...to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.: Norway 3: Food in Oslo

Ed treated me to two exceptional dinners in Oslo. Both were memorable, but the first was really mind-blowing. Not only was the food delicious, the presentation was so wonderful that I found myself taking pictures of each course.

Note to those who know me and my obnoxious dietary restrictions: Ed told me ahead of time that we'd be going to some really great restaurants that had set menus. Additionally, I feared there would be nothing to eat in Svalbard but reindeer ribs and seal steaks. (Far from the truth, as it turns out.) Accordingly, I got my stomach ready for the meatiness that would ensue in Norway with a series of roasted vegetable sandwiches garnished with a few thin slices of turkey before going on the trip. I suffered virtually no GI distress as a result of eating the meat in the courses you'll see below - hooray! - and found that I enjoyed the flavor of almost all the meat I was served. The beef was the only thing I found overpowering and unpleasant.

Ylajali Restaurant

Ylajali takes its name from the main female character in a novel called Hunger by Knut Hamsun. In the book, she lives in the building where the restaurant is, on the floor above. Going with the novel theme, the menu has four "chapters" and an "epilogue," though, as you will see, each chapter had lots of parts. Even the physical menu looked like a novel.

PROLOGUE

Trout roe, nyr (sort of like sour cream) and chives on a black chip, served on...a rock.

Fried strands of potato that tasted wonderfully like potato chips, creamed chicken livers, and lingonberry

Raw shrimp with dill sauce and fried, powdered shrimp shells served on a cylinder of ice. We dipped the shrimp into the sauce, then into the shell powder.

Creamy smoked haddock balls rolled in sourdough crumbs. In a flowerpot, of course.

Oyster, grilled, then covered with chowder and basil oil. Alas, neither of us can recall what the black fuzzy thing is. It was delicious, at any rate.

Fried strip of chicken skin with king crab and Norwegian herbs - one of Ed's favorite parts of the meal

Ed demonstrates how to eat the "salad," which was a bouquet of lettuces and herbs tied with what looked like a chive: first, dip in the dressing, then in the cooked egg mixture

CHAPTER ONE - SEA AND LAND

Scallop (it's under all the white crumbs) and horseradish on a bed of seaweed

Cooked spring vegetables and hazelnuts drizzled with a sauce made from something creamy and roe.

CHAPTER TWO - WOOD FIRE, GRAINS, AND INTERMEZZO

Wonderful little muffins made with flax seeds soaked in beer. They were served in a warm bag of roasted barley with a few soft-boiled eggs for spreading.

Mackerel brought to us on a very hot salt rock, where it sat for a while before...

...being plated by one of the chefs who visited our table...

...and presented to us adorned by seared pieces of onion and creamed celeriac.

Langostine and beet

Our turbot, destined for a future course, came out in this but then was whisked away to continue cooking on a nearby tabletop.

Blob of "sour milk" (tastes just like Greek yogurt) with celery peeking out underneath. Our friend the rock is back.

CHAPTER THREE - KING OF THE OCEAN

Apparently at Ylajali, the turbot rules. Here's the monarch himself, having been baked in a hot pot with hay, ramson, and cauliflower.

CHAPTER FOUR - THE FOWL AND THE OLD MILK COW

(Perhaps this title relates to some wise Norwegian saying. It was not explained to us.)

Duck hearts and juniper. It took me a few minutes to bring myself to dig into this one, but I will be eternally relieved that I didn't let Ed eat my portion.

Ed prepares for the beef course, brandishing the weapons we were issued.

Beef and smails, according to the menu. Tasted like snails to me.

EPILOGUE

A delightful assortment of goat cheese, black currants, and almonds, served alongside a blessedly alcohol-free juice cordial. I lost count of how many glasses of wine we were served since we decided to go with the wine pairing add-on, but rest assured that there were a lot, and they were all wonderful. Our favorite was a white from the Aetna region of Italy. The grapes are grown on the slopes of a volcano, and I swear it tasted of exotic minerals.

A tasty little meringue pillow with blueberries and a sauce made somehow from spruce that served as a sharp, piney, wonderful contrast to the sweetness of everything else.

A blurry, low-light picture of another chef making our final course: little pancakes that were served with honey ice cream, caramel sauce, and hazelnuts.

We were a bit relieved that this was the last course, as our clothes were feeling pretty snug.

...but it wasn't quite the last course, and who could turn down these tasty little chocolate confections?

Needless to say, it was a spectacular experience, and well worth the headache the following morning. Fortunately, I'd recovered enough that night for our next gastronomic adventure at Fjord.

Fjord

This slick, modern-looking restaurant had seats made from some sort of animal skin and chandeliers made from pointy horns. Here, we found a set menu again, though it was a great deal smaller and more simple than Ylajali (thank Odin, as I don't think we had another night like that in us). The full menu included whale calf, which I immediately decided to forgo and Ed eventually did, too. We opted not to go with the wine pairing this time, either, instead sipping slowly from glasses ordered a la carte.