Tasting menu at Sabi Sushi Hinna

       

Sabi Sushi Hinna recently had a number of evenings featuring a special tasting menu with an optional wine package. This seemed like a great excuse to delve into anything other than traditional christmas food. Sabi has a number of outlets and their empire seems to be growing. And with good reason - their menu is diverse with solid pricing. There menu has something for everyone - seasoned sushi enthusiasts and newbies alike. In addition to us on a double date, other patriots at their last event this year were a mix of friends, family and an apparent guys night out.

The Hinna branch accommodates more seating options than their maiden branch in Storhaug - with even a chambre separat of sorts. Our evening was off to a memorable start, with a warm greeting by an enthusiastic and well spoken waitress. If you are new to the sushi scene, don’t be shy about asking the knowledgeable staff. 

  

The amuse bouche was a welcome introduction to the evening - crab, salmon and spicy cream wrapped in a … pardon me, what was that? Tamago (tamagoyaki - Japanese omelette made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg). A mild combination of seafood wrapped in a not too dominant blanket of eggs. The accompanying white wine on its own, was easy on the palate and certainly had more body with the amuse bouche and starter thereafter. I think I was expecting the usual white wine experience and was pleasantly surprised by the full bodiness.

Conversation flowed and the dishes kept coming. Sterling sashimi with ponzu sauce; beside a seared sliced scallops with wasabi cream. The sterling turned out to be one of my favourites this evening. Norway is blessed with access to great seafood at its shores. And winter it a great time to enjoy some of what the ocean depths has to offer.

      

Our attention was then drawn to the next serving of wine - which turned out to be champagne. A Geoffroy Empreinte Brut Premier Cru (available at vinmonopolet.no) - characterised as “complex palette of aromas of red fruits” and “airy, bright and vigorous in the mouth” Our trip to the French region of Reims 2 years ago, peaked our interest in this offering. This brut premiere cru was reminiscent of the range we sampled in Reims - not too excessive sugar, the effervescence had me picturing bubbles made by crashing sea waves. 

Which was appropriate as the next dish was: oyster topped with ponzu sauce and deconstructed langoustine with spicy wasabi cream on a bed of ice. Isn’t it pretty? Oysters are tricky - I like them au naturel (fresh from the ocean and not drowned in all sorts to camouflage it’s true flavour before ever reaching me) and others prefer to (drown the fruits of the ocean) season (excessively) with a range of sauces or toppings. This turned out to be a well balanced option to please us all - just the right amount of ponzu sauce and spring onion. 

And then came a short lived reminder of wasabi as part of the Japanese sushi experience. I stress that it was short lived and quickly forgotten. The simplicity of the next dish was exquisite - its not colourful and yet it glistened and made its presence known. Sterling nigiri, lime zest and rock salt. And a streak of wasabi. I haven’t mentioned the rice. It is definitely worth mentioning though, simply because it was a fantastic compliment - held its form and no dry / starchy crunchiness in sight. 

Our next dish was a winner at our table. Flambéed salmon nigiri with mango sauce. Almost looked like the scales were still on the salmon. Mango sauce was creamy and smooth - not too sweet or stark. This was also the stepping stone towards heated dishes.

 

    

I guess I should have started with a warning - seafood of all sorts was served this evening. Including some (controversial?) teriyaki glazed, scorched and ginger topped  whale meat. Finding a decent photo was not easy (thank you for sharing Andreas) - most of ours made the whale nigiri look less appetising than it really was. Whale meat is not that easy to work with - perhaps comparable to perfecting that medium raw serving of a marbled steak.

There is an art form to using garlic as a topping. Which I have yet to perfect - I love garlic, so I always go over the top. Our next serving (tuna sashimi with truffle sauce) had 2 slivers of fried garlic. Perfect.

And just when we thought we were done, along came the duck with kumquat. Not quite seafood but also an indication that Sabi has a variety of offerings. Served with an exquisite red wine (Domaine Nicolas Rossignol Volnay 1er Cru Cailleret - no longer available at vinmonopolet).

At this stage we were all comfortably satisfied. And the lychee-ginger sorbet with frozen dried strawberries was perhaps not given its rightful attention. We recently saw that Siddis Cafe is collaborating with Sabi for the delivery of gelatos and sorbets.

We had a lovely evening and this is definitely a concept that I hope Sabi Sushi will continue to offer. The wine pairings were commendable - especially the champagne and red wine (personal preferences, maybe?). A great way to ease into the world of Japanese cuisine or (like us) to flash back to that long ago trip to Japan. Alternatively, Sabi offers a tasting menu which you can enjoy in one of their many branches or in the comfort of your own home. 

 

Facts:
Homepage: https://www.sabi.no/ 
Location: Jåttåvågveien 7 - see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/oYSPahnx1x12

Traditional food at City Bistro (Restaurant is permanently closed)

Note that this restaurant is permanently closed!

If you have read this blog, you will see that there are not that many places in Stavanger that serves Norwegian food. Maybe because traditional Norwegian food can be a bit bland and hence people like to make it at home instead of paying for it at a restaurant. But we do have some good traditional Christmas food and many restaurants in town focus on this in November and December. One of the restaurants that maybe does this best is City Bistro. Located on Madlaveien, it is a bit outside the city center of Stavanger and I don’t really think about it when I try to come up with restaurants to visit in downtown. But in November and December, City Bistro shines as it brings out the good Norwegian Christmas food and drinks.

 

The restaurant is split up in several floors and downstairs there is a la carte restaurant. On the upper floors there are private rooms that you can rent, and this is what we did in November. We were 10 colleagues that decided to enjoy some lutefisk (lye fish) and pinnekjøtt. The private room that we got had a large square table and the interior is like taken out of an old cabin. We had booked the food in advance as we were 10 and that makes it easier to serve all at once. But before we got the food we were offered akevitt (or aquavit), the Scandinavian spirit that is usually made from potatoes (at least in Norway) and flavored with various herbs. They also had a good selection of local craft beer including Lervig and Jåttå Gårdsbryggeri and of course a selection of juleøl (Christmas ale).

I had decided to have lutefisk as a starter and this is a dish that many people have an opinion about. It is made from dried/salted cod (klippfisk or tørrfisk) but it is treated with lye which can give it a gelatinous texture if it has been treated too much. I think City Bistro does it just right and they also seem to use good quality fish. The fish was served with a mash of peas, potatoes, bacon and mustard sauce. In addition to this we also got brown goat cheese (which is delicious by the way) to sprinkle on top.

 

After the starter we got a palate cleanser which was basically a aquavit ice cream. And it seemed like the chef had been generous with the aquavit! As a main meal I had ordered pinnekjøtt. Pinnekjøtt is salted and dried lamb ribs and it is a traditional Christmas meal for about 30-40% of all Norwegians on Christmas eve. The lamb ribs are sold dried and you must soak them in water for 1-2 days depending on how salty they are. The dish at City Bistro was served in a traditional way with potatoes, mashed rutabaga and just juices from the cooking process. It was quite a big portion and the ribs contained lots of meat, but they were a bit too salty in my opinion.

To end the meal, we got another traditional Norwegian dish: riskrem with berry sauce. Riskrem is a mix of cold rice porridge mixed with whipped cream, so it is quite a rich dessert. This riskrem was a bit on the firm side but it was very good indeed.

 

Conclusion: if you come to Stavanger in the months from October to February, get in touch with City Bistro and see what they can organize for you! You might be able to taste some very good traditional Norwegian food – and food that is more or less impossible to find at other restaurants in Stavanger. If you are lucky you can even convince them to prepare a smalahove (half a head of lamb) for you: ;-)

Facts:
Homepage: http://www.citybistro.no/
Location: Madlaveien 18 - see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/2vrU4jWanvj

The new Ostehuset in downtown Stavanger is open!

The new Ostehuset has opened!! Ostehuset in downtown Stavanger has been located in Hospitalgata for the last few years and now they have moved just around the corner to Domkirkeplassen. And what an upgrade this seems to be! I stopped by briefly on opening day just to check it out and it looks very promising. First of all: the new location used to be the Bank of Norway (Norges Bank) so it is actually a historic building and hence there are restriction to what can be done to the interior. It is also historic as this was the place of the biggest heist in Norwegian history: the NOKAS robbery. The building has a large façade towards Domkirkeplassen and with HUGE windows you get a lovely view from the inside. When entering this new place, you are faced with several options. On your left-hand side there is a deli with a good selection of cheese, bread, juice etc. On the right hand side you will find the section that is similar to the old Ostehuset : an informal café/bistro that has food and coffee. The new addition to Ostehuset is the restaurant Hagen (the Garden) in the back and the wine bar located on the mezzanine. The wine bar has a lovely view of the rest of Ostehuset – and to Domkirkeplassen. Apart from that there are private rooms and a room for maturing cheese! It looks like this is a great addition to the restaurant scene in Stavanger! Congratulations to owners Hanne Norman Berntzen and Tom Helge Sørensen on the brave move!!

 

  

 

 

New burger place : burger & beers

As I have mentioned in other reviews here on the blog, there has been a burger trend that has swept across the city of Stavanger for the last few years. The latest addition to this trend is burger & beers in downtown Stavanger. This new place is located in an old sea house right on the harbor of Stavanger (on the Skagen side of Vågen if you are a local) and for years this used to house a Mexican restaurant – called Mexico (of all things). In September Mexico shut down and burgers & beers opened soon after. The location is excellent in many ways – on the harbor, surrounded by lots of restaurants and bars – and with a very lively atmosphere. The old sea house is also very charming – when you enter it looks like it is the original 16^th century woodwork that is keeping the house together! From what I can remember, there has not been that many changes to the interior since burgers&beers took over the place.

We were greeted and seated pretty fast and got to order drinks fast from an English speaking waiter. The menu is not extensive in any ways as you can see on https://www.burgerbeers.no/meny/ - it is burgers with sides basically. We ordered the B&B classic with sweet potato fries and coleslaw and it didn’t take long before the burgers were served. The meat is delivered by the local butcher Idsøe which is great – it is good to see there is a focus on using local products. The sweet potato fries were excellent in my opinion – fresh made, good consistency and great taste. The coleslaw was good, but the vegetables were in microscopic pieces. I would have enjoyed some bigger chunks to actually taste the various ingredients. The burger came with a good piece of bacon on it, cheese and it was topped with good chunks of vegetables (tomato, lettuce, onion). My burger was fried to medium and I enjoyed this – but my dinner date found her burger to be a bit too rare for her liking. I guess it would have been good if the waiter had asked how we wanted it.

 

Conclusion: All in all, I was quite happy with my burger and I would not mind going there again. But having said that, I’m not sure if that is enough to keep this place going. The menu is limited, and it is not much different from the other burger places in town. And the name might suggest that there is an extensive selection of beer on the menu but that is not that case – they have a rather standard selection. Mexico (the previous restaurant located here) never felt like a real Mexican restaurant and I always got the impression that they made most of their money from selling beer. I hope that this is not the case for burgers&beers as there is a lot of other places that just focus on drinks. But maybe that is what is needed to make money in this business.

Facts:
Homepage: https://www.burgerbeers.no/
Location: Skagenkaien 9 - see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/tzx7E8FKbox
Price for the food on this visit: (two burgers, 1 coleslaw and 1 fries) 370 Norwegian kroner (45 USD)

 

100ugå in Sandnes

I have been to the "food festival" 100ugå a couple of times before. This year we went there a couple of times and I was impressed with the food and portions. My friend Ronny was quite embarrassed when I convinced him that we should be one portion to share so that we could cover more restaurants in one evening. The concept is quite simple: each of the participating restaurants comes up with one dish that will be on offer for 100 kroner (12 USD) during this week. We managed to cover Mondo which had a lovely fried chicken with cous cous, Noi who served a colorful fish dish, GamlaVærket had a great chicken and pork combination dish, Delikatessen by Foodfighters had great tacos etc. But the best part was that the people of Sandnes (and Stavanger) seemed to embrace the concept and there were lots of people out at the various venues - enjoying all the lovely food. Make sure to check it out the next time it is on!

 

 

 

The new Garcia Stavanger Øst is worth a visit

It was not that long ago since I wrote a review about the restaurant Basil & Co in Stavanger Øst. Unfortunately the place went out of business but the venue was taken over by Garcia (located at Forus outside Stavanger) and in August 2018, Garcia – Stavanger Øst welcomed the first customers. The restaurant claims to focus on Mediterranean food and to have classical dishes from France and Spain. We went there on a Saturday night and we were welcomed by a waiter and quickly shown to out table. I was pleased to see that there was quite a lot of people in the restaurant and I hope it stays this way! The entrance and restaurant have a new and modern feel to it – with mood lighting and with wine and cheese on display.

 

The menu is not extensive, but it has both fish, meat and chicken options and there is also a sharing menu that I assume will change a bit from day to day. As we were not that hungry, we decided to share a caprese salad to start with and Nikki chose bacalao as her main meal and I chose the risotto (of course). We got the caprese salad after about 15 minutes and it was a colorful display. I am a bit puzzled that it came with Parma ham as it is usually a vegetarian dish with just tomatoes, basil and the mozzarella. But I’m flexible (especially when it comes to Parma ham) and I guess it is important to make it into a signature dish by changing it a bit. I was also served with warm tomatoes and bread croutons, so they were really pushing the boundaries. All in all a good starter but I am not big fan of the herb that was used on top (I’m not really sure about the name of it).

 

About 20 minutes later we got our main dish for the evening. Nikki got her bacalao and as with the starter, it was served with a twist. The fish was served on top of the actual bacalao – and it was not salted and dried cod! Bacalao means cod basically and if you got to Portugal (see my Lisbon trip report ) you will find out that they have many ways to prepare a dish with cod. In Norway bacalao is more or less synonymous with Bacalao a la Viscaina – a stew with tomatoes, olives, onion etc. But back to the dish that was served at Garcia: Nikki enjoyed the bacalao and felt it was a generous portion. I would have enjoyed to see klippfisk (salted and dried cod) being used instead of tusk (or brosme in Norwegian) but then again, I love my klippfisk.

 

It is always interesting to order risotto at restaurant. Even if it is quite a simple dish, it can also end up as a disaster. The risotto that was served at Garcia was greenish and looked like a risotto primavera – well, if you didn’t count in the chicken that was on top of it. The risotto was actually excellent: it was creamy, it had a citrus taste to it (according to the menu it contained gremolata which is a lemon/garlic/parsley mix) and the rice was cooked right. It was topped with a small grilled lettuce and the chicken which on the menu was described as a “crispy chicken”, was a juicy and tender chicken piece. 

We decided to skip dessert – not because I was not tempted by the options but because we were running out of time.

Conclusion: I have eaten at Garcia at Forus before but that is more of a lunch place. With Garcia in Stavanger Øst they seemed to have taken it up a notch. Our meal was very good without any flaws in food or service. As you can see from my description above, they have taken some liberties to changes dishes into their own “Garcia style” and hopefully this will be a bit of a surprise for some. Only the future will tell if Garcia can make it in Stavanger Øst. The food is in my opinion, worth a visit!

Facts:
Homepage: http://garcia.no/stavanger-ost-startside/

Location: Ryfylkegata 33 - see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/c79jCd5cK9n 

Price for the food on this visit: 630 kroner (about 75 USD)

Greasy and salty pizza

Domino’s Pizza has opened a branch in Stavanger – located at Fiskepiren where tourist take the boat to go hiking to Preikestolen. As you have seen on the blog, I do like pizza, but it has been a while since I have been to Domino’s Pizza. I stopped by before heading off on a boat trip the other day and ordered a medium pizza from their extensive menu. They only have a few seats in the restaurant so I think the focus will be on delivering and takeaway. The place was just a few days old, so the place looked fresh and clean. The staff is still in a learning phase I guess as there was a bit of running around like headless chickens. There is a TV screen at the counter where you can keep an eye on the progress of your pizza which is a good function. I do however think that it would be good to get the names right as this seemed to cause quite a lot of confusion for people picking up pizzas.

 

I got my Pepperoni Passion and it looked pretty much like the pizza that you see on the menu and that is at least a good thing. My friend on the other hand did not get the pizza that he ordered but we didn’t have time to wait for a new pizza as we had a boat to catch. After traveling a lot to Italy and tasting what can be considered “authentic” Italian pizza here in Stavanger, it is almost an insult to call the Domino’s pizza a “pizza”. I guess there should be a different word for it as it is not really the same thing. My Pepperoni Passion was extremely greasy and very, very salty. If you need a quick and affordable meal, this is the place to go! You can get a medium pizza for 79 kroner (9 USD) which is a bargain in Norway.

 

I guess it does not make sense to review Domino’s pizza - they are the pizza fast food equivalent of Burger King. As you might have guessed already, I was not that impressed with Domino’s Pizza this time around. I hope that with this review, I can convince someone to check out other pizza places in town for a better experience. There is no doubt in my mind: if you want to have something that is close to an authentic Italian style pizza, I would strongly advise you to go to e.g. Renaa Xpress or Villa22 instead of going to Domino's.

Facts:

Homepage: https://www.dominos.no/

Location: Verksgata 12A – see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/j19hCiVxaBq

Price for the food on this visit: 79 kroner (about 9 USD)

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)