Other Stays: Oslo

The first of the Other Stays series focuses on great eating and drinking spots around the city, plus 1 bonus place that doesn’t fit into the category that missed, but you shouldn’t ︎

Other Stays 001
Oslo
10.05.22

Let’s get it out of the way: Part of every guide out there already, but here it is again anyway. Brutus was one of the first natural wine bars to crop up in the city. We thought we’d be going for small plates but turns out it was pizza. We’d actually had pizza for lunch, but it was my birthday so I wasn’t going to say no. It was a pop up by @matimporten. Prices akin to Franco Manca but endlessly more delicious. As for the wine, their menus (or at least on the day we were there) are by the glass and you choose red, white, orange or rosé. Super simple, really nice vibe. A little bit out of the way from our apartment, but from here we walked a little and got the tram down to the Sculpture Park (more on that later).

So good we went twice. Would have gone every day but it is pricey. Tim Wendleboe won Barista World Champion in 2004 and has a coffee bar in Grünerløkka. We bought a packet of beans for home and even then you can taste what it says on the packet.

If you only do 1 thing, get a Cappucino al Freddo from Tim Wendleboe, Grünerløkka.

We stayed at an apartment in Rosenhoff for our time here, which was 5 days, 4 nights. It was cute and cosy, but I wouldn’t 100% recommend it so I’ll avoid dropping the link here. Good location though, just out of central Grünerløkka which was where quite a lot of the food and drink spots we wanted to check out were. We stayed in on our first night, and went to a KIWI to get bits to cook. One thing to note is they don’t sell alchohol in their supermarkets, you have to go to a specific store to get it from (we went to Vinmonopolet), and they close pretty early (6pm daily except Saturdays, which is 3pm) so you’ve got to plan your evenings a bit. If you eat fish, definitely buy some even if just from the supermarket.

Stumbled across a Mikkeller inbetween bars. For reasons I haven’t bothered to Google this one is called Henry & Sally’s, but easily recognisable by the illustratative logo mark. Same as their other locations, but always worth a visit for craft beers on tap.

Bonus pick: Ekebergparken is a sculpture park that we barely touched the surface of, which is probably my only regret of the trip.  As mentioned previously, we went after dinner at Brutus, walking about half way then getting a tram to the park entrance. By this time it was about 9pm, so pretty late and getting cold. It made for a beautiful sunset, but ended up being too dark to walk the whole park (which is pretty massive). You should definitely go here, just go earlier, or if you want to see the sunset, go again in the day to see the whole thing. To continue the theme of regrets, we only realised when we were there that there were two James Turrell installation in a disused water resovoir. They’re only open on Sundays for guided tours, which we missed getting there so late. Free from 11am–6pm, or if you can, book to see them during sunrise and sunset for 3850 NOK. Book here.

Our favourite wine bar of the trip was Territoriet. Wine here, or any alcohol, or anything bad for you at all, is expensive. Be prepared to pay up to £25 a glass for a natural orange, but the staff are amazing and really know their stuff. Ask them for recommendations and admire the fancy bottle openers. Very chill, small and almost NYC style vibes here. Read good things online about the bar snacks too.

Our favourite wine bar whilst we were there: Territoriet

First up, I have no good photos from here. But it needs to go on the list. I was skeptical at first, but we had such a fun night, great staff too. Kniven Bar is a heavy metal bar in central Oslo. Cheaper prices than you’re going to get elsewhere and really good drinks. They do natural wine, but get the cocktails. Not far off London prices and really delicious.

Probably our top pick for food, and the drinks are great too. Skaal Matbar serves mainly natural wine but some really good beers if you’re sick of all the other wine places on this list. Wish we were more hungry when we went as we only shared a couple of small plates, all equally moreish. I presume the toast is a staple for them, because literally everyone around us ordered it so we felt we needed to, and weren’t disappointed. Cheese and Jalapeño filled with the option of pulled pork. Walk-ins only.