I’d like to say the great thing about my day job is that I get to spend lots of time travelling, but unfortunately that just isn’t true. Instead I travel mostly for pleasure, but in this rare instance however work sent me off to Oslo in Norway and as you could imagine I only had one thing on my mind – food (and plenty of wine). Oslo was a strange visit for me. I won’t say I disliked the city but it felt like a lot of new money (especially at the sea front) has taken over and class had left the city – instead Jagerbombs were mixed alongside some very fine wines by fellow diners. Perhaps I just had a bad experience, but at least the food here in Oslo is something to write home about – you simply won’t find seafood fresher then this. Onda Sea is a large restaurant which sits as its name suggests, right on the water’s edge. The view is stunning.
When dining here at Onda Sea we actually booked through good old trusted Bookatable site, which I thought was solely UK-based, but apparently not – they’re very well followed here in Norway too. One of their star deals on offer was the Sjømatfat priced at 675 NOK per person (roughly £60 pp) which isn’t cheap but you are paying for quality and you do get an awful lot of food. From my extensive travels through Europe, Norway is easily the most expensive country I’ve ever visited – you won’t find a bottle of wine under £30 in a restaurant and two beers will set you back £20, it can get a little crazy. To start us on our Seafood journey here at Onda Sea we were both brought a large bowl of chunky mussels, soaked in a gorgeous sauce of chilli, coriander and lemongrass. Along side that was a plate of fresh salmon and scallop sashimi and a small pile of beautiful smoked salmon. We were already impressed with the food and hadn’t even got close to the amount of seafood we were about to consume.
The main attraction here at Onda Sea is the gigantic seafood platter. My photos don’t really do the dish justice in terms of size and quality, but it really was spectacular. The whole platter was filled with half a lobster, crab legs, crayfish, shrimp, scallops, oysters and crab meat. Everything was incredibly fresh, plentiful and were some of the finest shellfish I’ve ever eaten. The king crabs legs in particular were astonishingly good – oh so juicy and with so much meat I thought it wouldn’t end. Of all the foods I eat regularly there has always been one thing that’s never quite taken my fancy, oysters. But fear not – this monster of an oyster has converted me and I’ll never walk past one again without thinking of this beauty here at Onda Sea. It’s made even better with a drizzle of vinegar and fish roe.
So what did I think of Onda Sea in Oslo? Well in regards to the city itself I’m not entirely sure it’s for me, but the restaurant is a whole other story. The seafood is outstanding and the view is out of this world. Service may have been a little off throughout our meal but in their defence the place was absolutely packed. If you’ve got a business trip coming up, or simply need so good honest food then come here to Onda Sea – you’ll not find another restaurant quite like it.
8/10
I dined as a guest of Bookatable.com
