Casa Salsitas - a real taqueria

Recently Patricia opened Casa Salsitas in Pedersgata, an authentic Mexican taqueria! It is brave to open a taco place on a taco Friday (it is a thing in Norway), but at Casa Salsitas you can get tacos as it is made and eaten in Mexico. This means handmade corn tortillas, meat or vegetarian fillings and good salsa on top. The place is quite small and there is only room for a few people at the time so it is mostly based on takeaway in boxes of 3 or 5 tacos.

 

Patricia also runs Salsitas, which makes salsa based on tomatillos grown on Finnøy, so this is really a fusion of Norwegian and Mexican food and culture. Thank you so much for allowing us to visit before opening to see the place and to taste your delicious tacos.

Facts:
Homepage: https://casasalsitas.no/
Location: Pedersgata 23 - see this Google map

 

ANGR - new restaurant in Stavanger

Tako by Fortou disappeared last year and now ANGR Bar & Kitchen has opened in the same place and it is still Arnt and Elin Skjerve who are running it. We were so lucky to get a table on the opening day May 6th! The slogan for the place is "Natural food - natural wine" and unfortunately, we were not allowed to enjoy wine this day due to covid-19 restrictions. We went for a tasting menu to taste a bit of everything and soon we got a lovely oxtail terrine bite which was delicious! 

 

The next dish was variety of Jerusalem artichoke with a delicious tender squid and then we had asparagus with hollandaise - a lot seemed to have stopped by the grill for a few seconds so there was a wonderful barbecue taste to the food. We then got skate wings flaking in a creamy sauce with celery and barley! 

 

There was a little weird cucumber granite before we got grilled lamb shank and rounded off with yogurt with granola and rhubarb. I thought this was very, very good and we will definitely go back to experience the food along with natural wine. I want to compare ANGR with Restaurant SØL and as you may have read, we have had some fantastic experiences there. Good job ANGR! We look forward to the next visit.

Facts:
Homepage: https://angr.bar/
Location: Ryfylkegata 22 - see this Google map
Price: see menu on homepage. A tasting menu is 675 Kroner

 

 

Finally got to visit Restaurant Annen Etage again!

 

I have had some of the best dining experience in Stavanger at Restaurant Annen Etage and it was to visit it for the first time (way backin 2007) for a "fine dining" dinner. Over the years it looks like the restaurant has struggled a bit to find its place on the Stavanger restaurant scene but last year it was refurbished and now we finally got to visit the restaurant again. Before, the interior was old school and inspired by the fact that it is an old sea house. But now after the renovation, it has become warm with stylish green interiors and great lighting - and if you get a window table, you also get a great view of Stavanger harbor.
 

We decided on a 5-course menu this evening and soon we got a little appetizer - a mussel croquette served on a tray of mussel shells. Inside the croquette there was bechamel sauce and it was a lovely little snack. The first proper dish was grilled salad (hjertesalat) on yogurt and topped with Fønix (blue cheese from Stavanger Ysteri) and this was lovely and it would have been nice with some bread to be able to get all that lovely juice from the plate. We continued with a plate of spring greens with smoked cod roe and asparagus. As you can see from the picture - a joy for the eye but also a joy for the palate. 

 

At this point we got some bread, and it was a delicious as it was a fresh campfire style bread with good butter. There is usually some fish on the menu and the next dish was a very good redfish (uer) served with tomatoes and kale and after that we also got some local lamb. Before dessert we got a little palate cleanser but I think I would rather call it dessert number 1 because it was a lovely buckthorn ice cream with granite of spruce sprouts and dessert number 2 was coffee ice cream with choclate and cognac. It was all rounded off with stuffed canelé. 

 

Chef Runar Helgeland has done a great job here - lovely flavors and contrasts and dishes that were beautifully presented. I would have enjoyed having the portions a bit bigger but all in all this was a wonderful experience and I look forward to the next visit!

Facts:
Homepage: https://www.nbsorensen.no/annen-etage/om-annen-etage/
Location: Skagen 26 – see this Google map. 
Price: 950 Norwegian kroner (115 USD)