Sandra Kristiansen: How cam'st thou in this pickle?
Asian, Norwegian, single mum and entrepreneur — Sandra Kristiansen juggles a multitude of roles and identities. This is the story of how she built one of the most unique cafés and restaurants in Oslo. When Luke Henderson and Sandra Kristiansen decided to name their restaurant “The Little Pickle”, no one realised he would be stuck so literally in this Shakespearean metaphor. By May 2021, they had worked together for four years, and they were about to open a restaurant of their own. It was a busy and stressful period: the Covid-19 pandemic, social distancing, vaccines, lockdowns — society at a complete standstill. Yet they still managed to find a good location, did all the renovations and carpentry themselves, while cooking cheap food they bought from the supermarket in a kitchen they were building up little by little. Those were also days of hope: they found talented people ready to come in and work, and this would be “a kitchen with a simple, flat hierarchy, where there is no shouting, no yelling, no ‘Yes, chef!’”, Kristiansen said. ...