The charm of geometry is hard to resist—this is probably the feeling of most people when they step into Jorda Rundt (meaning “around the world” in Norwegian) café for the first time. Housed inside the historically significant “Rondellen” (meaning “the roundel” in Norwegian) building by the entrance of Oslo’s Aker Hospital, the café’s seating area is arranged along the circumference of a perfect circle. Constructed in the 1960s and originally used as a guard station and flower shop, the building was put on the historical preservation list by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage in 2012. It was designed by the famous Norwegian architect firm Morseth & Wiel Gedde.
The café officially opened its doors on Feb 14th, 2024. The interior is decorated in different shades of green: light green on the inner circular wooden wall, dark green on the outer circle, which is basically a ring of glass windows. The space is dotted with broad-leaved plants and furnished with large, comfortable outdoor chairs.
It is evident that attention has been applied to all interior details, and nevertheless the general atmosphere is relaxed. Thanks to the curvature, your view shifts with every step you take. With the Aker Hospital on one side and a busy highway on the other, the café comes across as a blend of a Viennese garden and an American motel.
For people coming to the hospital, the café is an important place for lunch. On their menu can one find toasts, salads, burritos and different kind of drinks. For those picky with coffee, here they brew coffee with beans purchased from Supreme Roastworks.
When it comes to pastries, one can find scones, cookies, croissants as well as two varieties of cinnamon buns. Homemade in style, the cinnamon buns are made in a more traditional way, while the cinnamon rolls are lighter and airier.
The most interesting item on the menu for us is their pizza, which is served from 2 pm until they close at 8 pm. Here, they make all the pizza on the spot—in a pizza truck parked right outside, if you want to be more precise—and it costs only 99 NOK each. In Oslo, this is basically the price of a frozen pizza in the supermarket. We have tried their Pepperoni and M&L Truffle pizza, both very good. We were so impressed by the truffle one that we decided to come back to try other flavours.
Admittedly, hospitals are hardly the best place for people to come out for fun, yet they provide an excellent background for contemplations and deep conversations. As Goethe put it, “all beginnings are delightful”, while not all endings are necessarily sad, and it is here where the beginning meets the end. Time dashes forward like an arrow, and life, however, goes on in a circle.