Beer prices hit new record

The Norwegian tradition of sipping a beer outdoors (utepils) has become even more expensive as the high summer season begins, with beer prices setting another record in Oslo. Locals and visitors alike now need to shell out NOK 99 (USD 17) for the traditional half-liter glass of beer at two eating and drinking spots in [...]

Food hall reopening after gas leak

Food vendors and restaurant operators at one of Oslo’s most popular new meeting places, Mathallen, were in the process of getting back to business on Wednesday, after firefighters and a large crew of investigators finally found the source of a gas leak at the site and stopped it. The gas leak, which sickened four security [...]

Gas leak shut food hall

Oslo’s highly popular new food hall known as Mathallen remained closed on Monday while police and military experts investigated a poisonous and mysterious gas leak that sent four people to the hospital over the weekend. Firefighters confirmed that gas was still leaking on Monday and it was unclear when Mathallen at Vulkan in Oslo’s Grünerløkka [...]

Restaurants keep their Michelin stars

The three Norwegian restaurants that won stars in the prestigious Michelin Guide last year have won them again in the guide’s latest edition. Maaemo, the innovative Oslo restaurant that won two stars last year, kept both of them. Two other Oslo restaurants, Bagatelle and Statholdergaarden, retained their single stars. A fourth Oslo restaurant, Osgarsgate, had [...]

Top restaurant woos back top chefs

Bagatelle, which ranked for years as the most exclusive restaurant in Norway, is about to spice up its staff with the return of two chefs who’d followed the high-profile master of Bagatelle’s kitchen, Eyvind Hellstrøm, out the door three years ago. Now they aim to restore Bagatelle’s former glory. Bagatelle, located on Oslo’s fashionable Bygdøy [...]

Hotel and restaurant strike averted

An all-night negotiating session ended early Thursday with an agreement between Norwegian hotel and restaurant employees and their employers. A threatened strike would have pulled nearly 2,400 workers off the job. “We’re going to work as normal and everyone is breathing a sigh of relief,” Børge Ånesen of the union representing the hotel and restaurant [...]

Popular coffee shop expands abroad

One of Oslo’s highly acclaimed coffee shops, Fuglen, also sells vintage Norwegian design from the 1950s and 1960s, turns into a cocktail bar at night and means “the bird” in Norwegian. Now it’s about to fly both east and west. The popular multi-faceted Fuglen has been written up in magazines like Monocle and newspapers including [...]

No new Michelin stars in Norway

Norway’s top restaurants held on to their Michelin stars in the new Guide Michelin released on Tuesday, but no new restaurants won any. Norwegian chef Terje Ness, however, had a bit more to brag about. All told, Norway now has five restaurants with a Michelin star: Haga in Bærum, and Oscarsgate, Statholdergaarden, Le Canard and [...]

Bagatelle to close before Christmas

The closure of what’s widely regarded as Norway’s best restaurant, however, will only be “temporary,” says its owner and long-time supporter Christen Sveaas. He told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) on Tuesday that the highly public resignation of Bagatelle’s chef over the weekend led to a “mutiny” but also is a “relief.” DN broke the news [...]

High-profile chef quits in a huff

Eyvind Hellstrøm has thrown in his (dish)towel after nearly 30 years as star chef at Norway’s most exclusive and expensive restaurant, Bagatelle. Hellstrøm told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv(DN) over the weekend that he’s quitting because of a “long-lasting conflict” with the restaurant’s owner, and most of Bagatelle’s staff reportedly will be leaving as well. Hellstrøm isn’t [...]