Olivia Torget - new Italian restaurant with great views

Olivia is a restaurant chain that has restaurants in Bergen, Trondheim and Oslo – and in May 2018 it was time for Stavanger to get a branch. I have never been to one of their restaurants before, but I know many that have tried them, and it seems like it is a safe bet if you want a good meal. Olivia was able to get a prime location in Stavanger and they are located right on the city square! Olivia seems to focus on Italian inspired food and before I proceed I have to warn you that I have a weak spot for Italy (see e.g the trip reports from Rome, Bologna and Florence) so this review might me influenced by that.

 

We went there on a Wednesday in May and I tried to book a table online in advance, but I was informed that there were no tables available. We went there anyway and was delighted to hear that they did have a table for us – in fact, they had lots of available tables. The place is brand new, but I was surprised how cozy the place is. This branch has been decorated with inspiration from Portofino apparently and the interior includes big posters with scenes from Italy, fire places, olive trees etc. The place is quite big and there are tables on two floors and many of the tables do have a great view of the harbor of Stavanger.

 

We were greeted with a smile and got a window table. The menu is in Italian, Norwegian and English and included starters, pizza, pasta and a lot of primi piatti (a lighter meal I guess you can call it). The wine selection is not bad, and they have focused on wines that are easy to like – both for the pallet and the wallet. As they were out of buffalo mozzarella we took it up a notch and ordered burrata (a very soft buffalo mozzarella cheese from Puglia) and polenta chips. As main dishes we chose risotto and a pizza. Our waiter took our orders with a smile and it didn’t take long before we got the polenta chips. We were hungry, but I think they would have taste delicious even if that was not the case. They were served warm and fresh and with a good aioli. We didn’t get the burrata but eventually the waitress came to check if we had gotten both starters. I guess the kitchen made a mistake, but the waitress fixed this and we soon got this (with apologies from the waitress). The burrata is always a treat – it can be eaten just with a light sprinkle of salt, pepper and olive oil. It also came with some bread, a salad that was a but uninspired but with good cherry tomatoes.

 

The main meals were served shortly thereafter. The pizza was a burrata pizza modified with some spicy Italian sausage. The pizza was great, and it was lovely with the combination of the mild burrata and the spicy sausage. The crust and pizza base were also to my liking. I love my risotto and I had to try to when they had a combination of lemon and asparagus. I’m not a big fan of asparagus but in this dish,  it worked together with the lemon. If I was to be picky I can say that I would have wanted it to be a bit more creamy and rich, but it was a tasty risotto indeed. We got the check and it was about 600 kroner - about 63 € (without drinks).

 

Conclusion: it is hard not to like Olivia. The place has a great location, the menu includes stuff that people know and love (pizza, pasta, lasagna etc). The people working in the restaurant was very polite and had a great service attitude – I would probably say that this is due to good management in the restaurant so well done! I’m not sure that the food is made with the same craftsmanship, love, good ingredients as e.g. Casa Gio but I’m sure that Olivia will be a very popular restaurant in Stavanger in the years to come. We will certainly be back to try out more of their menu. Check out their website on http://oliviarestauranter.no/ for more information.

Nordic flavors at Restaurant SÖL

This restaurant opened in February 2018 and the reviews were good. We decided to check it out on a Friday night in May to see what Restaurant SÖL is all about. It is located a short walk away from the city center. It is in quiet surroundings and maybe that is why the previous restaurants in this location has gone out of business very fast. Let us hope that this does not happen to Restaurant SÖL .

 

Restaurant SÖL is a small place with room for maybe 20-30 guest. The guests have a view into the open kitchen and I was surprised to see that the three young chefs that runs the place, carries out all the work themselves. According to their web site they will focus on good vegetables with an add on of meat/fish if this fits in. Keywords are Nordic flavors, sustainability and vegetables. To match this, they also focus on serving natural wines.

 

We got there just after 8 and got a table right by the kitchen. In some places this can be an issue as there is a lot of noise from the kitchen. But in this place, I could hardly hear that food was prepared just feet away from us. We got the menu and it is simple: they have a set menu! We decided to go all in and have the menu with matching wines. It did not take long before we got some white wine in the glass and some lovely fresh (still warm) bread with a fluffy butter on the side. I was starving so this was very appreciated.

 

The first dish was a bowl of bacondashi, cabbage, ramson (ramsløk in Norwegian) and egg. The first question we had was “What is dashi?” and apparently it is a Japanese stock with quite a lot of umami flavor. And it had a lot of flavor indeed! It was a lovely starter and first of all because of the richness in the dashi. In addition, it was great to find a perfectly poached egg at the bottom. 

We got a new glass of white wine (I did not note down the names as most of them are not available at Vinmonopolet) and prepared for the second dish. Again we got a dish that was beautiful presented: half a cauliflower served with buttermilk, nuts and roe from a fish called rognkjeks (lumpsucker in English). I’m not that crazy about cauliflower so this dish was not my favorite. But it was interesting to taste the grilled cauliflower together with the slightly sour taste of the buttermilk.

 

We switched to red wine and got ready for the main dish. The main dish of the evening was a sort of risotto served with chicken (or actually organic hen) and topped with lovage (løpstikke) and salad. Instead of using risotto rice they had replaced this with grains that can be grown in Norway I assume. The “risotto” was not bad at all – but as I love my risotto made from risotto rice, I always feel that it is false advertising to name a dish like this “risotto”. But the chicken/hen was juicy, and the grains had a good firmness. I would have preferred more grains and less of the green salad on top. 

 

The dessert was lovely: grilled apple with an ice cream that had a slight malt taste to it (or toast ice cream according to the menu). And to round it of we got a fresh warm dish called “epleskiver”. It is some sort of Danish pancake balls and it was delicious. Not sure why it is called epleskiver as it does not seem to contain any apples ;-)

Conclusion: I’m impressed to see three chefs venture into something like this and I hope that the place will make it in the Stavanger restaurant scene. We enjoyed the dinner at Restaurant SÖL even if we were not totally blown away. They change the menu based on what they have so I would not mind going there to try them out again. Thanks to chefs Nayana, Claes and Magnus for having us! You can find more information on their homepage https://www.restaurantsoel.com/ and the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/restsoel/

Regards

Gard 

http://gardkarlsen.com 

Where to find the best ice cream in Stavanger!

Norwegians loves ice cream and producers like Diplom-Is and Hennig-Olsen is, makes lots of different ice creams that are sold in grocery stores, kiosks, gas stations etc. My impression is that most of the ice cream that are sold is either in big portions (like e.g. Ben & Jerry’s in tubs for home use) or ready-made ice cream cones (from producers mentioned above).  We don’t have much of a culture for buying scoops of ice like you see in Italy (ohhhh….gelato) or Argentina (ohhhhh…helado). But you can get some good quality ice cream also in Stavanger – you just need to know where to go. So here is my list of places where you can get some good ice cream if you come to town. Where do you go when you want to have some great ice cream in Stavanger???

GO is

The Renaa universe covers a fine dining restaurant (yes, with a Michelin star), a bistro and a pizzeria, but now they have also introduced ice cream! So far, I’m very impressed. Their selection is small but they focus on good quality ingredients. You will find classics here like vanilla, pistachio and they have also made some very good sorbets. In addition to this, you can cover it with several toppings! Make sure to try buckthorn sorbet (tindved in Norwegian) if they have that available.

Pros: good quality, made inhouse, gelato style, some exciting flavors, good toppings

Cons: limited selection of flavors

Where: at Renaa Xpress at Kulturhuset på Sølvberget - at the counter facing the library. Address is Sølvberggata 2
More info: read more on their Facebook page.

Siddis Café

This is the new kid on the block as it opened in early 2018! They focus on making their own gelato in house. Flavors vary but they usually have 5 gelati (I guess that is the plural of gelato) s and about the same amount of sorbets. 

Pros: made inhouse, gelato style, good sorbet selection, sorbets are vegan
Cons: location is not the best
Where: Kongsgata 34 – by the lake Breiavannet not far from Domkirken (Cathedral of Stavanger).
More info: Siddis cafe homepage 

MooGoo Ice cream house

The Moo Goo Ice cream shop opened in July 2017. Funny enough this is apparently where the first ice cream shop in Stavanger opened back in 1960 so it is in a historic place. Moo Goo seems to focus a lot on soft serve that you can top with about 50(!) toppings or you can get it blended like a McDonald’s McFlurry. But I am disappointed that there regular ice cream is not homemade – it is from Diplom IS.

Pros: lots and lots and lots of toppings, good milkshakes
Cons: their ice is not homemade, portions are too big
Where: Kirkegata in Stavanger – just down the street from Valbergtårnet.
More info: https://www.facebook.com/MooGooIceCreamHouse 

Godt Brød Sølvberget

Located across from Renaa on Arnageren, you will find Godt Brød bakery. They have a summer tradition of serving good vanilla ice cream but the real treat is the topping made by fresh strawberries. The Norwegian strawberries are excellent, but the season is short so be sure to try it if you stop by Stavanger in the summer months! The last time I tried it though, I must admit that I was not that impressed. They strawberry topping was not very good and it was a tiny portion.

Pros: Good creamy ice cream topped with whipped cream and strawberries
Cons: they don't have much of a selection
Where: Godt Brød on Arnageren. Address is Søregata 4 

Il Gelato

The next candidate is in Sandnes, just outside Stavanger. I stopped by this place called Smakeriet – Il Gelato in the mall Bystasjonen in Sandnes a while back. This small ice cream place seems to make ice cream for good restaurants and it is made on site, so you get it fresh. The ice cream that I had was excellent, so it is worth a visit if you are in Sandnes and are feeling the urge for an ice cream. 

Pros: homemade, lots of flavors

Cons: located out of downtown Stavanger

Where: Smakeriet is located on the first floor in Bystasjonen (også kjent som andre etasje på norsk).

More info: https://www.ilgelato.no/