and the fish were just right. What is brandade by the way?

By this time we had been through many courses and with a glass of wine for each dish. So I was getting a bit tipsy and I hate to admit that I forgot to take a picture of the main meal this evening which was lamb with sausage, risotto croquette and rosemary sauce. It was nice to get some meat but what I remember best from this course was the wine. I think we had a Ch. Vieux Bonneau 2004, Montagne-Saint Émilion, Bordeaux. I like red wines that are a bit different and this was certainly different from the red wines that I’m used to :-)

After a plate of cheese we rounded of the evening with a dessert: Dark chocolate cake with oranges. The combination of dark chocolate and oranges is good and the dark chocolate cake was very tasty. At this point we were all stuffed and no one could even make room for a coffee.

Conclusion: I agree with the newspaper review recently. NB Sørensen is one of the better restaurants in town and we had a lovely evening here. It doesn’t come cheap by the way…we had to pay about 750 Norwegian kroner for the 8 course meal and I suspect that we had to pay something similar for the wine that went along with the different courses. But if you want a dining experience you should try out NB Sørensen 2. etage.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Fine dining with a fine view at Bølgen & Moi

2007-04-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

I visited the place Bølgen & Moi in the end of April 2007 in connection with a work related event. This restaurant is located in connection with the Oil museum in Stavanger and you can see where it is located by checking out this interactive Google map that I have made: http://gardkarlsen.com/stavanger_map.htm . The name of the place is derived from the two guys Toralf Bølgen and Trond Moi who are both well known names in the Norwegian food/restaurant industry and you can also find Bølgen & Moi restaurants in some other Norwegian cities. Bølgen & Moi in Stavanger is located with a view of the harbour and the view was lovely on this nice spring afternoon. We were served aperitifs as new participants joined our party and the staff was observant when they noticed that a new face had arrived at the table. We decided to go for a 5 course meal with the wine package so we all had the same meal. The place is not a gourmet restaurant by the way...the head of the restaurant Hammersvik prefers to call it a brassiere. There is a review of the place in the local Stavanger newspaper: http://www.rogalandsavis.no/bruland/article2712552.ece (only in Norwegian).

The table was set in a funky way when we came there and we all had each our huge and colourful plate in from of us. We got a starter before we started on the main meal by the way and I think it was a rocket soup. I'm not sure what stock was used in the soup but it was very tasty :-) The same goes for the focaccia bread that was served with a lovely olive dip on the side. We got a Riesling kabinett, Dr. Loosen 2005 for this meal and we kept this when the first course was served: scallop. To serve scallop at restaurants seems to be pretty common and in this case we got two served with a purée of cauliflower and blood orange vinaigrette. It is always nice with scallops but maybe it was a bit much with two...as the evening progressed some of the guests felt there was too much food to be handled :-)

From the scallops we moved on the monkfish served on risotto with vanilla and rosemary foam. Monkfish is my favourite fish and it tasted excellent as usual. And risotto is one of my favourite dishes and it was made just the right way in this meal. This was a lovely dish that I can recommend if you decide to just order from the menu. We had a Saint Veran, Cave-Prissé 2005 along with this dish.

We continued with lamb served with lentils, sweetbread, portobello mushroom and tomato. The meat was a bit to rare for my likings but it was tasty. The potatoes were very good and I'm a bit curious on how it was made. It seemed like they were sliced and then put back again and fried. We had a Spanish Rijoa by the name of Muga for this dish. I have had this on a few other occasions and it is a great wine that goes well with lamb.

The next course was a bit of cheese with bread and something sweet. I'm not sure that the sweet bit was but it was good together with the cheese and the wine. The blue mould cheese was good and not to extreme like it was at Craigs :-) The dessert this evening was a passion fruit tart with strawberry sherbet and raspberry cream...the sherbet was lovely and fresh and the tart was sweet and delicious. We had a Riesling Beerenauslese 2005 for the dessert by the way. We ended the meal with some coffee and something extra on the side and all of a sudden we noticed that we were alone in the restaurant. Time flies when you are having fun :-)

Conclusion: check out Bølgen & Moi if you haven't been there. We got great food, great service and a lovely view of the harbour in Stavanger. The only negative comment was that some felt there was too much food in this meal :-) On the plus side I have to mention that the waiters always made sure that we had some wine and they would refill during the meal if we finished a glass. We had to pay about 1200 kroner per person for the meal (about 200 $). You can read a bit more about Bølgen & Moi on their web page http://www.bolgenogmoi.no/ .

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Simones – Italian food with a cold draft

2007-04-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Note that Simones has closed down :-(

We stopped by Simones to get some food before going to the movies last week. We have been to Simones 1 time before and back then we were not blown away by the food but we wanted to try it out again. Simones is located in the middle of Klubbgata close to the coffee bar Steam and it only has about 20 seats. There is a huge glass door that leads into the place and once you open the door you are in the middle of the restaurant. This is a problem in the winter time where there is a cold draft every time someone opens the door to go in or out. As a remedy they have put up heaters but it was still uncomfortable and not very cosy when we were there on a Friday night.

We came in right after a group of 8 had come in and our waiter informed us that it would take a while to get our food as there was only once chef in the kitchen and he would make the food as the orders came in. The kitchen and the restaurant is only separated by a half-wall so it was possible to see the progress in the kitchen. Due to this large group several other people chose to leave the restaurant to find a new place to eat as it would take to long to get the food. The place has brick walls so it is pretty rustic and on the one wall there was a huge 42” TV screen showing an Italian TV show and the atmosphere is pretty informal…we had three different chairs at our table to it does not look like they have a focus on the interior.

This is an Italian place and on some forum they claimed that Simones has the best pizza in town. We decided to do it the Italian way by having a starter and then a main meal. Nikki went for steamed mussels with pesto, I decided to go for a plate of tapas and my friend Olav wanted a sandwich. My tapas was not bad but pretty standard with olives, grissini, ham, chorizo, cheese etc. I asked the waiter what kind of red wine they served by the glass but there was only 1 kind by the glass…but I think they had 5-10 to choose from if you wanted a full bottle. The sandwich that Olav got was way too big as a starter in my opinion and I think they should have cut down on the portions and made them cheaper. I think I had to pay about 140 kroner (23$) for my tapas dish.

For the main meal Olav went for the spaghetti Carbonara while Nikki and I went for the pizza. There is quite a selection of different pizzas on the menu and I went for one with ham, rocket, parmesan and mushrooms. The pizzas were typically Italian style….flat and not that much topping. Normally this kind of pizza is pretty good but the ones we got at Simones was pretty…ehh…well, boring. Olav didn’t say that much about the spaghetti and I didn’t think much of it as he is normally pretty quiet. But he didn’t finish the meal and when we walked away from the place he was like “that spaghetti was not good at all”.

Conclusion: The waiter we had did a very good job…he was polite, informed us about the delay and did the job with a smile. But unfortunately this was not enough to save the day as it took a while to get the food, the food was mediocre and we sat in a cold draft every time someone opened the door. We ended up paying about 850 kroner (about 140$) for the three of us. The pizzas were about 140 kroner I think. You can read a bit more on http://www.simones.as but the menu is not published here I’m afraid. My recommendation is: if you want good Italian food go to Allegro instead.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Eating too much at Naree Thai

2007-04-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

One afternoon my friend Olav came into my office and asked me if I was up for some Thai food. Nikki and I was a bit sceptical as our trip to Thailand is coming up soon (see http://gardkarlsen.com/thailand2007.htm ) and we don’t want to get fed up of Thai food before we get there. But Olav convinced us and this time we went to check out Naree Thai in downtown Stavanger. Naree Thai is located near the Oil museum of Stavanger and there is room for 35 to 40 in the small restaurant.

We came there pretty early (about 5 PM) and it was still possible to get the lunch menu. This means that you can get smaller dishes at a lower price…I guess it was this that lead us to go a bit overboard. We ended up getting two dishes each…plus the classical Tom Yam Goong (the spicy and sour shrimp soup) and a cold salad with clear noodles and shrimps. Apart from that we ordered chicken with ginger, chicken with hot basil, chicken in red coconut sauce, chicken in green coconut sauce, chicken with cashew nuts etc. Actually we ordered so much that I can’t remember all of it :-)

We got the tom yam goong pretty fast and we were starving so we started digging in. The soup was good but different that the ones we are used to from other places. Normally this soup is pretty “clear” but at Naree Thai it seemed to be more…creamy I guess. The rest of the dishes came one by one and I guess I should have taken a picture of the entire table in the end as the table was all filled up with food. We shared all the various dishes and the food was quite good and we were all wondering why we had never tried this restaurant before. The different dishes were not really that spicy so I guess they have been toned down to suite the Norwegian palettes :-) The chicken in red chili and chicken in green chili was surprisingly similar….actually we had trouble telling which was which when the plates were shuffled around. But they were both very tasty.

Conclusion: If you like Thai food then Naree Thai is an option when eating out in Stavanger. If you want to save a few kroner go before 6 PM and go for the lunch menu. The lunch menu has dishes where the price range from 65 kroner (11$) to 75 kroner (12,5$) and the dinner menu had dishes ranging from 130 kroner (22$) to 160 kroner (27$). Our bill was about 1000 kroner (167$) for the 4 of us. Check out the restaurant web site on http://www.nareethairestaurant.no/ and the menu on http://www.nareethairestaurant.no/Meny.doc .

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Around the world in a glass of beer - Cardinal

2007-04-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

If you want to go out in Stavanger for a glass of beer you should consider Cardinal. The place is located near the harbour in Stavanger (right behind Hansenhjørna) and in the middle of the "bar district". I went there last year with a couple of friends and I was surprised to see the selection of beer on offer. Cardinal is a place that has been around for a long time and it is pub of the old type. Back in the old days when people was allowed to smoke in the pubs it was more or less impossible to breath in the place...that has improved a lot after the new laws about smoking came along :-)

We started with a trip down memory lane by having a glass of Tiger beer. We had quite a lot of this when we went to Malaysia lasy year (see http://gardkarlsen.com/malaysia_kuala_lumpur.htm ) but I think the beer is originally from Singapore. We continued with a Sapporo beer from Japan. We didn't have too much of this when we went to Japan in 2005 (see http://gardkarlsen.com/japan_tokyo.htm )...we stuck to Asahi when we went to Japan...but they have that too at Cardinal :-) . After that we "returned to Europe" by having a Leffe from Belgium...the Leffe Blonde was horrible by the way. By this time it was time to move on already :-(

Conclusion: If you are looking for an excellent selection of beer you should check out Cardinal. You can choose between 250 different types of beer and they claim it is the best selection in Norway. Having such a selection is really quite amazing at least for Stavanger...at bars here there are normally just a few beers to choose from...like Heineken, Carlsberg and local beer types. A bottle of beer will typically cost you from 60 to 90 kroner (10$ to 15$).

You can read more about this pub on and see the entire menu of beer on http://www.cardinal.no/ . If you want to try out a Norwegian brand that is a bit different try out Nøgne Ø (see http://www.nogne-o.no/ ) .

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Best coffee in town? - Charlie Brown

2007-04-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

Note that Charlie Brown has closed down :-(

So where do you go to find the best coffee in Stavanger? I have tested out some of the joints in town and in my opinion you can find the best coffee in town in the small cafe Charlie Brown in Stavanger Storsenter. I have gotten feedback from people that I shouldn't recommend a place that is located in a shopping mall...but if you are looking for good coffee this is the place to go. Here is a short review of the place.

Charlie Brown is located on the second floor of the shopping mall Stavanger Storsenter. There are about 6 tables with a view and a few more in a room behind the place....here you will also find a few PC's if you need to get on the internet. We normally drop in on Saturdays when we are in town and we enjoy to have a chicken or tuna fish salad. But Charlie Brown also offers sandwiches, ice cream, cakes but it is the coffee that is the specialty. Personally I enjoy the caffe mocca with whipped cream but it is more of a dessert really. They also have a very good cappuccino and if you want some more coffee taste why not try the cortado. I have also tried ice coffee here in the summer time and that is also quite delicious.

The conclusion is that this may not be the cosiest place in town as it is located in a shopping mall. But if you are looking for some great coffee this is the place to go. By the way...if you go there on a Saturday please leave a couple of salads for us :-) I would love to here other suggestions to places that can compete for the title "Best coffee in town"....I'm always willing to try out new places :-)

Regards

Gard

http://gardkarlsen.com/ - Trip reports and pictures

Full package at Craig's

2007-04-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Note that Craigs kitchen has closed down :-(

In January the restaurant Craig's kitchen got a pretty good review in the local newspaper RA (see article http://www.rogalandsavis.no/bruland/article2535867.ece - only in Norwegian) so we decided to check out th place again since we haven't been there in a while and since we had a 10 year anniversary :-) We booked a table for 7.30 PM and when we arrived we were told we were the last guests to arrive that evening so we could pick any table. I guess there is about 30 seats in the restaurant and even if there are some nice decorations (garlic, vanilla etc in jars) the place looks a bit cold and "uninviting"...and the chairs could have been more comfortable :-)

We went for a full package which means a 6 course dinner with the wine package to go along with it. Craig's is one of only 5 restaurants in Norway that can use the title Best of "Award of Excellence" in the american magazine Wine Spectator (see http://web3.aftenbladet.no/lokalt/article230412.ece -only in Norwegian) so they have a pretty good wine selection. We started with a drink....and after a trip to Paris last year (http://gardkarlsen.com/Paris_France.htm ) we have a standard drink: Kir Royale (a refreshing mix of crème de cassis and champagne). I had this in Paris last week and in general I think it is better when we travel...maybe it is all in the mind :-)

We got some bread to start with but the first course came suprisingly fast. Our opening dish was smoked pork roll with apple and foie gras. Foie gras is strange but it works very good in a small dosage and together with the acidic apple. Along with this dish we got a Fritz Haag Riesling that worked pretty good with the food. Each wine was explained to us by the waiter but he was aiming a bit too high in his explenations...we don't know that much about wine. I would loved to have more redwine but that is because I like redwine better in general :-) Second dish was scallop in a potatoe soup with truffles. The soup was excellent and the scallop was very good. Once again we got a riesling...this time Hirsch Riesling from Austria is I'm not mistaken. This was drier but once again it went good with our dish....it must be hard for them to choose which wine to serve to each dish when they have about 750 bottles to choose from :-)

We continued with cod in a butter sauce with capers and parsley. The cod was delicious and split into layers as it should do. And the sauce was to die for...I'm pretty sure that they used the real thing here and not some diet margerine thing :-) We continued with an Austrian wine if I'm not mistaken...a Prager-Hinter Grüner Weltliner (another white wine) and once the wine was good. The only problem with the meal so far was that the different courses came a bit too fast so Nikki was struggling to finish her wine. In the end she was left with numerous glasses in front of her :-)

After a fast pause dish (champagne and ice) we had another main dish...suckling lamb, homemage sausage, spinach gnocchi and pepper sause. The lamb, sausage and gnocchi was excellent and the sauce was again to die for. For this dish we finally got a red wine....a Cornas Granit "30"...where the 30 number indicates the age of the wine bushes according to our waiter. It is always great to taste red wines that are different and this red wine was a nice new acquaintance :-) Nikki said no to the next dish but I did go for the cheese. I got some brie, a blue mold cheese and a "regular" cheese. The blue mold cheese was a bit too intense for me so it was pretty nice to "rest" by eating nuts and grissini :-) We got a sweet French wine for the cheese: La Quintessence. Sweet wine like this is pretty good if you only get a glass :-) For dessert we got tiramisu with a passion fruit sorbet. I have tasted many strange versions of tiramisu over the years so I have become a bit sceptic when I see this on the menu...but Craig's made it pretty good and the way it shoud be made (at least in my opinion). To this dessert we got a very sweet Astrian white wine called Weinrieder Eiswein.

We had some coffee before we headed back home...pretty full at a bit tipsy after all the wine. Craigs met our expectations and the food was great. But note that if you go for a full package (food and wine) it will cost you a bit. The total bill was 2600 kroner for the both of us (about 420 $)...the Kir Royale was about 110 Kroner per glass (about 18$). I think it is a bit strange to charge 10 kroner for tap water when you are paying for such a meal. The 6 dishes cost 645 kroner (105$) exluding the wine. As I mentioned earlier the different dished came a bit too fast and Nikki was struggling to keep up when it comes to finishing the wine. But all in all....if you are looking for a good meal in Stavanger you should consider Craig's :-)

Read more about the place on http://www.craig.no/

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Wine by the weight at Café Sting

2007-04-04T02:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a short review of Café Sting in Stavanger. We have visited this little restaurant many times over the years and it is usually a safe bet if we want a small and fast meal. The place is located right by the Valbergtårn and you can check out more info about the place and see the menu on their homepage http://www.cafe-sting.no/ . It is a small place so it can be hard to find a seat. It is also a popular place for just sitting down with friends to have a glass of wine or a beer. The place is informal and you order your meal by the counter but the food is brought to the table by a waiter

We stopped by Sting in March and even if it was Stavanger Wine festival it was not a problem getting a table. Nikki wanted to have the Italian pork chop while I went for the salad with grilled chicken. The food came surprisingly fast and Nikki was satisfied with her pork chop...the only problem was that they didn't have any real sharp knives and hence she had to do some tearing to get the meat of the pork chop :-) My salad was also goo with lots of chicken, marinated portobello mushroom etc

Sting has a cool concept when it comes to wine. You can buy wine by the weight. They don't have that many wines to choose from but they place the glass on a scale and they pour the wine and you can say stop when you want. The price depends on the weight of the wine. So I used this opportunity to have a small glass of Italian red wine and a small glass of Spanish red wine.

I recommend the buffalo wings at Sting by the way. It is made with a very good, spicy and acidic sauce...just the way we like it :-)

Conclusion: Sting is still a safe bet if you want a fast snack in informal surroundings. But remember that it can be hard to get a seat...and the menu is a bit limited.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Charles & De in Sandnes

2007-04-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Nikki and I usually eat out in Stavanger and we joke about that we can't go to Sandnes as there are no "real" restaurants there....and it is a fact that the selection of restaurants are limited in Sandnes compared to Stavanger. But enough about that...in mid February we went to Charles & De in Sandnes (see http://www.charlestjessem.no/ ). This place is run by the world champion chef Charles Tjessem. The place is split into a Brasseri and a Café and we visited the latter. It is a bit of a shame that the Café close at 6 PM because we would love to visit this place before going to the movies at 8-9 PM.

Back to the visit...the café is informal as there are menues on the tables and you have to walk over to the counter to order. You can check out the menu on the homepage and as you can see you can get sandwiches, pizzas, salads, small warm dishes etc. I'm very into risotto so I had to try that while Nikki wanted to try the bacon fried cod. The risotto was changed a bit compared to the menu as they ran out of peas...but it was still good even if it was a bit different compared to the risottos that I'm used to...and it could have been warmer (I don't like lunk warm food). Nikki's fish was good...cod wrapped in bacon with mashed potatoes and fried vegetables on the side. They also sell various home made vitamin drinks...we tried the passion fruit drink with mango, local apple cider and banana...and the drink was excellent.

If you are up for dessert they can offer small portions of flan, chocolate cake etc.

Conclusion: Charles & De is a nice place that I would love to visit again. They only problem is that they close to early :-( So I guess there are some real places to dine in Sandnes after all :-)

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

Rubber band in the food at Ostehuset

2007-03-15T04:06:00.000-07:00

In the series "Gard is testing out places to eat in Stavanger" it is time to check out the place Ostehuset. Ostehuset is located in Klubbgaten in Stavanger (see the map on http://gardkarlsen.com/eating_out_Stavanger.htm ) and it is a small and informal place. I think there are about 30-35 seats in the cafe. There is also a shop in the same room when you can buy cheese (hence the name of the place as ost is the Norwegian word for cheese ), different oils, bread etc.

I have been to Ostehuset a few times over the years and I like their big menu where they offer sandwiches, salads, small warm dishes, pizza etc. You can check out the menu on http://www.ostehuset.no/ . They have even highlighted the dishes that are healthy :-) When I went there in March 2007 I ordered the pasta with chicken in a creamy tiger sauce...and Nikki when for chili con carne with mashed potatoes. My pasta dish was OK but as before it seems like it is served a bit too lukewarm for my likings...I keep on wondering if they don't heat it enough...or if it is left outside once it is done. There was lots of food in this dish...lots of chicken, pasta and pepper and I got really full.

Nikki took the chili con carne and this is a wonderful dish that we make at home from time to time. But at Ostehuset this dish was a disappointment. This must be the most boring chili con carne that I have ever tasted and we were joking that it should have been called con carne as there was no traces of chili. On top of the dish there was a bunch of ruccola (rocket) and when Nikki had eaten parts of it she found something that didn't belong there. In the salad they had forgotten to remove the rubber band that kept the rocket together and when inspecting it closer it didn't look like the rocket had been washed. We called the waitress and for a second it seemed like she was tempted to just pick it out of Nikki's food with her fingers. But Nikki said she wanted the rocket moved altogether and they took it back to the kitchen to do this.

So what is the conclusion? Ostehuset is a nice little place with a large menu. But it seems like the quality has gone a bit downhill over the last few years...lukewarm dishes and left rubber band in the food indicates that they are pushing the limits. We will probably go there again but I am a bit skeptic after the rubber band incident.

Regards Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures

A great dining experience at Jans mat og vinhus

2007-02-28T02:57:00.000-08:00

Jans mat og vinhus is a kind of institution in the restaurant environment in Stavanger. They have kept it going for many years and most people in town know about the place. When I grew up I thought that I would never have the money to eat there as it is a nice and expensive restaurant. But over the years most people have gotten more money and we can afford to eat there on special occasions :-)

Well, let us talk about the dining experience. We arrived at 7.30 PM and the place is very cosy even if it is some kind of basement. There were candles on the tables and soft music in the background. This was a company dinner by the way and we were out with clients. We decided to go for the 8 course meal (about 500 kroner/80$) and the wine package to go along with it (635 kroner/100$)

We started with a Kir Royal but the first course arrived pretty fast. We started with foie gras served with some sort of apple "jam" and with beetroot syrup. We got a pretty sweet white wine to go along with this (Marc Tempé Tokay-Pinot Gris Vendage Tardives ’99). I don't think that I have had a sweet wine like this for a starter before (normally you get the sweet wine for the desserts) but it worked surprisingly good. Foie gras can be a bit overwhelming but in small portions and together with the acidic apples and sweet wine it was very good.

We continues with a soup based on cauliflower and truffles. The truffle taste can be a bit too much but in this soup it was just right :-) We went over to more traditional white wine now...Rieffel Riesling Brandluft ’2004. In the description of the dish it said that the soup would also contain ”chicken mousse and parma ham...”. I have no idea where this chicken was but I think I found a tiny piece of meat in the soup that might have been the parma ham :-) But the soup was good in any case.

We continued with the same wine and the next course was fried scallop. Scallops are not my favorite but having one like this is pretty good. I'm not quite sure I know what we got served on the side for this dish. The description said ”beurre noisette”? and I guess you have to check out Wikipedia if you want to find out what it is :-). Next dish in line was the traditional Norwegian klippfisk (salted and dried cod). This was a klippfisk tempura with pepper coulisse og saffron vinaigrette. I know...it sounds very fancy but I didn't find it to be great. It just tasted like deep fried something with a sweet and sour sauce. The fish was OK but it didn't really taste like klippfisk in my opinion...some might say that is positive :-) The wine to go along with this dish was José Michel Carte Blanche.

And then we started on the first main dish of the day...fish of the day. In our case this was cod with leek, spinach and anchovies mayonnaise. The fish was excellent and it was quite nice to get a red wine to this dish...we had a Terreno Chianti Classico ’2004. Maybe it was the food that influenced my taste buds but this wine didn't taste like a Chianti...but it was good and I think it went very good to the cod. The second main course was lamb carré with polenta, small onions and tomato based demi glace. Once again an excellent plate and the wine was Chateau des Sarrins Rouge ’2002. The wine was OK...when I say OK I guess you have to take into account that I have not developed a taste for French wines yet...until now my favorites are Spanish and Italian red wines.

On the menu it said ”Pina Colada” for the next dish. We thought that we would get a cocktail drink but it turned out to be a small dessert where small pieces of pineapple was topped with a sweet whipped cream with coconut taste. This was a very good dessert and it was refreshing. I have to admit that I have no idea what wine we got for this dish...maybe this shows that I had had too much wine already :-) The last dish was chocolate nemesis, some sort of eclaire with custard and a raspberry and champagne sorbet. The small chocolate cake was fantastic and it tasted like they had used dark, dark, dark chocolate to make it. And it was nice and fresh with the sorbet to go along with this.

All in all this was a very good meal. But this is a top restaurant so I would also like to mention some things that were not perfect.

When we ordered the aperitifs it didn't look like they had control over who was getting what. The result was that we got more Kir Royals than we wanted.
In the beginning of the meal I asked for the menu so that we could keep track of what we were eating. They said that they were going to bring it but I never got it.
On the toilet they had little towels to dry of the hands. When I went there they had run out of clean towels so I had to use toilet paper
When they were bringing out the main dish they had forgotten to take out the plates from the previous course and that created a bit of chaos :-)
the music was soft in the background...but it is the same CD they used when I went there last year. Maybe it is time to change?
The more experienced waiters served the ladies first. The not so experienced waiters didn't seem to care about this.
they were a bit stingy with the wine. But when I got up at 7 AM the next day I was kinda happy that they didn't give us too much :-)

As you can see this is just details and it did not ruin the experience in any way.

My conclusion: I recommend that you try out Jans mat og vinhus. Bring someone you love and go for the whole package with wine and food. It is a great experience.

Here is the review of the restaurant in the local newspaper RA: http://www.rogalandsavis.no/bruland/article2561379.ece - only in Norwegian I'm afraid. And here is a link to the restaurants homepage http://www.jans.no

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Amici - "new" Italian restaurant

2007-01-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

Nikki and I noticed all of a sudden that there was a new small restaurant by the name of Amici in Stavanger. It is located in Bakkegaten 7 just around the corner from the cinema in town. It is a pretty small place and I think there were only 6-7 tables when we were there with maybe seats for 25 people.

We checked out this place in January 2007 and we were placed in the lower level of the restaurant. It was freezing in the room so I kept my fleece on during the meal. The menu was very limited and there was only about 10 different things to choose from and they were all in the price category 90-100 Kroner (about 15-16$). We wanted to order a tray of mixed antipasto but that was sold out so instead we ordered chicken breast and a baked potato dish.

The amount of food we got seemed to be related to the price because the portions were small. Both the chicken and potato dish was served on ruccola (rocket) but we didn't feel that the description of the menu was in style with what was in front of us on the table. The chicken was supposed to be filled with smoked mozzarella and wrapped in ham. Yes, there were some cheese inside and a couple of bacon strips on top but it didn't look very elegant. The potato dish was not very exciting either and it was served a bit lukewarm.

Conclusion: If you just want a small snack this might be an option for you. But don't expect too much from the food....our conclusion was that we cane make better and more tasty food at home. As a plus they do have 6-7 different red wines that you can get served by the glass.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com/ - trip reports and pictures