Smalhans

Overall I liked it a lot, but each dish was slightly hit or miss. A couple of the dishes were extremely sour cream forward, and I didn’t really like those. The fish and beef were very good though, as was the dessert

My SO found this place as we didn't have too much time in Oslo and wanted to have a memorable meal here. They have a nice and casual, homey vibe going on and it was very much a packed restaurant an hour into our meal. They have been awarded a bib gourmand so we had to do their seven courses. Food in Norway has been of the utmost quality and extremely fresh, and this place certainly had that. Most dishes were unique and tasty with a few that were more simple and as expected. Their main protein dish fell flat as we were hoping for it to be medium rare and it was well done and dry. Overall, a huge deal with several dishes to try so we left quite happy from this meal. Also, make sure to reserve as I saw some people get turned around for not having a reservation.

Delicious food! Really fresh and tasty. Service if friendly and helpful. Atmosphere is 10/10! Great music, good lighting, fresh air from the breeze at the door.

Nice vibe in the restaurant, very nice and helpful staff. Had the 3 course menu, so bycatch / fish of the day kinda, lamb + a salad and homemade solo ice cream and kvikk lunsj. The food was all very tasty, but the portions were a bit small to get full, which makes it all feel a little too expensive for me to go back. But like I said, the food was tasty

We found this in the Michelin recommendation guide and it was absolutely worth it! It’s more ‘casual’ fine dining, which is honestly a wonderful vibe! We did the full tasting menu and there wasn’t one thing that wasn’t amazing! Our favorite was the grilled pork with leek and green salad, with an honorable mention to the homemade pastrami snack and licorice panacotta for dessert! Our servers Ulla(?) and Torstein(?) were so lovely and even gave us recommendations for local spots, that turned out to be one of our favorites of the trip too. We even left with some Smalhans merch so you know it was good!

Restaurant recommended by Michelin guide, so for special occasion only. To be honest - it would be worth to try again. This time I didn’t ask for meat to be done more and personally don’t appreciate raw middle in my meat 😃 but service, concept, atmosphere and quality of the ingredients will make me to come there again 😃 to get 5 stars - please make a better coffee, this time it was so bad that even milk couldn’t fix it, especially for one of my guests, who was here on holiday, so it is not used to Norwegian taste of coffee 😂

I found this place in the Michelin Guide, and it was in their Bib Gourmand rating for good quality and good value cooking. This place did not disappoint. We went for dinner where you can choose from an 8-course or 5-course meal. Much of the style seems to be Norwegian dishes with a twist. They make it apparent that the ingredients they use are of the highest quality, and it reflects accurately in the test. The menu rotates, so there is always something new to try. We tried this dish for our final course, which was super good. Highly recommend!

I was able to get a reservation on short notice during a brief visit to Oslo. I am so glad I did because this was one of the best meals I have ever had. I enjoyed the reasonably priced 7 course tasting menu. One dish was very good; six were extraordinary. The excellent food alone is enough to go there. The attentive, joyful, friendly staff and lack of pretensions makes it even better. If/when I return to Oslo, I will return for another wonderful meal with great service.

Friday dinner at 6 pm - tasting menu with wine pairing Service: attentive and friendly Ambiance: great vibe, great lighting Price: see pictures Food quality: excellent!, incredible 5-stars straight! Highly recommend

They have a Michelin Bib award and deserve it. Very low key and casual. A very local place. We had the tasing menu that changes weekly and you'll have to check FaceBook for the current week. Too many items to remember what all the courses were but they are really good. Of note they serve family style and everyone at your table has to do the tasing menu. Service was good. We had the wine pairings as well. Plan on 2 plus hours to eat. It was fun and very delicious.

Famously the only Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient in a city known to be quite expensive Smalhans resides in the St. Hanshaugen neighborhood and focuses on a shared menu featuring local farms that changes daily. Opened in 2012 and defined as "scarce way of life" it is through nose-to-tail cooking that Smalhans offers three different ways to dine daily in addition to a collection of natural wines, though the Smalhans Menu for NOK 675 seems most popular. Casual and convivial, the kitchen is currently run by Mads Ekrheim who isn't afraid to let less prized ingredients steal the spotlight while service is pleasant and educated. Fast paced compared to other Norwegian eateries, a 5-course menu lasting just 75 minutes, it was with Smalhans' own White Wine that Turnips started the meal with a complex Sauce of Mussels perfumed by Chervil. Focused on sustainability, bycatch Whiting as tender as larger specimens with Parsley and Peas, Ekrheim's best dish this evening came as Caramelized Onions and Leeks lent texture by Hazelnuts. Serving the last savory in two-parts, Beans with a bit of tooth covered in Cheese adjacent meaty "Pig's Wings," Dessert took four Ingredients and combined them in a bowl allowing each to shine on its own while also complimenting the others.

Just go! If you get the chance, go! It was an experience. The ambience is like any other. Nice small spot with wooden tables. Nothing fancy but you can tell you're gonna get good food. Got the tasting menu with the wine pairing and that is always the way to go. Highlight was the white fish for sure but everything was really good. Even items I didn't think I liked. The service is also really nice as they explain their way through the menu. Loved every second of it

Thank you bib gourmand for this recommendation because lunch here was everything I could have asked for. The menu only has like five things and it's perfect. Get the burger, or even better, get the Korean fried chicken, which was my favorite bite in Oslo so far. They really nail the crispiness and the sauce. Oh and the aioli with the fries is just wonderfully addicting. I would say it's a lunch not to be missed.

First 2 courses were delicious, but third course pork tenderloin was so tough, neither my husband nor I could finish it. The waiter was rude & dismissive when we asked about it. It went downhill from there & they refused to get us a taxi back to hotel- told us to stand on corner, late at night. We found a convenience store lady who got us a taxi. This was the worst experience of our trip.

We enjoyed our evening at Smalhans. We ate the 6 course tasting menu with wine pairing. The courses were well sized and delicious for a group of 4, 2 adults and 2 twenty somethings. The staff was attentive and instructive. We particularly enjoyed the tomato course with smoked cream, the cod with cucumber and the beef with red sauce, mustard seeds accompanied by cabbage and onions. The dessert was delicious and the notable favorite was the sake. A hit with the whole table. The house was full and the environment lively. Highly recommend!

Same owners as Tim Wendleboe - so it came highly recommended from their baristas. They only serve their tasting menu after 6PM for reference. The food was cooked really well. I made a point to order mainly local classics like their Rømmegrøt - Sour Cream Porridge as well as a bread dish with a lamb stew meant as a dipping sauce. The porridge was quite creamy and very tasty indeed. Would recommend this place to anyone looking for a slightly more upscale experience in Oslo

We came here for a nice dinner during our trip to Oslo and it was amazing! The food was traditional with a twist and we had a great experience. We had a bit of a wait to be seated but we were seated at the bar until our table was available. We tried the 8 coursed dinner with natural wine and it was excellent. The full dining experience took about 2.5hours which is longer than typical but the courses were spaced well. It is pricey but the food is wortjnit Overall 10/10 highly recommend.

This restaurant shows up on some Oslo recommendation lists and the descriptions were compelling enough for me to keep it on my radar. I finally went and was very, very pleased with the experience. It was a weeknight but I called in the afternoon anyway and they said we could come that evening. We are from out of town so they accommodated us with English explanations. And they were nice! The menu always changes but when we were there in February, here was the plan: Japanese milk bread with crab and fennel and charcuterie Yuca with ink and lovage Leek Potato with herring and butter Arctic cod with cucumber, burned sour cream and fried tortilla Pork from Valdres in brown ale with crispy potato Celeriac cream with grilled cabbage Cheese with knekkebrød and compot Blood orange sorbet with financier and dulce de leche We had this with wine and it was one of the best and most inventive meals I had in a long time. Everything tasted amazing, including things I don't normally like such as sour cream.

Great home style rustic meal. Food was satisfying and simple. Ambiance is warm. Service is prompt. Had Sunday dinner, and enjoyed it!

Excited we were able to dine here at Smalhans as I did extensive research where to have a special meal. This place is located in a local neighborhood, so removed from tourist attractions with local diners. Reservations are required and as we entered we were seated immediately to our table. Minimal yet inviting. Open dining room with lots of tables for groups. Most couples say at the bar as the tables reserved for larger groups unless you have advance reservations. Clean space and the bathrooms are shared men & women which was new experience for me. They speak Norsk and English here. The menu is minimal which highlights the experience menu which has two selections of 5 course meal or 7 course meal. The meal portions are meant to be served family style, so you can get feeling of community. For me, it's normal because I eat family style daily. At any rate, we ordered the 5 course meal. The food here is a mix of Norwegian and French and they have 1 Michelin star. We started with toasted pita bread with sea salt. The asparagus was our next course with pickled radish in a butter cream sauce, it was flavorful and FRESH! Than we had potatoes with herbs and a butter sauce, followed with Norwegian cod with mustard greens In a light cream sauce. The fish melted in your mouth, tender and delicate. Next course was seasonal vegetables of micro sweet peas, turnips and radish. Instead if dessert, we had their variety of homemade blue cheese and pecorino with blueberry sauce and seed crackers. Everything was delicious. I didn't give it a 5 star because of the limited selection of dishes. You had to either choose the 5 or 7 course meal. Thou our waitress was flexible and kind, allowing us to order one large meal. Service is professional and friendly. Would I return, yes I would and certainly suggest it. The food stands alone on its own.

Serves delicious meals every day for only 175 kr before 1800, which is a hard price to beat for any restaurant in Oslo. Check instagram for the dish of the day. If you reserve a table for the evening they also have a really good set menu

The restaurant has two different serving approaches, depending on whether you attend the afternoon or evening. Before 6pm (18:00) you are served that day's special, which changes weekly. In the evening, you are served a prix fixe menu with two variations: the 9-course menu or the 6 course "Smalhans" menu. Like the daily special, the specific items change frequently. During the evening servings, basically you have a specific seating that lasts an amount of time determined by the flow of the courses. Although do be aware, they expect you to be finished and out by the time at the end of the service to make way for the next seating. In both cases, the concept is Nordic-sourced, locally available and seasonal ingredients. As each experience is unique, the items we received won't necessarily be representative of yours. We were started out with charcuterie. Following this was watermelon salad with pine nuts, mussels, char (fish) sliced raw with fried onions, etc. Evertything tasted clean, fresh and well prepared. I will say that it isn't a meal that was extremely memorable or extraordinary. However, it is well worth the visit, the flow of the service was good, and the quality of the service was great. Also, relative to Oslo, the price versus the quantity of food received is quite good. My wife was more than satisfied with the 6 course meal, and I with the 9. The cozy, scandanavian design interior is both modern and comfortingly homey, providing a really nice atmosphere but isn't rustic. If you are in Oslo, I recommend this eatery.

Smallhans has a great ambiance when you walk in. Thankfully, they do have an English menu for tourists. The menu is a bit overwhelming if you aren't from the area so we opted for krosus each which includes the entire menu. Easy enough. They have a seasonal menu which changes so I wont comment too much on the food. I did enjoy being able to try a little bit of everything. Their presentation and explanation of the dishes is very well thought out. It felt like I got to try a little bit of everything. One of my favorite dishes was the ox heart tartar. It was unique in flavor and tasted fresh. The highlight of our dinner was our dessert. The raspberry sorbet was delicious. I'd say go for Smallhans if you want to try a variety of Scandinavian food and if you have a lot of money to blow. Krosus dinner for two + a glass of wine costs ~$165USD.

I had been looking forward to trying out Smalhans for years, but only now found the right occasion - needless to say,my expectations were high. We were three people on a Saturday evening, and the restaurant was packed. It is quite cramped, and the noise level is on the high side - I was happy that we had been seated in the corner, as I suspect we might have had trouble hearing one another had we been seated in the middle of the restaurant. We all choose the bigger Krøsus menu, which was 9 courses in total (some served alongside each other). I had expected it to be a little too much ffod, but the portion sizes were quite reasonable, and I didn't feel too full after the meal. We started off with a starter of cured meats, chicken liver mousse on toast and pork leg hocks in a sort of lettuce wrap. The cured meats were nothing special, but as I love chicken liver, I enjoyed the mousse on toast very much. Next, we were served a caesar style salad with smoked herring, alongside a salad with mozzarella and roe. The combination of roe and mozzarella was a pleasant surprise, and the salads were well assembled and balanced. I didn't particularly care for the smoked herring, but my two friends enjoyed it a lot. The salads were followed by a creamy asparagus soup, which was mild and pleasant, though perhaps not particularly memorable. The main course of the day was chicken cordon bleu, which (it said on the menu) was supposed to be served with a potato gratin, but we were only served boiled potatoes and carrots. This was perhaps the least inspiring of the dishes, and I didn't finish my portion. Before the dessert, we were served a platter of four different cheeses, which were good, but there was perhaps too little of them. Also, the waiter was unable to remember the names of the cheeses, which is something that always annoys me a lot, as I want to be able to find the cheeses again if I like them. We had to wait a long time for dessert, as our waiter had forgotten that we had not already been served it. However, it was worth waiting for. The jerusalem artichoke ice ceram with coffee wafers was nothing short of inspirational, and made me immediately imagine a similar version with parsnips. All in all Smalhans was a nice experience, but failed to live up to my expectations of such a popular and hyped-up restaurant.

With a bib gourmand in hand it's hard to ignore the lure of a tasting only place that talks about only using the freshest raw ingredients and a menu that changes fortnightly. However now having compared to wonderful restaurants, and with this one having much higher expectations, I'd say I'd rather have saved my calories for the tasting menu at Lokk rather than here. The atmosphere when you walk into Smalhans is cosy yet chic. Lokk looks more like IKEA than posh. However, food quality is quite different. We started with spring rolls (Vietnamese style) and trout sashimi. Both with a very good delicate touch but still packing in the flavor. Great start to the meal. It starts to taper from there. The pork belly meat was dry and the mash too salty and the chicarrones were served on the mash making them soft and not as crispy as one would have liked. The baked celeriac to accompany the pork belly was good and up to the standard I was expecting. Lastly the dessert was completely uneventful. Black currant sorbet with a salted brownie. Good but not wow. I think that really sums up this place. Every thing was good. But just not wow. Really had higher expectations than were met. But all things considered, the food was good, just not good enough.

What an awesome experience. The staff was incredible. The food was delicious. The ambiance was impeccable. The tasting menu was a trip through Norwegian home cooking. The basic ingredients were really allowed to shine. There are no gimmicks here. What you see is what you get and it was fantastic! The entire experience was perfectly paced and the suggested wine pairings were delicious. Everytime I'm in Oslo, I will find my way to Smalhans.

I have the feeling that this review might be wrong, because I really like the concept of Smalhans. I arrived at a pretty empty restaurant on a Friday afternoon for a lunch. The menu is small, but that is perfectly fine. I prefer quality over quantity. That seems to be the case with Smalhans too. I chose the burger at 145 NOK. A burger at this price is pretty normal, but it normally includes some sort of extras. Fries, potatoes, a salad. Something. This was only a burger - therefore it seemed expensive. It was. I have eaten a lot of burgers in my life already and this wasn't anything to remember. The Smalhansburger wasn't bad - not at all - but not that remarkably good. The bread was fantastic though. Baked at their new bakery, Handwerk, it turned out to be soft, chewy and absolutely fantastic. The beef was cooked too long, however the taste surprised me in a good way. It had a grilled taste which worked perfect with the rest. Overall a decent burger, but pretty average too. Not that much value for money. Service was standard too.

Pretty good restaurant! If you come btw 4 and 6pm, you're only given one dish as an option for 175NOK. After 6pm, you can pick btw a 5 course menu or a larger one. All food we had was delicious and menu is available in both English and Norsk. Make a reservation if you're planning to get there after 6!

My wife and I made this our first culinary stop on our 7 day Norway trip and it didn't disappoint. The reason I chose it was it was the least stodgy restaurant of any of the Michelin reviewed in its photos. Walking in you are greeted with a low-light atmosphere with tables very close to one another. It was very reminiscent of many farm-to-table eateries I have found around the Midwest of the United States. They had a host of Norway beers for those traveling from abroad. Only warning is that they were priced around $12 USD. We went ahead and had the 11-course meal. It was roughly $80 a person USD. Each part of the meal was exceptional and we came away stuffed. We knew we were in for a treat with our first dish and were not disappointed throughout. We left stuffed and continued on throughout the night. Highly recommend it to anyone!

Smalhans is a gourmet nordic-ingredient, global-inspired restaurant that is a good mixed bag: 5 very good hits and 2 bad misses. We knew that because we had a "Krosus" birthday dinner that is their flagship menu: 7-course small plates shared by the table, a plentiful feast. (1) Appetizer ham. 5*. (2) Veal taco in little gem lettuce. 4* (3) Cabbage in yoghurt and pommegranate. Skillful elevation of a humble salad. 5* (4) 'Tom Yum' soup: worst dish of the night, a weak clam water. 1* (5) Breaded veal. Tender. 5* (6) Local blue cheese and camembert. 4* (7) Bread pudding and raspberry sorbet. Ok sorbet, nasty breadpudding. 2* We ended up a little confused because of this bipolar quality. They gave out some exquisite dishes that we wonder how the poor tom-yum soup could come from the same kitchen. It was a little letdown because the dinner ended on two mediocre courses after it started out as a very promising evening. It was the same with wines; one nice Riesling and a very disappointing plummy red wine that clashed with the Krosus menu. I didn't even finish the bad red wine, which is borderline criminal in Norway (if I were on a less festive occasion, I would have complained to the sommelier). It was surprising considering they have a massive, MASSIVE list of wines, but the recommended wine pairing was horrible. I really want this restaurant to do well since it hints at rare finesse, but there are just mistakes from being a perfect meal. It still gets 4 stars for their dinner. TIP! Smalhans also has a very affordable, 160kr-daily special, where for a couple hours a day, the kitchen churns out single menu of a gourmet 'husmannskost'. This is good food and extremely good value worth 5 stars.

A great restaurant with a smart concept. If one is very hungry then one can choose the Krøsus menu which consists of 8-10 dishes. If one wants to eat a normal sized menu then I would recommend the Smalhans. This has 4-5 dishes and is quite enough if not crazy hungry. When I was there the menu was really good. I have heard, as it changes every week, that it might be not as good every time. But I guess that is a personal opinion which can vary from one to the other. For us it was raw salmon to begin with, which was very good, then something else which slips my mind, for a main course it was schnitzel and for desert chocolate mouse. It sounds simple but each plate had a twist. E.g. the chocolate mouse had beetroot! Sounds weird but it tasted actually good. I enjoyed the food very much! The service was also excellent and very organised. Plate after plate were arriving with nice time gaps. Not too long waitings. The atmosphere of the place was excellent and the location is very easily reachable with a bus. So why not 5 stars? I must say the food was very good but not one of those WOW moments. Have no other pointers for this experience! So I definitely recommend this restaurant!

Food: 4 stars Good and exciting food (ham, whale, oysters, rhubarb, etc etc) at a reasonable price. Service: 3 stars Waitress was ok, but seemed to warm up a bit in the end. In the beginning she was rather hmm. not present mentally. Price: 4 stars Interior: 5 stars Looks nice and cosy. Acoustics: 1 star Major problem the place has is the acoustics. The place was full, but have hardly been at a place with so much noise. Apparently the waitress knew this and they have tried to fix it. Without success. We moved tables and it got a bit better.

Solidly ambivalent about my experience here. Had the 9 course menu by myself, and maybe it's the time of year (so close to Christmas) plus the crowd, but I thought the food was pretty unimaginative. The night I went my main dishes were grilled mussels (way too salty, had to send them back) and an Asian-inspired poached cod and pork belly (nothing distinguishing, plus strange combination) that came with a side of noodles (really unappetizing). The salads (a chevre, pork belly, and beet and a version of a Waldorf salad) were my favorite part of the meal, to be honest. I could tell the waitstaff were trying to be nice to me, but they weren't particularly warm. Usually when I eat alone at restaurants, the waitstaff go out of their way to make sure that everything is going well -- eating alone usually indicates that you're first and foremost there for the food. Not so here. Finally, they seated me at a small table next to the bar -- I didn't mind, since I didn't have a reservation -- but I did have a view of the kitchen. I have to say that the 15 or 16 year old cook in there was doing some sloppy cooking, and he was handling entrees! If I were to do it over, I would definitely not spring for the 9 course menu and maybe even save up my money to go somewhere pricier (Fauna or Maemo comes to mind).

We just stopped in Smalhanz for a quick snack and tried 2 of the burgers. They were pretty good -- I'd order again. The decor was great, and the service was friendly. Would recommend it. The dessert looked great, too, though we weren't hungry enough to try it.

There has been said so much about this place that i had to test it for my self. I was looking forward to this and my hopes were up. I went here for lunch and there were hardly anyone there. As we sit down and start looking at the menu. Its a small one, promising. Druing lunch you have to order at the bar, and thats ok. And if you are getting a lot to drink the waiter will help yo carry :) I thought that the dishes would be big and not as they are on other up-scaled places with small portions. But this was a big let-down. we were not full by the end of the meal. But the food was really good, but the portions were just small...

Really great atmosphere and great food! We went for the krøsus menu which was both varied and great tasting. The service was a bit slow at times but definitely recommend a visit!

This is wonderful! I came here with 7 other girls around 11:15, lots of seating and super warm and cozy! Large table and great big windows to people watch. And let me tell you there was some serious great people watching today. Anyways, the menu was itty bitty, 5 items, the breakfast platter, caesar salad, hamburger, soup of the day and then something you can only order at 16:00. We came thinking it would be brunch, and thought of leaving but I was pretty stoked on the place. I ordered the soup which was a tomato soup with egg and sour cream, I found it to be the perfect portion for lunch and was very satisfied. It had beautiful flavoring and a great consistency. A great tomato soup is hard to find and I'm picky about them too but they've got a winner here.I even got a side of Gluten free Bread! WOW do they get big props for that. I'm so happy I asked. You order at the bar and the lady was nice and quick. The glasses for water are adorable, and the tea was cute too. I have to say though all my friends ordered the hamburgers, or the breakfast platter and it was slightly minuscule. They all seemed to like it but I think portions could be a bit more generous in that department. Ill be back for soup though, and maybe that meal at 16:00...

I've been three times to Smallhans and I've always been very pleased with the meals. The food is honest in its simplicity, of high quality and good value for money. The service is efficient but relaxed and always pleasant. This is certainly one of my favorite restaurants in Oslo.

We had a 6pm reservation at Smalhans. First, the waitress told us bluntly that we had to be out by 8:30pm. Then she gave us two menu options: either the full "Krøsus" menu or the shorter "Smalhans" menu. We chose the first option, implicitly expecting that the restaurant had calibrated the timing and the menus. The food was exciting and most likely delicious. The problem was that we didn't have time to really enjoy it. We had hardly been served each dish before the waitress rushed the plates out. Our visit to Smalhans felt like the worst kind of US strip-mall diner where the staff is instructed to rush the guests in order to maximize turnover. The waitress never used the exact words of the dreadful "are-you-still-working-on-that" phrase, but she came pretty close. If you still would like to visit Smalhans we would strongly recommend you to order the smaller (and shorter) "Smalhans" menu. You will simply not have time to enjoy their larger "Krøsus" menu -- and if you try it you will have to endure constant unpleasant nagging.

Cool vibe, great neighborhood. Stopped in here for a late lunch--the veggie burger was good, and I appreciated that they had a few vegetarian options on their (limited, but that's okay. let's call it "focused") menu. Reasonably priced too.

Incredibly delicious burgers! Great spot for lunch in this neighborhood. Try the asparagus soup of it's cold and rainy out.