Category: Cuisine

A New Concept

Last year, Cornelius Seafood Restaurant just outside of Bergen on the Norwegian west coast launched a totally new concept in the local restaurant fauna. It is the concept of storing living shellfish and clams in a saltwater pool in the restaurant facilities to later serve to hungry dinner guests. They call it Råbar, literally meaning raw bar, an experience where you are served fresh, raw seafood straight from the pool. Although it is a little unusual in the area, the concept has gained a lot of positive attention and people are excited about the experience.

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Local Harvesting

Although it is the dream scenario, the clams and shellfish are not bred in the restaurant pool, but rather sourced from the local seas and fjords of Western Norway and stored in a large saltwater facility not far from the restaurant. From there, the clams are sent alive in special containers to Cornelius where they are stored in their own pool. In the pool, the clams can be safely stored for up to three weeks.

Bringing New Tastes to the Table

Head chef at Cornelius, Håkon Pansuna Vesetvik is one of the lead initiators behind the idea, and his goal is to introduce more uncommon seafood to people. The Råbar is meant to be a full experience with samples of every clam the area has to offer. In addition to the more common clams like oysters, scallops and blue mussels, the head chef also serves ocean quahogs, pullet carpet shell and sea urchins, all served raw from the pool. As well as a tasting party, the Råbar is a full experience where you are in good company, with a drink and where a chef tells you all there is to know about the clams, their taste and history. Here, the goal is to let people taste the raw sea around them as well as giving them a crash course in what they just ate.

“The RÅbar is a full experience. You get a good drink, a story about the food and the taste of new and unusual flavours.”

Håkon Pansuna Vesetvik

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Beating the Scepticism

The head chef experiences that people often are sceptical of the clams at first, especially the uncommon ones that some may never even heard of. A minority of people are used to shell food in the first place, so it is no surprise that there is scepticism around new and unusual clams. The head chef says that some guests often take a step back when they are introduced to the clams, but when they are told more about the food, the story and the taste they are more open to the experience.

“What’s good is that in larger groups there is almost always one that has tried sushi, similar clams or other raw seafood. Those people push others to try it out. People are mostly positive to the experience.”

Håkon Pansuna Vesetvik

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Hoping for a Trend

Håkon is a seafood enthusiast and loves to spread the interest of his trade to more people.. The goal is to introduce people that do not necessarily eat seafood frequently to a new world of tastes. He hopes that people will seek more information about clams and hopefully experiment with the amazing flavours of the sea on their own. But not that much that they stop coming to the restaurant, he adds. 

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Interesting read? Here at Nuet, we publish weekly blog posts about Scandinavian cuisine, culture and more. Read more at nuetaquavit.com/stories and follow our Instagram @nuetaquavit to get instant updates on new posts straight to your feed.

Unusual Dish

The cold room door in the kitchen slams on his way out. The black-clad man approaches the kitchen counter with the special ingredients in his arms. He places a small plastic container on the counter and pulls out a pink fillet, an espresso marinated salmon fillet. The thought of this might be weird for many, but for head chef of Restaurant Solvind, Alessandro Albertini, this is a masterpiece. He gently places the filet on top of a premade salad, before reaching for a strawberry jam jar. Out of the jar, he scoops a tablespoon of a black caviar-looking substance. The substance is homemade espresso gelatine, mimicking the shape of salmon caviar. He gently places the gelatine on top of the salmon. It wobbles around a little but calms down quickly. The gelatine is developed to boost the dish’s coffee taste and to complement the visual expression of the dish, making it rather unique.

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A Well Travelled Chef

Having travelled the world and cooked in restaurants of every cuisine imaginable, the chef has gathered lots of inspiration towards the menu he has created at Solvind. From Italy to the United States, from Australia to Norway, Alessandro has experienced it all. Combining 15 years of world-wide experience with local produce, Alessandro has created a culinary experience like no other. Three years ago he came to Norway for a job and quickly fell in love with the Nordic country. He settled down in Tromsø where he worked for a couple of years. In the fall of 2019, he got the offer to develop the menu and be head chef at Restaurant Solvind, where he now excels in culinary art.

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Let’s Experiment

As a culinary artist, Alessandro tries to experiment with new tastes he can bring to the table. If a chef truly wants to make a perfect meal, he has to experience the whole process of acquiring and preparing his produce. Therefore, Alessandro spends hours upon hours on the sea, fishing and experiencing the nature around him. A while ago he spent an evening frying and salting cod skin with the goal of making cod chips. After some trial and error, he concluded that there was a reason this was not a trend already. It was not bad, but it was not really good either. Although the result did not live up to his expectations, the experience might be the foundation for a new dish in the future.

“I like to experiment with new tastes. It does not always work, but it is a new experience.”

Great Tastes, Great View

Of course, the food is key for a good restaurant visit. Coming in on a close second place, the view and visual dining experience is quite important as well. Restaurant Solvind is one of few restaurants offering gourmet food served with an amazing alpine view. Being located on the tip of a small peninsula, the restaurant features great views of the surrounding nature. Straight across the fjord, the mighty Lyngen Alps, a 95 kilometres long alpine mountain range encircles the area. Here you are able to experience extraordinary cuisine in extraordinary views. Read more about the view and architecture in our story, Inspired by Surrounding Nature.

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Interesting read? Then we highly suggest taking a look at our story A Taste of the Wild in Downtown Oslo, a story about how arctic reindeer is used for new experiences in downtown Oslo. Here at Nuet, we publish weekly blog posts about everything Scandinavian. Read more at nuetaquavit.com/stories and follow our Instagram @nuetaquavit for instant updates on new posts straight to your feed.

The Unique

For the award-winning Norwegian chocolate brand Fjåk all these factors apply. Located in Eidfjord, far into the Hardangerfjord in Western Norway, Fjåk innovates the chocolate industry with a Norwegian take on the worldwide popular product. Founded by Agur Arechanga and Siv Hereid back in 2017, the brand has been growing fast and is steadily gaining more popularity on the market. Agur and Siv aspire to make chocolate of the highest quality possible, adding the finest natural ingredients from the Norwegian nature. Their unique selling point is the combination of a well-known international product and rare local produce, such as lingonberry or reindeer moss.

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The Story

Agur had been working as a photographer for years when she in 2015 decided she needed to do something new. She played with the thought of starting both a gin company and an ice cream company, but after some consideration and research, she figured it was not quite the thing she was looking for. After some time she explored the thought of becoming the Norwegian Willy Wonka, a world-class chocolate maker. On a trip to Britain, visiting her in-laws, she had the opportunity to buy a chocolate machine and some cocoa beans. She bought the machine and brought it back home in her carry-on. Investing in the machine turned out to be the first step down the chocolate making path. Back home the experimenting with flavours began, and with the concept of Norwegian produce in mind Agur quickly figured out what was going to make Fjåk so unique.  After some time experimenting and making chocolate on her own, she convinced her good friend Siv to join the adventure, and in April 2017 they launched and committed to the brand, and the rest is history.           

The best thing about this adventure is the great feedback we get from our customers. Watching someone tasting and enjoying real, organic chocolate for the first time is priceless.

Agur Arachanga

The Garage            

Like many large companies in the world, Fjåk Chocolate started product developing and production in a small garage. In a dimly lit room, between shelves and storage, Norway’s first bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer started their business. Fast forward to the summer of 2019, the hard-working women got a lease on a closed down, local kindergarten, and moved their production out of the garage to larger and better facilities. After the move, the production quality and quantity went up, and at the end of last year, the two industrious women produced over 16.000 chocolate bars, by hand.

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The Concept

The concept is simple, special Norwegian ingredients mixed with high-quality beans, making a truly unique composition of flavours. In today’s market, Fjåk is the only manufacturer in Norway practising the “bean-to-bar” philosophy. Bean-to-bar is a concept meaning that all production steps from raw cocoa beans to finished chocolate bars are done in one single factory – or a closed down kindergarten in this case. Avoiding multiple production steps and facilities gives the women behind more control of the product quality and results in an eco-friendlier production. The bean-to-bar concept has become popular outside of Scandinavia, both east and west, but at home this is a relatively unexplored concept, making Fjåk pioneers in the Scandinavian market.

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The Taste

With such a great focus on Norwegian raw materials, there is no surprise that their bestselling bars are the ones with local produce. Their best-selling chocolate bar is the 45% milk & brown cheese, described as a round creamy milk chocolate with a crunch of Norwegian goat cheese. The cheese is locally produced at Undredal Stølsysteri, just a quick trip from Eidfjord. Just like the brown cheese bar, their reindeer moss and lingonberry bar might be the definition of Norwegian chocolate. The taste of the Norwegian wilderness combined with high-quality Tanzanian cocoa beans makes for an extraordinary culinary experience. Being hand-picked and hand-crafted by two committed, hard-working women, the chocolate is made with love and passion in true Norwegian spirit.

Interested in Scandinavian cuisine and culture? Here at Nuet, we publish weekly posts about everything Scandinavian. Read more on nuetaquavit.com/stories and follow our Instagram @nuetaquavit to get instant updates on new posts straight to your feed.

Raw materials at its finest

Head chef Eirik Mehus has been at Edda from the beginning in june 2018. From day one he has been responsible for continuosly developing a unique menu focusing on the very best Norwegian ingredients. The result is an exceptional menu with a wide variety of flavours. During your visit at Edda you’ll encounter Norwegian reindeer from the Finnmarksvidda Plateau, cod from the coast of Lofoten and Norwegian brown cheese. Here you’ll have a taste of Norway’s most well known produce, cooked to precision

“Our idea is to use Norwegian raw materials prepared in the French way”, says head chef Eirik Mehus.

Introducing a new taste

When it comes to the well-travelled Norwegian reindeer, the head chef’s goal has been to introduce the fantastic gamey taste to people that may not get the chance to enjoy it very often, or never at all. Reindeer meat gets its distinct flavour from their diet, which consists of herbs, grass and shrubs. Finding the perfect recipe to this mild but distinct taste was not an easy task. Despite the trials and errors the end result was worth it; curing the reindeer in Nuet Dry Aquavit, grapefruit peel and blackcurrant. The latter are actually some of the main ingredients in the aquavit, which makes this a great comprehensive experience, though we may of course be somewhat biased on this one.

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Upon leaving the restaurant you’ll have the feeling of satisfaction. Culinary satisfaction.

Reindeer can be used for so much. A favouriteof many is a tartar. Here Eirik has made a reindeer tartar accompanied by pickled red onions and dried cabbage.

Edda isn’t all about the food, here interior is just as important. Just like the food it has a touch of Norwegian tradition. Designed by the Oslo based interior designers at Interiørplan, Edda has a clean, modern look with a distinct Norwegian style. You can read more about the beautiful design in a later blog post! Follow us at @nuetaquavit to get instant updates on new posts! And while you’re at it, check out our other posts right here at nuetaquavit.com/stories!