And sometimes that can provide just what you need to combat a bit of homesickness.
How can I describe Mathallen? As I’ve mentioned before, mat is the Norwegian word for food, so the name translates to The Food Hall. Located on the river in an area that was formerly comprised of factories and mills, Mathallen sits on the edge of Grünerløkka, home and play place of all of Oslo’s cool kids.
To call Mathallen a food court seems a bit unfair, because it is so much more than that. In this massive warehouse-style shrine to gourmet delicacies and discriminating palates, you can buy superior cuts of meat and hard-to-find cheeses, grab lunch from one of the varied counter-service shops, or sit down and relax with friends for a drink or a meal. Weekends also include cooking demonstrations and delicious samples.
You can also take a break and enjoy a fine hand-brew at Solberg & Hansen. Their new concept shop offers coffee, tea, retail sales, and even some courses and cupping.
We have always been pleased with their coffee when we’ve bought it here in Sandefjord. So we were anxious to see what they had to offer at Mathallen.
They have a nice variety of beans available for purchase, and the styling and presentation at their pour-over bar is impressive.
The overall feel of the space is nice. The relaxed pace certainly fits the brewing technique, but seems to stand in contrast to the loud environment where it sits.
If you find yourself in the Vulkan or Grünerløkka neighborhoods of Oslo, we highly recommend a stop at Mathallen. And while you’re there, why not take the time to check out Solberg & Hansen as well?
While every morning deserves a little coffee to get things started, I think Mondays typically require even more!
So what better day than Monday to share some of the coffee
shops we’ve visited in recent years…
On our first edition of Kaffetur, I’m highlighting Ministerstwo Kawy (the ministry of coffee) in Warsaw, Poland. (Website here)
When we visited Poland we discovered a number of noteworthy coffee shops. This particular cafe offered excellent hand brews, and delicious baked goods as well.
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| William has promised to build one of these for us! |
The decor was simple and modern, with a bit of a Scandinavian feel to it.
Both of the ladies working behind the counter at Ministerstwo seemed to be quite knowledgeable about coffee – and spoke excellent English as well.
Did I mention that they sell amazing sweets? Zack and I enjoyed sharing a slice of this unusual yet delicious cake.
We ordered a Chemex with a very freshly-roasted African coffee.
The coffee was delicious – some of the best we had on this particular trip.
The location is close to a large roundabout, and a short walk to a Metro station. We highly recommend Ministerstwo in Warsaw!
I recently read an article on NRK.no about the five healthiest foods you can get in Norway. (here – Google Chrome should give you a translation option if you want to read it in English)Fifth place went to milk.
Fourth was blueberries.
In third, oatmeal.
Second place was mackerel in tomato sauce.
And first place? Carrots.
There were other foods on the list, but these were the five that the nutritionists seemed to agree on the most. All seem to be quite popular here. And you can typically find all five in our kitchen, as you can see from this picture taken today. I’ll write a bit about each of these in the coming weeks, including availability, how they are used and what we think of them.
I’ve recently had people ask for more posts about food here. So over the next weeks I will be introducing you to some of the food. You’ll see that some things are quite different from American food, but others are very much the same.Mat
Below is a quick rundown of the Christmas Cheer blog posts.I am trying to think of some new themes to write about in the coming months. Do you have any ideas? Any suggestions or requests? As I mentioned in an earlier post (here), I want to be more open about the struggles I face, whether that be as a mom, a wife, an expat, or from another facet of life. So from time to time I will be sharing things along those lines. But are there other topics that might be of interest? Let me know!
Christmas Cheer Blog Posts: