Adventures in Nordic Gastronomy

The work travel saga continues …

After a few days at home, I was back on the road – well, the runway at least. This time we would be traveling to the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland and Sweden across three weeks. In each country we faced some interesting situations revolving around food…

– Hungry and Thirsty in Oslo –

Oslo Harbour

Being utterly exhausted when I arrived in Oslo in a Sunday night, I told my colleagues I was opting for room service and a quiet night in.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always work out the way you want: there was no room service at this hotel. Just a menu for a delivery service. Fine. Ignoring the writing about an SMS service, I called and ordered a meal.

“Anything to drink?” I was asked.

I cast my eye over the room, suddenly. Where was the mini bar fridge? Well. while you’re on the phone, I thought. “A bottle of water please.”

Forty-five minutes later, my food arrived, and after eating a rather ordinary meal, I headed to bed.

No such drama-free evening for my colleagues! One tried using the SMS service for dinner, which I had ignored. Apparently you sent them an SMS and they sent back a confirmation so you could order. They never sent her a message back, so she couldn’t order food.

She also noticed the lack of mini bar in the room. Unsure if she could drink the water from the bathroom tap, she erred on the side of caution and headed down to the lobby to see if the bar was open.

“No, it’s Sunday, our bar is closed,” the receptionist informed her. “There is a convenience store done the street if you wish to buy something.”

At 10 o’clock at night?

Best table at the restaurant …

All was not lost in Oslo however – the next night we were taken to a restaurant, Olivia, which served thin crust gluten free pizza, and the weather was clear – if a little cold…

– Flying Glass in Helsinki –

The next week, we were off to Helsinki in Finland. We were recommended a restaurant which served typically Finnish food, and accepted the recommendation easily.

I’m sorry Rudolph …

I opted to try reindeer for the first time, which was garnished with a chunky cranberry sauce. It was really quite nice, except the little red cranberries made me think of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer …

Halfway through dinner, a waitress dropped a glass on the table behind us. The was an almighty crash, with glass spraying everywhere – including into the back of a colleague who was sitting just half a metre away! Despite the shock, she was fine. We continued to eat, but found a little later that there were tiny shards of glass all over the table … and surmised they were probably in our food as well!

I have to put a plug out for Finnish food here: it’s not really heard of as a culinary delight, but I thought it was simply fabulous!

Lapland Bread Cheese … Get On It!

One highlight was the dessert Lapland Bread Cheese. This is amazing. It’s a cheese of similar texture to haloumi, which is baked in milk and cinnamon, then served with berries. It was really delicious, and I highly recommend trying it next time you’re in Finland.

The other highlight was at the office canteen: there were some burger patties which I quickly passed over, as they were bright red. I thought this was meat on the very rare side … But it turned out it was merely meat mixed with beetroot – and was delicious!

The only downside of the trip was going to a sports bar to watch the Netherlands/Germany game in the Euro Cup. I was wearing my small leather jacket, and a bouncer directed me to the cloakroom.

“Check your jacket,” he advised.

“I’d rather not,” I responded. “I’m cold.”

“I said, check your jacket,” he repeated.

“And I said I’m cold,” I repeated.

“Check your jacket or find another bar,” he said more threateningly.

Scandinavian Sunset at 10pm

Some of you might know I don’t take kindly to poor customer service. I pulled all 165cm of myself up straight, took a deep breath and sized him up. With a big shaved head and shoulders the width of my height, I decided this was one battle I did not want to fight. And agreed to find another bar.

 

 

– Sick in Stockholm –

Five Types of Herring … The Culprit?

Rounding off the trip of the Nordics was a visit to Stockholm. With bright sun shining above morning, noon and night, it was a rather pleasant trip weather-wise. Unfortunately, despite going out to one of Stockholm’s finest restaurants, and trying pickled herring, char (a freshwater fish found in cold waters) and evening sampling some lobster for the first time in my life, this was far from the best food experience. It all tasted great at the time … But when I woke up at 2am and spent the next two hours vomiting, my taste for scandivanian food had changed quite dramatically…

On a more interesting note, we found the Swedes to be quite proud of all their nation had achieved. One told that they have done such a good job cleaning Swedish waterways over the past thirty years, they don’t have much more to do in that area – so they are now helping the Baltic countries clean theirs.

Another expressed pride in the Swedish health system. As we drove in a taxi, he pointed out a new building being built: “We are building a new hospital over there. I can’t see why though – we’re all so healthy!”

Perhaps for poor tourists such as myself who get sick in Sweden?