OSLO | TJUVHOLMEN | WORLD BY TINA

Tjuvholmen Foodie Festival – The ultimate food tasting tour arranged in the most exklusive area in Oslo. A mix between Östermalm in Stockholm and Nyhavn in Copenhagen. Join me on this getaway being a tourist in my own city or #staycation as the travel bloggers would call it.

TJUVHOLMEN

If you walk towards the water ”Oslofjorden” from the city centre you will soon end up at Aker Brygge, continue past all the sea front restaurants to the very far end and you’ve reached Tjuvholmen. What about the name? In Norwegian and Swedish the word ”tjuv” means thief and ”holme” means islet which directly translates ”Tjuvholmen” to the thief islet. I’ve tried to find the historical meaning behind it. A bit disappointed since I couldn’t find any, the area is quite new, the construction started in 2005 and what a construction – the architecture is so fascinating – think both inside and outside the box. Welcome to the arty area of Oslo!

Explore Tjuvholmen: https://www.tjuvholmen.no

THE THIEF

The most luxury art hotel in Oslo. This is the place you wanna book if you’re looking for something extraordinary. We stayed in the ”Kate Moss” room on the 7th floor with a glass balcony with ocean view. The breakfast was first class, smoked salmon, omelettes by choice, fried mushrooms, four kinds of melon…I can go on forever. My recommendation – try it yourself you won’t be disappointed. Promise. If you´re having some time over, go and relax in the spa area, there´s plenty of saunas, showers and a heated indoor swimming pool or have a facial or a well deserved body massage.

TJUVHOLMEN FOODIE FESTIVAL

How did we end up here? This is how me and and my man ended up with a luxury weekend stay at four star The Thief and tickets to the cool Backpacker Afterwork (4 restaurants) and the exklusive Dinner Cruise (9 restaurants). Tjuvholmen Foodie Festival was looking for a quote that described a ”foodie”, I but together som words and voila, this is a foodie according to me:

”A foodie is someone who travels by exploring the tastes of the world”

You´ve guessed it already, I won!!! Let me introduce to 9 different restaurants and countries with all their flavours and specialities.

FREDDY FUEGO – super goooood black corn tortillas with pulled pork and spicy chili sauce. Mexican food is always my pick of choice. Always. I also loved the colourful interior.

THE SALMON – When in Norway, eat salmon! Here we got to try three different kind of smoked salmon, both cold and warm – and on top of that we was served fried salmon skin as a starter. Surprisingly crispy and tasty! A very classy restaurants that’s also have a shop and education center. All in one.

BØLGEN & MOI + Bar Bastard – Welcome to Oktoberfest in Germany. Bratwurst with sauerkraut, grilled pig, wheat beer and Jaegermeister. This is where the party started!

OLIVIA – If you longing for a visit to Italy, this is the closest you get. The famous ham from Parma & Serrano, olives, truffles, mozzarella and the best of all Aperol Spritz – made by the Aperol ambassadour of Norway. This is Italy! You can find the restaurant in several places in Norway and Sweden (Gothenburg & Stockholm).

TJUVHOLMEN SJØMAGASIN – The place to be if you wanna eat like a royalty – literally speaking. The Norwegian king and his entourage of 200 persons had reserved the whole restaurant right after us. Here you will have the best fish and french wine in a very nice location right by the ocean overlooking the grand museum of Astrup Fearnley.

SOCIAL EATING – If I could only pick one place as my favourite of all the restaurants on Tjuvholmen this would be my first choice. I never been to Peru but I sure love ceviche and Pisco Sour – lucky me they served both! The restaurants is lovely decorated in flowers, gold, plants and animal prints – in a dark lightening. Very very nice atmosphere!

SANOMA – A great place for drinks and food with a South Korean twist. The beef bowl was fantastic and they made an awesome Bloody Mary – in fact one of the best I’ve had in Oslo, spiced with kimchi and sesame seeds – well done!

ESCALON – This is the place to go for the Spanish kitchen, tapas and paella. I haven’t had the paella here myself but others says its fantastic and by the photos I’ve seen – I believe them! Spanish cooking is always a good choice along with som great red wine.

THE THIEF RESTAURANT – The Thief is not just only a luxury hotel, they’ve also got a very nice looking restaurant. This evening we where served a traditional English fish n chips – not traditional at all! White fish fried in rice noodles served with fresh peas and dark beer. Yummy!

PARADIS GELATERIA – Can´t think of a better way to end a perfect evening then with a taste of Italy (again), the master of desserts! We where served a heavenly Italian ice cream with coffee and avec. This place have everything you could ask for if you have that sweet tooth.

The weekend was not just about food…we also did some sightseeing and gallery visits.

TJUVTITTEN

46 metres up in the are you have a fantastic view over the Oslofjord. One great thing about Oslo is that the city doesn’t really have any high buildings, no skyscrapes – I hope it stays that way.

GALLERIES

There are so many galleries out here and I totally understand why its a perfect mix between architecture and nature with the ocean just a few metres away. Fresh light. I myself is very interested in art, especially art that have a direct point or create feelings of any kind – mostly expressed in fluorescent colours. Gallery Fineart has often exhibitions with very interesting artists or photographers. Pushwagner is probably one of Norways most colourful artists, he died last year (2018) and many of his prints are shown here at Gallery Pushwagner. But my all time favourite is of course Astrup Fearnley Museum – always filled with pieces of the world’s most interesting artists, like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Gilbert & George.