To most visitors, Sentrum, Oslo’s city centre, is what forms their first impressions of the city. Stepping out of Oslo Central Station, you can follow Karl Johan street, the city’s shopping and commercial artery, all the way to the National Theatre and the royal Palace. Turn to the eastern side, and a few minutes walk will take you to Bjørvika, Oslo’s historic main harbour, where you can find the Opera House, the new Deichmann library, the new Munch Museum and the new National museum, the latter being the largest national museum in the whole Scandinavia. You can also dine here at Maaemo, Oslo’s only three michelin star restaurant.
Bjørvika’s waterfront is one of the latest developed commercial areas in Oslo. Shedding off its past as a container habour and highway junction, the area is now rebuilt with modern high-rises, collectively named as the “Barcode”. Aker brygge, another high-end residential area more towards the western side, a busy shopping and commercial area since the 1980s, also falls in this borough.
This bustling commercial and business location, thanks to its high rent and other costs, has driven away numerous small independent shops, but attracted even more. Today, the borough is one of the hottest spots for the ambitious ones to earn a reputation in the city—even though that means you may need to cooperate with big chains and groups with deep pockets. Lut/Laget is one of such latest newcomers in this regard.
Despite the hustle and bustle in the city centre, there still exists many nice cafés and bakeries in this area. Many of them hide in plain sight, such as the café in the new National Museum. Some are already popular among tourists and locals, such as Kveitemjøl. Admittedly slightly pricier, these places are extremely accessible, wherever you live in the city, and sometimes—I mean just sometimes, you just want to give in and indulge yourself with a little bit of luxury. You cannot find a better place to do that than here.
Paper & Tea
If you recognise this tea room, you have beaten 80% of the people living in Oslo in terms of knowledge of cool places in the city centre. This is the underground tea room of Paper & Tea, the Oslo shop of the Berlin-based tea brand, located right across Prinsens gate from Oslo’s landmark department store Steen & Strøm.
Hidden tea room
Inside the shop, teas are showcased in seperate sections based on their types and origins. The green tea section offers a wide selection of Japanese green teas whereas in the oolong and black tea sections can one find more teas of Chinese and Indian orgins.
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Kveitemjøl
Since its opening in April 2020 during the covid pandemic, Kveitemjøl (meaning “wheat flour” in Norwegian) has quickly become one of the most popular bakeries in Oslo. Its location at Aker Brygge, the bustling commercial and shopping centre by Oslo harbour, certainly helped. More important is the man behind it all: Nils Olav Heggdalsvik, a veteran baker who used to be on the Norwegian national baking team.
The first item from Kveitemjøl that caught the attention of social media is their cube croissants—a cube-shaped croissant filled with Norwegian plum jam and coconut panna cotta, and was sold “at record speed”, according to local newspapers. To make it more interesting, the shop makes different flavours depending on the season.
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Hakone Coffee
Hakone (箱根) region in Japan, thanks to its abundant geothermal resources, is usually associated with Onsen (温泉), the traditional Japanese style hot spring baths. In Oslo, however, people name their coffee shops after it.
The reason, said Camilla Inanda Svanberg, one of the café’s founders, is to evoke fond memories people attach to the healing effects of such places and, in this way, remind them that “to buy coffee is to buy well-being”, according to her interviews with Norwegian media.
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Lut/Laget
Very few new places attract as much attention as Lut/Laget. Located in Clemenskvartalet, part of the latest developmment in Bjørvika, Lut/Laget is many things at once: a two-storied French style brasserie (their interior decoration features an Eiffel tower), a bar, a bakery backed by Åpent Bakeri and a pizza restaurant as part of the Lofthus Samvirkelag.
The name Lut/Laget, originally meaning “joint-stock company” in Norwegian, emphasises this multi-faced cooperation between Lofthus Samvirkelag and Åpent Bakeri. But the collaboration behind Lut/Laget goes much deeper. The pastry chef Diana Elizondo used to work at Maaemo, whereas the bistro chef Martin Gnecco is from restaurant Panu—and they are a couple.
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