Café restaurants in Norway
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A
Fru Hagen
The low-key and always full Fru Hagen, ‘Mrs Garden’, serves sandwiches and burgers, all with a healthy side portion of vegetables. Its location facing Olaf Ryes plass also makes it good for people-watching.
reviewed
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B
Nomaden
Affiliated to the art gallery next door, this welcoming café, where cool jazz trills in the background, serves sandwiches, gooey cakes and fresh coffee and has its own changing art exhibition.
reviewed
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C
Delicatessen
One of Grünerløkka's numerous cool-kid cafes, it features sturdy wooden tables and big windows that fold away in the summer to overlook a riverside park across the street. Good Italian sandwiches.
reviewed
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D
Stockfleths
Founded in 1895, the award-winning Stockfleths is one of Oslo’s oldest coffee shops. It also serves thick slices of wholegrain bread with brown cheese, a favourite Norwegian snack.
reviewed
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E
Tullins Café
This dimly lit café offers a little bit of everything, from salads and burgers to pasta and stir-fry dishes. It’s a favourite among students.
reviewed
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Bryggerhuset
This engaging little café-cum-crafts shop serves terrific coffee, bakes its own bread and offers home-made food like crepes and waffles.
reviewed
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F
Fjellstua Kafé
The 418 steps up Aksla lead to the splendid Kniven viewpoint over Ålesund and the surrounding mountains and islands. Follow Lihauggata from the pedestrian shopping street Kongensgata to the start of the 20-minute puff to the top of the hill. There’s also a road to the top; take Røysegata east from the centre, then follow the Fjellstua signposts up the hill. Up top, the Fjellstua Kafé is a good place to recover your breath while enjoying a drink with a view.
reviewed
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G
Circa
Circa (Approximately) and its upstairs neighbour Presis (Precisely), under the same ownership, complement each other. Circa, downstairs, cavernous, both bar and light-meal venue, has free wi-fi. It serves tasty pastas, salads and sandwiches (Nkr90 to Nkr100) until 4pm. Thereafter, its cool jazz and electronic music attracts a 25- to 35-year-old crowd. There’s occasional live music plus, at weekends, a live DJ. Wednesday, wine night, is normally packed.
reviewed
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H
Aunegården
You can almost lose yourself in this wonderful café-cum-restaurant that’s all intimate crannies and cubby holes. In a 19th-century building that functioned as a butcher’s shop until 1996, it’s rich in character and serves excellent salads (from Nkr117), sandwiches (from Nkr75) and mains. If you don’t fancy a full meal, drop by just to enjoy a coffee and one of its melt-in-the-mouth cakes.
reviewed
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Dromedar, Nørdre gate
Dromedar, Nørdre gate, This longstanding local self-service favourite serves light dishes and very good coffee indeed, in all sizes, squeezes and strengths. Inside is cramped so, if the weather permits, relax on the exterior terrace bordering the cobbled street. There's a second branch (%73 50 25 02; Nedre Bakklandet 3), similar in style, also with a street-side terrace, that serves equally aromatic coffee.
reviewed
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J
Invit
Gosh, the style shows at this suave coffee bar, which also serves tasty snacks. Just what you’d expect from a place that runs the accompanying interior design boutique with the very best of creative modern furniture and Scandinavian kitchenware and home appliances. You can also sip your espresso outside on their floating pontoon, where they considerately supply blankets if the wind whips up.
reviewed
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K
Dromedar
This longstanding local self-service favourite serves light dishes and very good coffee indeed, in all sizes, squeezes and strengths. Inside is cramped so, if the weather permits, relax on the exterior terrace bordering the cobbled street. There’s a second branch at Nødre gate 2, similar in style, also with a street-side terrace, that serves equally aromatic coffee.
reviewed
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L
Grand Café
At 11am sharp, Henrik Ibsen would leave his apartment on Drammensveien (now Henrik Ibsens gate) and walk to the Grand Café for a lunch of herring, beer and one shot of aquavit (alcoholic drink made from potatoes and carroway liquor). His table is still there and you don’t have to eat herring if you go, though it is on the menu (Nkr88).
reviewed
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M
Alfa-Omega
As its name suggests, this place has two parts: Omega, its contemporary café, open 11am to midnight, serves salads, sandwiches, pastas and cakes. Alfa, a pleasant, casual bar, comes into its own from 8pm. There’s also a terrace, ideal for taking a little summer sunshine, overlooking Alta’s bleak central square.
reviewed
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Castelle Bar & Restaurant
Perhaps the classiest bar/restaurant by the Pollen harbour, Castelle is a chic place and a cut above the beer-and-yobbo culture that sometimes afflicts other waterside bars in Arendal. Meals are light (sandwiches, good burgers and pasta) and most drinks are possible, from 0.5L beer (Nkr64) to cocktails (Nkr99).
reviewed
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N
Kaikanten
An appealing café that serves light meals by day, the Quayside becomes a popular evening pub serving pizzas. Nautically themed (the backdrop to the bar represents old Hammerfest’s dockside, and sail canvases billow beneath the ceiling), it has a pool table and comfy sofas into which you sink deep.
reviewed
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Fiskebrygga
Possibly the nicest place in Flekkefjord for a light meal, this café-style restaurant next to the tourist office does fish and chips (Nkr99), marinated spare ribs (Nkr129), delicious cakes (Nkr39) and ice cream. It has a certain urban sense of style, which is lovely in quiet little Flekkefjord.
reviewed
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Café Det Lindvedske Hus
With its mellow atmosphere and 200-year-old décor, this lovely place does light meals (grilled sandwiches and pasta), great coffee and has the ambience of a sophisticated but casual art café. The kitchen closes at 9pm, whereafter music of the Stan Getz kind takes over. A terrific place.
reviewed
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Jordbærstova
About 6km up the Åndalsnes road, Jordbærstova honours the valley’s mighty strawberry. So stop in for a fat slice of its gooey, creamy svele (strawberry cake) , the local pancake speciality that is served with strawberries and cream. It also offers light meals.
reviewed
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Kaffistova
This amenable spot, established in 1913, has a sandwich menu as long as your arm (Nkr62 to Nkr78), meat and fish mains and 16 kinds of cake. Split-level and smelling of coffee and cakes, it’s a good, informal place for lunch or a snack despite the dull décor.
reviewed
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Platebaren
This highly recommended coffee bar spills out into the street in summer and is a terrific place to tuck into decent-sized snacks (baguettes, bacon and eggs etc). Even better are the milk shakes (Nkr30), while coffee lovers swear by the iced coffee with ice cream (Nkr35).
reviewed
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Café Kulturverkstedet
Run by the local heritage society, this delightful café enjoys, appropriately, one of Sjøgata’s largest and most appealing renovated buildings. There are books to leaf through and you can sip and nibble in its interconnecting art gallery.
reviewed
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Kafé Kafka
This stylish contemporary café does great coffee 11 different ways (you’ll smell the aroma before you even enter) and fresh juices. There’s wi-fi and one internet terminal, free to clients. Some Saturdays it turns into a club with DJs.
reviewed
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No.9 Kaffe & Platebar
Another classy little café, No.9 is the work of Espen Larsen, a local jazz musician who sells a range of (mostly jazz) CDs and plays them while you sip your coffee or snack on a pastry – the perfect accompaniment to a lazy Arendal afternoon.
reviewed
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P
One-Hand Clapping
This very cool little coffee shop does superb coffee (from Nkr25), as well as croissants and chocolate cake (Nkr20) to die for. The two easy chairs on the pavement are prime people-viewing spots if you’re fortunate enough to snaffle one.
reviewed
