Settling into Oslo - Norway - page 106

long ago as an elementary school, contains only eight tables and a tiny kitchen,
which bustles with a barely controlled creative frenzy. It works like this: Every-
thing is made fresh for the day of your arrival, from scallops with burnt butter
sauce and fresh ginger to deliberately undercooked sushi-quality tuna with
glazed beets to breast of duck with red-wine-and-duck-stock sauce. Menu
courses each cost 100NOK ($14), and although the restaurant recommends that
eight of them comprise a complete meal, you can stop them anytime that you've
had enough. If you absolutely can't handle the long wait at the bar for a table,
and if you insist on an advance reservation, you'll be eased into a satellite dining
room, with its more conventional, four-course menu, costing 450NOK ($64).
Solligaten 2, off Drammensveien. & 23-13-11-40. Reservations not accepted. In Palace Grill all courses
100NOK ($14) each. In Palace Reserva 4-course set-price menu 450NOK ($64). AE, DC, MC, V. Bar daily
3pm-2am. Restaurant Mon-Sat 5-11pm. Tram: 11, 12, or 13.
HOLMENKOLLEN
EXPENSIVE
De Fem Stuer (Five Small Rooms) NORWEGIAN/CONTINENTAL
Its turn-of-the-20th-century “national romantic” architecture has firmly estab-
lished this restaurant as something of a historic monument for the diners who
trek, ski, or ride uphill on tram no. 1 from Oslo to reach it. On the lobby level
of one of our recommended hotels (Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica, p. 91), the
restaurant is in a section that retains its original Viking revival (or “dragon-
style”) construction. You'll find faded country-Norwegian colors, carved timbers
and logs, and a general sense of 19th-century rusticity. As its name implies, the
restaurant contains five separate dining areas, four of them small and cozy to the
point of being cramped and intimate, the other being high-ceilinged and stately
looking. This is the kind of dining venue that a Norwegian family might pick
for a celebration of an important birthday, anniversary, or rite of passage. For
starters, the chefs make an excellent marinated whale meat in a saffron-and-chile
sauce. You might also try the guinea hen with foie gras or the pesto-griddled
ocean crayfish with tiny peas. Expect such delightful main dishes as a ginger-
and chicken-stuffed quail with morels and shiitake mushrooms in a port-wine
sauce, filet of reindeer with parsnips, or a crispy fried breast of duck with a veg-
etable spring roll.
In the Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica Oslo, Kongeveien 26. & 22-92-20-00. Reservations recommended.
Main courses 275NOK-315NOK ($39-$45). AE, DC, MC, V. Mon-Sat noon-2:30pm and 6-11pm. Take tram
1 to its terminus.
Frognerseteren Hoved Restaurant NORWEGIAN Set within a short
hike (or cross-country-ski trek) from the end of Oslo's tram no. 1, the Frogner-
seteren rests in a century-old mountain lodge in the Viking revival style. (Richly
embellished with dragon and Viking-ship symbolism, the building helped
define the Viking revival style that became the architectural symbol of inde-
pendent Norway.) There's a self-service section and a more formal sit-down area
within several small, cozy dining rooms. Throughout, the place has the aura of
an antique ski lodge, and for many Oslovians, it's as much a cultural icon as a
restaurant. It's also the centerpiece of several kilometers of cross-country ski
trails, and a departure point (and destination) for hikers and their families. The
chef specializes in succulent game dishes, including pheasant pâté with Cum-
berland sauce, medallions of reindeer, and filet of elk sautéed in honey and nuts.
You can also order poached, marinated, or smoked Norwegian salmon. The
chef 's specialty dessert is a scrumptious apple cake.