Salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill for two to three days, sliced paper-thin and served with hovmastersaus, a sweet mustard-and-dill sauce, on rye crispbread.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Gravlaks (literally buried salmon) descends from a medieval Nordic preservation method of fermenting salmon under stones with salt; the modern fresh dill-and-sugar cure that defines it today dates to the late 19th century, when refrigeration removed the need for fermentation. The Norwegian version uses sea-farmed Atlantic salmon, cured 48 to 72 hours. Lofoten Fiskerestaurant, Solsiden and Theatercaféen carry the canonical Oslo version with hovmastersaus, sweet mustard-and-dill, on rye crispbread.
Common allergens: Fish, Mustard
Tip from the editors. Use very fresh salmon from a fishmonger who knows it is for curing; the fillet keeps four days cured. Freeze the unsliced piece for longer storage.
Lofoten Fiskerestaurant at the tip of Aker Brygge on Stranden serves Norwegian fish and shellfish through a menu that changes four times a year.
OrderPlateau des Fruits de Mer with crab, mussels, prawn and lobster.
TipSunset tables on the south terrace book first; off-season Sundays have the easier seating.
Solsiden on Akershusstranda below Akershus Fortress runs a May-to-September seafood-only kitchen, with the Plateau des Fruits de Mer as the room's signature.
OrderPlateau des Fruits de Mer with crayfish in season.
TipOpen May to September only; the sunset west tables sell first.
Theatercaféen on Stortingsgata is the 1900 art-nouveau brasserie opposite Nationaltheatret, in the same family for four generations, with a portrait gallery.
OrderSmorbrod at lunch with a glass of Norwegian aquavit.
TipLunch service has the easiest seats; the room books out at dinner around theatre programming.
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