Lively place but not a culinary adventure

We have been to Harry Pepper a few times – this is even where I proposed to Nikki! But last year the restaurant moved from the original location and moved into a new location. Now they are located at Skagenkaien 33. The new location is an old sea house with lots of floors and visible old wooden structures which makes it charming. We went there on a Friday night and it was very quiet outside at 7.30 but inside it was quite lively and lots more people than expected. We got quickly shown to a small table and got the menus. This is a tex-mex restaurant, and the menu has not changed much over the years and we decided to go for the three-course deal that they offer. I decided to have a duck confit taco to start with and fajitas as my main meal and Nikki went for seafood and ordered the halibut ceviche to start with and baked ling as main. We got a bottle of tap water right away which was great, but we never got tortilla chips and salsa that everyone else seem to get so I assume that was just a mistake by the waiter. I have to give Harry Pepper some kudos for having a small and good selection of wines. No, this is not your high end wines but they had wine that are reasonably prices (if you can say that about 500-600 kroner wines).

 

My duck taco was served in a wooden holder and according the menu it contained chorizo, sea buckthorn berry and cloudberry salsa (or tindved- and multesalsa in Norwegian).  The taco was excellent as a starter, but I did not taste any of the sourness that is usually the signature for sea buckthorn. Nikki’s ceviche looked pretty with the white fish and the colorful topping (e.g. the pomegranate seeds) but Nikki was not totally convinced by the taste.

  

The main dishes were served soon after and my fajitas was served with soft tortillas in a box and toppings such as guacamole, cheese, salsa and sour cream in small jars. The meat was served sizzling together with onion on a frying pan and topped with a bit of chili. The meat portion was quite generous, and it is fun to be able to construct your own dish. But I was not that impressed by the taste of the toppings. The guacamole seemed to be just mashed avocado, the salsa was very mild and the cheese very standard. Nikki’s ling looked good and certainly had more taste than my dish. But the deep fried squid was just dry but the sweet potato and vegetable chili had some kick to it.

We ended the night with churros served with a dark chocolate sauce and cinnamon ice cream. The platter looked pretty and the cinnamon ice cream was good. But the churros seemed to be a bit undercooked and seemed quite oily.

 

Conclusion: As you can see from this review, we went there in 2016 and I had more or less the same conclusion. Go here for a lively atmosphere and to get some good portions of meat. But don’t expected this to be a culinary adventure in any way.

Facts:

Homepage: http://www.harry-pepper.no/

Location: Skagenkaien 33 – see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/7zaPvtmVDHD2

Price for the food on this visit: 990 kroner (about 120 USD)