Evening menu at Italo

We have been to Italo a few times during daytime as they serve awesome coffee and make great gelato! (see my previous review of Italo here). But they are also open in the evening and in weekends they usually serve a special menu where you get a cheese/prosciutto platter to start with, an Italian main and then a dessert based on some of their gelato and sorbet. We went there on a Friday night in July and I was happy to see that the coffee shop was more or less full, and it is great to see that people embrace the concept! On the menu this evening was the cheese/prosciutto platter to start with and then a Sicilian inspired pasta dish as main – rigatoni with ricotta, pesto and tomato. And for dessert – a brioche with gelato. Italo also have a small selection of wine and wine decided to have a Primitivo red wine from Puglia in Italy.

 

It did not take long before we got the starter and as you can see from the photo, there were some good olives, some fresh bread (the homemade focaccia was still warm), some onion jam, speck and salami and regular, saffron and truffle pecorino cheese as well as taleggio  I love a platter like this as I love fresh bread and I love to taste different cheese and hams. 

We got our mains about 30 minutes after the starter was served. My rigatoni pasta was excellent with focus on the pasta. That is the beauty of a lot of the Italian dishes – there is not that many ingredients in the dishes but if the ingredients are good quality, it creates a great dish. Nikki decided to have a pasta arriminata which was a tomato-based pasta dish that was also excellent and I think I will have that next time. Both dishes came with some fresh bread on the side. And to round of the meal – a fresh baked brioche filled with vanilla and pistachio gelato – simple and delicious. 

 

All in all, an informal evening at a cozy Italian coffee shop. The service was good and the food was great and it didn’t take that long to get through the menu – maybe a perfect start if you are going to catch a movie at the cinema. 

Facts: 

Homepage: Italo facebook page

Location: Smedgata 9 - see this Google map

Price: 499 kroner (53 USD) for the starter, main and dessert.

“it’s never as good as the first time” - dinner at Egget

We first went to Egget in 2015 and we were extremely impressed by the concept and the food (see the review from 2015 here). It seems after a while, the chef Anthony Orjollet left and headed back to France to start a restaurant there. We’ve been to Egget (the restaurant and a pop up) a few times after he left and I guess “it’s never as good as the first time” comes into play. In July 2020, to celebrate a special birthday, we decided to give Egget a chance again. 

 

The concept is still more or less the same: a very informal restaurant with not very comfortable seating, the place can be quite crowded and quite noisy – and, as the sign says, there is no menu. This was a family dinner and when we arrived, there was a table set up for 8 of us. There were also two open bottles of Cava on the table and this shows a bit of the concept of Egget – no questions about what we really wanted to have instead they just put it on the table. 

 

We got some questions to start with about allergies and it did not take long before we got some starters. The warm bread had been grilled and it was lovely (I love fresh bread) and there was a nice taste of cumin. It was served together with something that seemed like just a green salad but when we moved the green leaves at the top, there was a very good crab and tomato salad underneath.  It took a bit of time to get the next dish: a pan-fried cod in a mussel sauce. The cod was great, but I would have preferred if the piece were a bit bigger as it was excellent. The waiter came with two open bottles of white wine and we did get to taste it, but again it seemed like that was more of a formality and I would have appreciated it if we had gotten some questions about what we wanted.

 

It took almost an hour to get the next dish: a pork neck dish with strips of pickled vegetables on the side. There was a distinct taste of the horseradish (where less is definitely more)  in this dish, so it was not really my favorite. We got a cake as a dessert and it seemed like a cold baked cheesecake. I prefer the cheesecake baked and most of the family members did not seem very impressed with this cake. We rounded off the meal with some cheese and it was a varied selection. 

 

All in all it was a good meal and we had a wonderful evening but I still think there could have been more food - maybe a beef / bird dish before dessert? I am hard pressed to get excited about Egget the way it’s been the last few times we have been there. The informal setting is fun and all that but I would have liked an introduction or short verbal summary of the menu to begin with. It builds up the excitement of the dining experience. One of the joys of dining for us, is choosing a new wine to accompany the dish or have a sommelier share their passion for wine with us. So some sort of wine list or options for us to consider would’ve been a plus. Dining out in Stavanger generally has an average median price - it’s tricky to compare as there is no priced menu or indication of cost until you get the bill. We shall definitely be looking up chef Anthony in Biarritz once the corona virus is a faint memory. 

Facts:

Homepage: https://www.facebook.com/eggetstavanger/

Location: Steinkargata 23 - see this Google map

Food: 730 kr (77 USD) per person for the food including the cheese)

Good burgers at The Shack Madla

We have been to The Shack a few times and in general, they deliver quite a good burger. We went to their new branch on a Sunday night and in this burger place, they have about 20 seats. They have burgers, ribs and milkshakes on the menu and you can choose to do take out or eat in. We decided to order and eat in this time. They have a good web site that allows you to order and modify burgers – we just ordered over the counter and decided to have a Mr. Explosion and a Mr. Hangover with bacon and cheddar fries and onion rings on the side. When you order a burger, you can choose single, double or Beyond Meat if you want to go vegan. 

 

It took about 15 minutes before the food was served and it was served in quite large cardboard boxes. But when we opened it, the burger seemed quite small inside the box. This was just an advantage – for once there was space to get your fingers in there to pick up the burger. My Mr. Explosion came with bacon, Parmesan cheese, pickled onion and chili-mayo and it was quite a handful as you can see on the photos. I enjoyed my burger but it would have been good if we had been asked if we wanted the burger medium or well done – my burger was well done and due to this it was a bit on the dry side towards the end. The fries turned out to be a large portion and there was obviously enough cheddar on it and the fries appeared fresh out of the boiler. All in all a satisfying burger experience and I would not mind going there again!

 

Facts:

Homepage: theshack.no 

Location: Madlakrossen 14 – see this Google map 

Price: Single burger is about 120 kroner (13 USD) , a double about 160 kroner (17 USD)

 

New café in Søregaten - Flamingo Café

Flamingo café opened recently and it is located in the charming pedestrian street Søregata. We stopped by on a Saturday for lunch and as the weather was great, we could sit outside. The café has tables outside both in Søregaten and in Østervåg – both streets are quite busy, so we felt that we were a bit on display when sitting outside. But there is also lots of space inside and it is decorated and furnished in an old school way. We ordered online (there were instructions for this at the table) and that worked fine but I think it was only possible to pay with Vipps so I am not sure how easy that will be for foreign tourists. But then again, you can order inside and pay with a credit card. 

 

The menu seemed to be quite typical for a café with some sandwiches, a couple of hot dishes, coffee, beer, and wine. We decided to have a couple of sandwiches and I ordered the Club sandwich and Nikki the grilled vegetables sandwich. My club sandwich was OK but the bread was a bit dry in my opinion and it would have been a good idea to half it before it was served. Nikki’s grilled vegetable sandwich came with a few grilled vegetables (including asparagus) and there was supposed to be a vegan chili mayonnaise, but Nikki was not able to taste any chili flavor in the sandwich. I do enjoy drinking coffee at cafes, and it is great to taste different varieties and see the craftmanship involved when making coffee. Due this, I was disappointed to see that Flamingo was brewing coffee from what seemed to be a big Nespresso machine. 

 

All in all, a cozy café in a charming street and it is great to see that they are making and serving food based on local ingredients (e.g sweets from Chili Chocolate located in the same street). 

Facts:

Homepage: https://www.facebook.com/flamingocafestavanger/

Location: Søregata 30 - see this Google map

Price: 28 kroner (3 USD) for a double espresso, 139 kroner (15 USD) for club sandwich 

Lunch outdoors at Fisketorget

I went to Fisketorget a few months back (as you can see in this review) and this time we visited for lunch in the middle of summer. There was a heatwave in Stavanger and with 30 degrees Celsius, it was perfect to sit outside of the restaurant with a great view of the harbor. Unfortunately, you can’t book a table outside so you have to be lucky to get a table on days with great weather.

Our waiter explained the menu and due to the corona virus, the menu is a bit limited. But we decided to go for seafood that we associate with travels to Asia: I ordered the chili crab (which is a favorite in Singapore) and Nikki ordered the king prawns in chili. When you order these dishes, you order by the weight and it is always a bit tricky to estimate how much you need but as it was lunch, I decided to just order 300 grams. In this dish they use the Norwegian King crab and it was quite expensive with a price tag of 169 kroner per 100 gram. 

 

The food got served after about 30 minutes and the chili crab portion was good enough for me as a lunch dish but I think they could have been a bit more generous with the Asian style coleslaw that was served on the side. The chili sauce had a bit of a kick and with the great weather, it was almost like sitting in a hawker store in Singapore. The king crab was already sliced in pieces, so it was a bit easier to eat than a whole crab. But it seemed like the chili sauce had only been glazed on in the end and it might have been better if it was more infused in the chili sauce. But all in all it was delicious to taste chili crab again. Nikki was also happy with her prawns and she got a salad on the side that was better in my opinion than the coleslaw that I got.

Conclusion: if the weather cooperates and it is warm, there is no place like Fisketorget for an outdoor dining experience. The view is great, and you can get various seafood and enjoy a cold beer or some wine. I hope that it will be possible in the future to book a table in advance. 

Facts:

Homepage: https://fisketorget-stavanger.no/

Location: Strandkaien 37 – see this Google map 

Price: my portion of chili crab 500 kroner (52 USD)

A wonderful evening at Cin Cin

We have tried to get a table at Cin Cin for quite some time, but I guess it is very popular as it has been tricky to get a table. But finally, on a Saturday night in June 2020 we got a table for 4. We came to the restaurant at 7.30 PM and it is a bit weird coming to this place as we use to go there quite a lot when Ostehuset used this location. The place has been refurbished and it has a modern atmosphere and a lounge feeling – with the music being a bit loud from time to time.

 

Cin Cin is run by a French and Italian chef and their mission is to make food from the Italian and French cuisine with an Asian twist – sounds like a strange combo. We decided to go all in (as usual) and have the Cin Cin menu where you move from East to West.  After we got some wine to start with, it did not take long before the first dish was served. The red curry soup is from the Thai cuisine and it had more of a spice kick than what I expected! This was not a problem for us at all – we have been to Thailand a few times and we love a bit of spice in the food. The soup was great, but I thought there were too many peanuts in the soup. We continued with sashimi and as Norway is blessed with some great seafood, there is quite a bit to choose from. The scallop was amazing, and I also enjoyed the halibut and the salmon. The beef tataki was also mouthwatering severed with onion, spring onion and garlic crips! 

 

We got a pork and shrimp dumpling that I enjoyed (see also the Yips review where we had the same) but I was not that crazy about the white asparagus bowl that we got. It was served with yuzu hollandaise which was a nice twist. But to be honest, I have never quite understood why people are crazy about asparagus in the first place. 

 

It was time to head west to Europe and we started with some homemade pasta. The raviolo was filled with a classical ricotta but with added ramson (ramsløk in Norwegian) but for me the best part was the intensity of the confit tomato sauce. The fish of the day in the next dish was cod (and I do like fresh cod) and this was served with an apple, fennel and butter sauce with some added fish eggs and it was absolutely delicious. The main part of the meal was rounded off with pork served with a saffron, carrot and orange purée! Yes, we had already had quite a bit of food, but I would have enjoyed having a bit more of the purée and the intense sauce. They kept the dessert quite simple as it was an ice pop from the local producer Siddis gelateria and it was a great way to end the meal. 

 

So, did Cin Cin meet the expectations? I did enjoy the atmosphere and ambiance apart from the music being a bit loud from time to time. The service was spot on and we got good wine recommendations and the food was served at just the right pace. The dishes were presented in a beautiful way and it was colorful. According to the waiter, the menu is a bit limited due to the corona virus situation and the food struck us as being a bit of a “safe bet” but it was all good. I think we will have to try it again once they are back to a full menu and full crew. All in all, a wonderful evening out with good food and good service.

Facts: 

Homepage: https://cin-cin.no/

Location: Hospitalsgata 6 – see this Google map 

Price: 725 kroner for the set menu (75 USD)