How to get a real taste of northern Norway

From superb seafood to flavoursome fruit and berries, there’s a delicious selection of fresh produce waiting for you to try

Fresh seafood's in abundance in northern Norway

Norway doesn’t really need to label its produce organic. Everything is reared and grown in prime conditions: clean, cold seas; clear mountain air; an untouched land of northern wilderness. According to the locals this is something you can actually taste.

Fishing around

With a long, dramatic coastline it’s not surprising that seafood, in particular cod, is such a feature of Norwegian cooking. The winter shoals of spawning cod migrate from the northerly Barents Sea to the coast of northern Norway.

In pre-refrigeration days the fish was air-dried and the “stockfish” shipped around the world. What was once a necessity for preservation is now a delicacy served up in restaurants along this coast such as the Børsen Spiseri restaurant on Svinøya, on the Lofoten Islands, where signature dish Stockfish Royal was named after a visit from the Norwegian queen.

The Borsen Spiseri restaurant in Svinøya

North of Lofoten is Norway’s second-largest island, Senja. At the Senjastua restaurant, situated next to the bridge that connects Senja to the mainland, a popular choice is lutefisk: stockfish soaked in water and lye before cooking, often with bacon.

Cod is prepared in so many ways along this coast and an especially delicious dish is molije. Made up of fresh cod, cod liver and cod roe served with potatoes and carrots, you don’t get much more nutritious than this.

Salmon is the other abundant fish in northern Norway. Both smoked salmon, røkelaks, and gravlaks (raw salmon cured with salt, dill and sugar) are very flavoursome. On the site of a former fishing hamlet in Senja is the Hamm I Senja resort. The signature dish there is a simple fish soup, comprising a delicious mixture of salmon and cod.

A culinary surprise for some visitors is the inclusion of herring, in particular pickled herring, as part of the breakfast buffet in hotels. Sild, with its different marinades and flavours, has a great kick to it.

In this vast, under-populated mass of mountain, land, fjord and islands, far from pollutants and pesticides, the grazing doesn’t get much better for livestock. Norwegian lamb is tender and full of flavour. Try fårikål, a traditional dish combining lamb or mutton with cabbage to make a hearty stew.

A big Christmas favourite is pinnekjøtt — salted dried lamb or mutton ribs served with pureed swede.

Game on

Norway is also known for its game: elk, grouse, wild duck, deer and reindeer. In the far north of the country are more than 250,000 reindeer herded by indigenous Sami people. A delicious rustic stew is finnbiff: slices of reindeer meat sauteed and served with juniper berries, redcurrant jelly and a rich, creamy sauce made with geitost – Norwegian brown goat’s cheese.

A popular place to eat reindeer is at Emma’s Drømmekjøkken in Tromso. This buzzy restaurant spread out over two floors opposite the city’s cathedral serves up Norwegian ingredients such as cured reindeer, shrimps and fish in a delicious fish au gratin and a tasty game pate.

You'll find waffles on the menu across northern Norway

Such is the freshness and abundance of natural ingredients that chefs at the restaurant Nyt in Bodo say they seek inspiration from the nature around them for their menu, using as many local ingredients and herbs as they can.

The growing environment also produces the juiciest fruit and berries much used in Norwegian desserts. Look out for a bittersweet mountain berry called a cloud berry. Pale and yellowy in colour, it’s served with whipped cream to make a dessert called multekrem.

And in every Norwegian café you will find a waffle iron. It would be a shame to travel to the north and not have a cup of characteristically very strong coffee accompanied by a sweet waffle spread with tart mountain raspberry jam.

For more inspiration and to book your break to Norway, visit visitnorway.com

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