Food meme - sort of

Paula tagged me, and when I saw what I had been tagged with, I immediately felt at a loss. You see, my relationship with restaurants in Bergen is, well, more or less non-existent for a couple of reasons.

First of all, my company has an excellent employee cafeteria and a hot dinner Monday through Thursday. I get my dose of salted cod, or Ma's meatballs, or lapskaus (Norwegian Mulligan stew) there, cheaply and without the fuss or leftovers such dishes cause a single gal (who doesn't really know how to make them, anyway).

Secondly, though Norwegians eat out far more than they used to, and the variety of restaurants and types of food has multiplied the last couple of decades, it is still relatively expensive to eat out in this country, and so it's not done that often, not even weekly. People who do eat out once a week or more either have an expense account or still live at home and pay no rent. So if I'm going to fork over that much money, I want to feel it was worth it. Which brings me to:

Thirdly, I might eat out more often if I actually liked the food. The best food and service cost accordingly, making those experiences not something to do on a weekly basis, and sometimes not even monthly. Since I get my dose of typical Norwegian food at work, I tend to focus on the town's foreign restaurants, but they don't satisfy my tastebuds. The American restaurants in town taste cheap to me, like an attempt at mimicking American that almost but not quite succeeds. We have a Mexican restaurant, but it must be some kind of hybrid. It offers no dishes I know from California, and there's never any refried beans or yellow rice, but there is the ubiquitous handful of green salad, which may sport a tomato, but never any dressing.

That said, there are a few places I would recommend to visitors, as well as prioritize for myself, depending on occassion:

  • For some of the city's best sandwiches, and conveniently located right off the main square behind Hotel Norge, there's Godt Brød (Good Bread). You can also get a variety of teas and coffees there. My favorite place to rest my feet and get a bite while shopping.
  • For something to eat on the go, or the basis for dinner, try hot fish cakes at Søstrene Hagelin (the sisters Hagelin) - an institution in Bergen, and just up the street from Godt Brød. You can sit down to a hot meal there, too.
  • For something exclusively "bergensk" (of the city of Bergen), there is Bryggeloftet & Bryggestuene (Wharf Loft & Wharf Rooms), right on Bryggen itself. The decor downstairs (The Rooms) features paintings of old-time Bergen on every wall. Upstairs (The Loft) is more like a Norwegian lodge. The menu features uniquely Norwegian dishes, elevated to fine cuisine. The service is quick and good and the employees are very used to tourists. Try the local specialty: Bergen's fish soup.
  • For dining with a spectacular view and excellent service, there's the restaurant at the top of the funicular: Fløien Folkerestaurant (Fløien Folk Restaurant). More expensive than Bryggeloftet, but if you want to extend your stay on Bergen's roof, this is a good place to do it. They have an exclusive fish and shellfish stew which is one of the best seafood dishes I have ever had in my life. For the lunch crowd, they offer a cafeteria-style hot meal.
  • Finally - at a mid-priced range - your typical family restaurant, Norwegian style: Restaurant Lido. It's on a corner across the street from the tourist office, and if you're lucky, you can get a table with a view of Bergen's open-air fish market and watch the comings and goings of the locals. The food is typical fare for a Norwegian cafeteria (which brings back childhood memories), and the place appeals to older Norwegians because there's nothing exotic or demanding about either food, furnishing or atmosphere. That and the tables set with paper tablecloths and crayons also make it a popular restaurant for folks with kids. Some of the guests' more artistic doodles hang on the wall.

    I used to go to this restaurant one Saturday a month with my friend Elsa, and we'd order "today's special" and the house wine (meaning, watch the cashier pump some box wine into a carafe). We'd then spend hours talking and looking out the windows at life outside. Never a dull moment.

    Lido has no website of its own, but it and many other Bergen restaurants are listed here.

PS: I'm not tagging anyone for my own screwy reasons.

Comments

Paula said…
Nice! Jeff used to work at an ins. company that offered decent hot meals three (three!) times a day, and everyone there took advantage of that. Why not? Here, I get uh ... free diet Coke. LOL
Keera Ann Fox said…
I have to pay for my Coke. *pout* But coffee's free. *BFG*
Norma said…
This should be helpful for visitors. We toured Russia last summer with a couple from the U.S. who had just visited Norway and they were shocked at how expensive it was to eat in restaurants.
alice said…
Ah! Now you've got me thinking about coming back, to return to the great restaurant I've already enjoyed and to try something new!
Keera Ann Fox said…
Norma, my biggest frustration when travelling in Norway is that a lunch can cost the same as a dinner (which has gotten relatively cheaper in recent years). I've paid NOK 100 for each. Any alcohol makes it even more expensive. A tourist had better not plan on eating out twice a day in this country.

Alice, I would love to see you again in Bergen!
Nicole said…
Floien Folk Restaurant sounds yummy!!! the fish and shellfish stew is making me super hungry!!

Thanks for doing the tag!! very nicely described
Anonymous said…
Wooo.. the hot fish cakes makes me hungry.

I guess I will have to save enough to go Fløien Folk Restaurant. Haha.. I'm a tourist... I guess I will do the tourist thing.. looking at views... and stuff while enjoying nice meal.

Thanks for your recommendations and for doing the tag. I love it.
Keera Ann Fox said…
Nicole and Velverse, thanks for the compliments and commenting (and link at Velverse's).

To all and any of you above: If you ever do get to Bergen, let me know. I'll even give you a tour! Or just point you to my favorite coffee bar. :-)

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