Cafe

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. ...

When Farine (meaning “flour” in French) took over the yellow building at the heart of Eastern Oslo’s Kampen area, everything felt right. The building was originally built by a baker in 1878, where he produced bread in the basement while keeping his horses in the stable in the back. After a big fire accident in the area in 1879, the building was purchased by the Norwegian state. Today, it is included in the Kampen preservation zone by the city’s cultural heritage management office (Byantikvaren i Oslo). ...

Tucked away in a quiet yard shielded by a brick wall, Håndbakt (meaning “hand-baked” in Norwegian) is located on the ground floor of Factory Tøyen, a coworking space. When the bakery opened its doors in September 2021, it was the first plant-based micro bakery in the whole Norway. Today, it has become one of the most popular brunch/coffee places in Eastern Oslo. The red brick building that houses the bakery is a renovated factory building that dates back to 1911. Echoing the building’s historical atmosphere, the bakery’s interior is decorated in a modern industrial style, with wires and steel pipes running across the ceiling, and naked red brick walls complimented by broad-leaved plants. Thanks to the high ceiling, large windows and dimmed lighting, the space conveys a sense of airy openness, and at same time exudes a welcoming warmth of comfort. ...

Frida, the much-anticipated bakery owned by the Babbo Collective brand chain, opened today. Located next to the brand’s Restaurant Bente in Torshov area, the bakery was originally set to open in August 2024, but was delayed because of “power supply issues” until mid-Feburary, said Alexandra Ek, one of the three main Babbo Collective owners. We arrived at the shop at 07:40 in the morning, and there were already 5 people sitting at the tables waiting. The staff were scurrying around, trying to put a finishing touch on everything, and the kitchen eventually started serving at 8:00. Within 10 minutes, the shop was overflowing with people. ...

Babbo Collective, a chain of two restaurants and two cafés owned by the Danish restauranteur Lennart Petersen, opened its own roastery. The newly opened roastery, named Bib Roastery, occupies the location next door to the Babbo Collective Parkveien shop in Western Oslo’s affluent Vika area. Bib roasts their coffee using a Stronghold S7X roaster Lennart Petersen—Owner of Babbo Collective ...

Few names in Oslo’s bakery circle can invoke as much respect and awe as Ille Brød. Established in 2015 in a home kitchen in Western Oslo’s Bygdøy area, under the name “Bygdøy surdeigsbakeri” (“Bygdøy sourdough bakery”), the half-serious-half-hobby micro-bakery gradually took shape, and eventually in 2017 moved into a proper production facility on Lakkegata, where the shop is still located today. The two founders, Martin Fjeld og Casper Lugg, are both from Fredrikstad, a city roughly 90 km south of Oslo. In their dialect, «ille bra» (which can be loosely translated as “awfully good”) is a phrase commonly used to describe something particularly good. Jokingly, the two young bakers started to refer to their particularly successful bread as «ille brød» (something to the effect of “awfully (good) bread”). Hence the bakery’s name. ...

Since its opening in early 2022, Kuro has quickly established itself as a unique neighbourhood café in Grünerløkka, attracting a large flock of regulars in this young and vibrant leisure area. Backed by a fashion brand named F5, which is owned by the family of three Krystad Marthinsen brothers, the coffee bar was planned from inception as an extension of the fashion brand universe, an open space where Scandinavian fashion design meets the coffee culture. ...

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. ...

The Little Pickle, a Michelin-guide restaurant located on the edge between Grünerløkka and Tøyen, opened its own bakery and café. The newly opened bakery and café has assembled a talented Japanese team, who have been active in Oslo’s food and coffee industry in recent years. Among them are the restaurant’s baker and pastry chef Nozomi Miyawaki (宮脇のぞみ) and her husband Tsukasa Miyawaki (宮脇司)—the couple used to work at Ille Brød, one of Oslo’s best known sourdough bakeries, and Ayae Maki Fredheim (真木彩衣), who used to roast at Lille Oslo Kaffebrenneri and now running her own independent roastery Hibi Kaffe. Even though Hibi is still in its early stages, the roastery has already attracted attention in the industry, and is today the coffee provider to the bakery Farine, restaurant Panu, as well as Michelin 3-star restaurant Maaemo. ...

Java has become a landmark coffee shop right by St. Hanshaugen park ever since it opened its doors in 1997. Its owner–and the main barista–Robert Thoresen, originally trained as an architect, is one of the leading figures of the third-wave coffee movement in the Oslo coffee scene. The original plan, according to Thoresen’s interviews with local newspapers, was that the coffee bar should serve as the front to his architecture studio. Yet Thoresen got so fascinated by the coffee business and went on to win a string of illustrious coffee-related titles including the first edition of the World Barista Championship in Morocco in 2000. ...