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FOOD AND DRINK |
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Norwegian food can, at its best, be excellent: fish is plentiful,
and carnivores can have a field day trying meats like reindeer steak or
elk. But all this costs money, and those on a tight budget may have
problems varying their diet. The same can be said of drinking: buying
from the supermarkets and state off-licences, Vinmonopolet, is often the
only way you'll afford a tipple: in a bar, a half-litre of beer will
cost you around 40kr
Food
Breakfast ( frokost ) - a self-service affair of bread, cheese, eggs,
preserves, cold meat and fish, washed down with unlimited tea and coffee
- is usually excellent at hostels, and memorable in hotels. Almost
everywhere breakfast is included in the price of a room; where it isn't,
reckon on an extra 50-70kr. Picnic food is the best stand-by during the
day, although there are a number of fast-food alternatives. The
indigenous Norwegian variety, served up at street stalls ( gatekjøkken
), consists mainly of rather unappetising hot dogs ( varm pølse ), pizza
slices and chicken and chips. A much better choice, and often no more
expensive, is simply to get a smørbrød , a huge open sandwich heaped
with a variety of garnishes. You'll see them in any café or bakery . The
Norwegians are very proud of their dairy products, with very good milk,
cheese and yogurt. Good coffee is available everywhere and in cafeterias
is usually half-price after the first cup. Tea , too, is ubiquitous, but
usually served with lemon so if you want milk, ask for it.
The best deals for sit-down food are at lunchtime ( lunsj ), when self-service
kafeterias offer a limited range of daily specials ( dagens rett ) - a
fish or meat dish with vegetables or salad, often including a drink,
sometimes bread, and occasionally coffee too, that costs around 70-90kr.
Most department stores and large supermarkets have surprisingly good
kafeterias ; as do main railway stations but they tend to be rather
overpriced. In the larger towns you'll also find more original cafés
called kaffistovas , which serve high-quality Norwegian food at quite
reasonable prices. Restaurants , serving dinner ( middag ) and classic
Norwegian food, are out of the range of many budgets, but the seafood at
the best of them is quite superb - main courses average 180-200kr. Again,
the best deals are at lunchtime, when some restaurants put out a
koldtbord (the Norwegian smörgåsbord ), where, for a fixed price of
around 100-150kr, you can get through as much as possible during the
three or four hours it's served. There are also a sizeable number of
urban ethnic restaurants , the most affordable of which are the
pizza/pasta joints or Asian choices, and café/bars where a substantial
main course and a couple of small beers will rush you about 180kr.
Drink
Norwegian alcohol prices are among the highest in Europe. Beer is lager-like
and comes in three strengths: class I is light beer, class II is the
beer you get in supermarkets and this is also most widely served in pubs,
class III is the strongest beer and only available at Vinmonopolet. If
you are in Norway around Christmas, you should try some of the Christmas
brews. Every year the different breweries are in fierce competition to
win the coveted prizes organised by local and national newspapers. The
drink is darker and fuller in taste and very popular with the locals.
Spirits are also way over the top in price. One local speciality worth
trying at least once is aquavit , served ice-cold in little glasses and,
at forty percent proof, real headache material. In bars and cafés a half-litre
of beer costs about 40kr. In the smaller towns, bars (where they exist)
tend to close down at around 11pm, but in the cities they are open until
at least 1am and until 4am in many cases. Beer is sold in supermarkets
and shops all over Norway and is about half the price you'd pay in a
bar. Wines and spirits can only be purchased from the state controlled
shops known as Vinmonopolet . Wine is not cheap, but it offers a
reasonable alternative with good bottles of wine from 85kr. Vinmonopolet
is also known to be one of the best winebuyers in Europe and has a wide
selection in stock.
There's generally one in each small town, though there are more branches
in the cities; opening hours are usually Mon-Wed 10am-4/5pm, Thurs
10am-5/6pm, Fri 9am-4/6pm, Sat 9am-1/3pm
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