Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Torggata 23, N-2317 Hamar.
&
62-70-70-00.
Fax 62-70-70-01. www.choicehotels.no. 78 units. Mon-Thurs
1,385NOK ($197) double; Fri-Sun and June 20-Aug 20 daily 990NOK ($141) double. Rates include breakfast.
AE, DC, MC, V. Nearby parking 50NOK ($7.10).
Amenities:
Restaurant; cocktail bar; the “Dirty Nelly” pub;
nightclub; laundry service/dry cleaning; nonsmoking rooms. In room:TV, minibar.
WHERE TO DINE
Bykjeller'n
NORWEGIAN/INTERNATIONAL This is the largest and
most imaginative dining, drinking, and disco venue in Hamar. It was built in
1849 as an inn, and the high-ceilinged interior was transformed into its present
incarnation in the 1970s. Many visitors never get beyond the street-level pub,
whose thick beams and rustic artifacts make up the setting for foaming mugs of
beer, and pub items that include salads, pizzas, sandwiches, and meal-size plat-
ters of fish, steak, pasta, and game. In summer a beer garden sprawls out into
what used to be a stable yard in back. Relatively elaborate dining is available in
the stone-vaulted cellar, which was originally conceived as a coal cellar, and
which today is artfully illuminated with a mixture of candles and electric lights.
Menu items vary with the seasons, but are likely to include lutefisk (especially at
Christmas); sausages and meatballs; pork spareribs in barbecue sauce; smoked,
dried, and thin-sliced mutton; tenderloin steaks; and venison with port wine
sauce.
There's a disco on the top floor of the restaurant, floored with massive oaken
planks and ringed with a wraparound mezzanine that's favored by voyeurs who
gaze down at the dancers and the flirts who try to engage them in conversation.
The disco is open Friday and Saturday nights from 10pm to 3am. There's a cover
charge of 90NOK ($13) that's imposed only on Saturday (not on Fri). Entrance
to the disco is free for anyone who dines in the cellar.
Torggata 82.
&
62-54-31-00.
Reservations recommended Fri-Sat. Main courses 67NOK-150NOK
($9.50-$21) at lunch, 180NOK-250NOK ($26-$36) at dinner. AE, DC, MC, V. Street-level pub daily
11am-10:30pm. Dinner in cellar-level restaurant daily 6-10:30pm. Disco Fri-Sat 10pm-3am.
Mrs. Sippy's Biffhuset
STEAKS/AMERICAN The most popular steak-
house in town lies a short walk from the railway station, within a large and cozy
room paneled with dark wood, ringed with leather-upholstered booths, and illu-
minated with candles and hanging Tiffany-imitation lamps. The menu includes
the kind of two-fisted comfort food that tastes fantastic on long dark nights in
this cold climate—including some of the items you'd expect in an American
steakhouse on Super Bowl Sunday. Examples include New York-style buffalo
chicken wings with hot sauce and garlic dip; cream of shellfish soup that's cele-
brated as some of the best in town; carpaccio of beef tenderloin with arugula and
fresh-shaved Parmesan; and an excellent version of New Orleans-style black-
ened sirloin served with coleslaw and baked potatoes. There's also a fine version
of Norwegian catfish with bacon. The house-style dessert that most diners can't
seem to resist is the raspberry cheesecake drizzled with chocolate sauce.
Torggata 3.
&
62-53-52-00.
Reservations recommended. Main courses 175NOK-325NOK ($25-$46). AE,
DC, MC, V. Sun-Thurs 4-10pm; Fri-Sat 4-11pm.
Pepperkvaerna Mat & Vinhus
NORWEGIAN/INTERNATIONAL The
“Peppercorn” is the most popular, among locals, of Hamar's hotel restaurants.
Part of its allure derives from the cozy wine house/tavern decor (paneling, can-
dlelight, and rustic artifacts), and part of it derives from savory preparations of
such local ingredients as elk, beefsteak, venison, chicken, and veal. The menu
changes with the seasons, but the best specialties have included breast of duck
