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.
The cube croissants sell out very quickly every day, and we had to come to the shop early in the morning. The classic flavour was classic for a good reason: the panna cotta has a subtle coconut flavour, striking a perfect balance with the acidity of the Norwegian plum jam. The jam was made with plums of high quality and tasted very refreshing. The croissant was flawlessly laminated and blended perfectly with the filling. Mind you, the cube croissant was quite big and enough to share between two people.
The second time, however, we got a cube croissant with gingerbread filling—it was the Christmas season. We tasted it as an experiment, and the result was hardly satisfying: the gingerbread filling has such an intense sweetness that has completely dominated the croissant flavour. If you have not tried their cube croissants before, we recommend to go for their classic flavour, if possible.
In addtion to the popular cube croissants, the bakery also offers a variety of traditional Norwegian pastries such as cardamon and cinnamon rolls, as well as puff pastries such as pain au chocolat and pain swiss. They also sell sandwiches and bread made with sourdough, as well as coffee and tea and different juices and soft drinks.
Cardamom roll Cinnamon roll
On our last visit, we tried both the cardamom and cinnamon rolls. Both were good but we especially liked the cinnamon roll. It was baked in the classical Norwegian style, moist and airy, and has a very strong cinnamon taste, yet not overpoweringly sweet. The shop says they insist on using high quality and locally produced raw ingredients and we can feel that, too.
In addition to the main shop, Heggdalsvik opened a new take-away sister bakery “Mjøl” (meaning “flour” in Norwegian) in the Sagene borough in spring 2023. The head baker at Mjøl is the 29-year-old baker Stian Damstuen, who is currently on the Norwegian national team. Heggdalsvik himself has also moved on to the new shop, in charge of daily management.
The reason he did not use the same name for the new shop, according to Heggdalsvik’s interviews with Norwegian media, was that he wanted to differentiate Kveitemjøl from a regular chain, as well as emphasise Mjøl’s independence, where they have the freedom to be more experimental and creative.
When Heggdalsvik first opened Kveitemjøl, he said he was trying to create a unique bakery, something that the industry has never seen before. In June this year, however, both Kveitemjøl and Mjøl were sold to the Stavanger-based bakery chain Kanelsnurren, and Heggdalsvik told media that he was happy with the sale.
Thanks to the strong team Heggdalsvik has assembled in Kveitemjøl, Kanelsnurren said it might use Kveitemjøl partly as an internal training venue for their bakers. The company also planned to build a new production centre in Oslo, so as to supply Kveitemjøl, Mjøl as well as their chain stores in the Greater Oslo region.
According to Heggdalsvik’s plan in the end of 2023, Kveitemjøl was supposed to open another two to three new shops during 2024. We do not know to what extent Kanelsnurren was involved in this ambition back then, and are very intrigued to see how they would influence each other’s internal cultures as well as production quality, as they move forward with the cooperation. In the best scenario, Kveitemjøl will be able to scale up without losing its sharpness. Too much good stuff can never be a bad thing.