NorwayEats:

(Disclaimer: this isn’t a food blog, but it’s about to turn into one for a few posts.)

Big mistake: I attempted to eat my way through one of the most expensive cities in the world.

(According to most sources, only Singapore and Paris rank higher). Though flights into Norway were ridiculously affordable (round trip, with one checked bag, from JFK, can float in the 400 range), the cost of eating (well) is numbingly high.

FOOD RULES TO DO NORWAY:

1) Book hotels that have breakfast included. This is NON-NEGOTIABLE. If you only follow one piece of advice I write, it MUST be this one. This can save you upwards of $30USD a day. (Breakfast included is one of the main reasons I stopped researching airbnb options…)

2) Assuming you just followed rule #1, plan to spend AT LEAST $30 USD per day on food. This dictates you stick to a VERY strict dietary budget, outlined as follows:

• lunch is fast food or convenience store snacks
• no splurge snacks, coffee, or dessert
• buy one water bottle at the beginning of the trip and re-use it by filling it with hotel tap water. (Actually, that’s pretty good advice, you should do this regardless of being on a food budget—tap water in Norway is delicious and safe, and bottles can EASILY run you $4-7 USD.)
• No alcohol. EVER.

3) More realistically, budget $50 USD per day for food. This allows for a light-to-modest lunch, an espresso treat, and dinner with a glass of wine at a decent restaurant.

TO BE NOTED GOING FORWARD:

1) I spent as much on food in ten days as I would in a month on groceries in the states.
2) I ate enough sugar to give myself diabetes
3) AVOID EGON. JUST DON’T DO IT. Pretend it’s like the Norwegian version of Chili’s.

Mathallen Oslo:

Barramon, Pintxos y Vino: for small plate tapas. Open-faced, served on French bread soaked in olive oil. Couldn’t catch the name of each tapa (and the chalkboard menu definitely wasn’t in English) but one was potato and one was mushroom, potentially with onions and bacon. LOTS of bacon in Norway. House white wine.

Hello Good Pie: Something with a Meringue frosting. And sugar practically seeping from the crumbling brown crust. Single serving tin. Espresso side. Delicious.

Joe & The Juice: Turkey Sandwich with “Kalkun”, mozzarella and tomato. Flatbread-but long enough to be considered lunch and (by Norway standards) the 75NOK price tag seemed reasonable. Polished cement floors, exposed piping on an all-black ceiling, lightbulbs dangling shade-less by wires in clusters above a mismatched tables. Four 20-something male baristas were appropriately calibrated to the “I’m-slightly-too-trendy-to-be-a-hipster” vibe.

 

La Brassier: French Onion Soup and Scallops with (undercooked) Asparagus  Too small a plate with too much pepper. I slowed down to mindfully eat–a fruitless attempt to convince myself I was filling up. Thankfully the breadbasket loomed an arms length away.