Papegøye

Papegøye, originally named “Neongrut”, is an all-vegan cafè in the day and a wine bar in the evening. Papegøye means “parrot” in Norwegian, a bird that can “speak many languages and gather all sorts of colours” and it will best represent the customers and shop, according to the owners. Hence the name change.

Located at the heart of Tøyen, the café features a rustic interior design on the verge of urban ruin, with a large naked brick wall running behind the service counter, vintage furniture and green plants. Thanks to the high-ceiling and carefully matched Ikea lamps, the space feels airy and bright.

The shop offers coffee made with beans from several roasteries, including Langøra Kaffebrenneri, Kaffi and Norð. In addition to a list of hot and cold coffee and tea drinks, there are also cookies and pastries from the Oslo-based Bakerina, a ballerina turned baker.

We tried one of their biscotti in the jar on the previous visit, which was so dry and hard that we feared we might lose a couple of teeth biting into it. This time, we did not seem able to see the dry biscotti on the counter anymore, so we decided to try the sea salt chocolate chip cookie instead. We had to admit that we were positively surprised by how delicious it was.

On this visit, we decided to try their summer drinks. With matcha sourced from the Oslo-based independent tea supplier Spill the Tea, Papegøye has a reputation of offering “Oslo’s best matcha latte” on social media. Upon placing our order, we were reminded by the staff that the cold matcha latte “might be a bit sweet”.

As it turned out, the matcha taste in the drink has, to a large extent, been dominated by the syrup. We suspected the syrup was there to help people not used to matcha’s faint bitterness, but we still could not understand why there does not exist a non-sweetened option. For people who are genuinely looking after a good cup of matcha latte, we suggest you find another place.

The iced latte and espresso tonic, in contrast, were both really good. We highly recommend the affogato here—a shot of hot espresso poured over a scoop of oatly ice cream. The contrast between the two makes for an extremely satisfying summer drink. Since Papegøye sets out to be an all-vegan café, all the milk-based drinks are made with oatly.

Since the café opened, it has produced two winners in the Norwegian latte art competition. One of them, Simen Andersen, ended up in 6th place in the world competition in Australia.

Given its central location at Tøyen, Papegøye is a popular place during the day, when you can see many people sitting here working on their computers. After the sunset, with the colourful neon lights on, lamps dimmed and music flowing out of the speakers, you can catch a glimpse of its bright flamingo-pink light even from the far end of the street. Then you realise: the name “papegøye” is perhaps more than just a metaphor.