Dinner o
party
Trondheim, this year’s European Region of Gastronomy, serves up exceptional food with a sense of fun, Clare Vooght discovers
ur chef Bjørn is strumming away on his guitar, belting out his rendition of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. Every time he starts playing the
harmonica, he tells us, we must have a gulp of our drinks. Bjørn ran two restaurants with his wife on the island
of Hitra before they moved to Trondheim – but this is no restaurant, it’s Bjørn’s front room. “This is the only house in Trondheim with a licence to serve alcohol, so we have to make a toast to the mayor,” says Bjørn, before crooning his best version of Ruby’s Arms by Tom Waits. The freedom of cooking his traditional Norwegian food in his own kitchen at home, and serving it to up to 24 guests in his living room, allows Bjørn – who is, incidentally, the spitting image of Antonio Banderas – to bring his other profession into the mix, which is music. Guests are encouraged to make themselves at home, and fill up their own glasses. In between homemade olive breads with locally fished salmon and Norwegian bacalao (salt cod) stew, Bjørn plays his choice of Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan covers (on rotation), along with his own songs, while telling us stories about his life. These range from learning piano at church and growing up on a quiet island to when he met the king of Norway, and by the end of the evening, it feels like I’ve known him for years.
A CULINARY DESTINATION One particularly memorable – and catchy – song of Bjørn’s, played on his acoustic guitar, celebrates Trondheim and Trøndelag as this year’s European Region
of Gastronomy. Which is why I’m here exploring the food scene in Norway’s third-largest city. And it doesn’t take long to understand why Trondheim and the surrounding Trøndelag region won the accolade.
Experiences can be as involved as you like. Hardcore foodie clients will love foraging sessions with Trøndelag Sankeri, which involves picking wild plants, berries, mushroom and edible flowers with Jim – who forages for restaurants in the area, including Michelin-starred Fagn and modern Norwegian restaurant Troll – before cooking up their finds on an outdoor grill. We feast on hake served with ‘truffle seaweed’, so named because it tastes like truffle. Jim tells us: “This is the truffle we are meant to eat; I think it’s really important to eat it. If you want the other truffle, you should go to Italy.” While the ants sprinkled on our meringue at dessert – “the only way to get a citrus flavour in Norway” – are a step too far for me, I appreciate the principle behind the food here. There’s a lot of phenomenal local produce that’s best enjoyed at its source, where it’s at its freshest. There’s something about the geology of the region and the mix of minerals in the glacier water that makes the food here so special, says Roar Hildonen, general manager of Tor Rom og Kjøkken, which serves Mediterranean-inspired dishes made with local ingredients. “If you ask a Michelin-starred restaurant where they get their langoustines from, it’s here,” he says. “All the chefs want to come here – it’s like having a restaurant just in front of heaven.”
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travelweekly.co.uk 1 SEPTEMBER 2022 53
DESTINATIONS NORWAY | EUROPE
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