We have found ourselves in a great penthouse in Copenhagen.  A rather frustrating affair regards to unpacking as the cupboards were full due to the owners living here part time … but overcoming this, the living area and kitchen are stunning.  The location right on the river.  The penthouse has soaring ceilings with a loft feel and designed by the owner/designer/architect.  All very Danish mod and a taste profile we admire.

At 7pm after showering and doing the frustrating unpack it started to rain!!  So we decided to cook in with the ingredients we had on hand (making a proscuitto, tomato, cheese pizza).  Bloody delicious.  Lit the candles, put on some music, drank our duty free Chablis and Priorat and are looking forward to seeing Copenhagen by day tomorrow - hiring bikes.

Agot Lian, Trondheim

We have been to a few good restaurants..well yes a lot of the worlds best in fact. Agot Lian was one of those standouts that will be carried with us forever. I booked after research but seeking something casual yet modern. Certainly not expecting the stunningly high end modern Norwegian service and cuisine which ensconced us from first entrance. 

Faultless - in both service and food (and I mention service and food together as both are utterly exemplary ). Oh, I must mention the attention to seasoning. Every single dish, even the fricassee that was finished table side was perfection in both salt and acidity. 

We opted for the 4 course menu with wine pairing. I was glad I wore flats, the wine flowed rather freely for a 4 course tasting menu. They are generous with food and wine. 

We learnt titbits from places we thought we knew pretty well - Marlborough NZ (we are Kiwis and this Sav Blanc was an interesting one even for us), Loire Valley using Burgundy influences with modern technique, Southern Sicily red with a gentle, feminine new world touch and that Quebec apple ice wine .. oh my goodness, it was like drinking tarte tatin.  It really was liquid butter apple.  Phenomenal.   

I won't bang on because it is starting to sound like I'm a serious tosser having reread at this point my 'preview', needless to say the food and wine here are faultless. 

Enjoy the beautiful fresh seafood this part of the world offers like none other and most of all come to enjoy the Norwegian take on every dish. Not Scandinavian. Norwegian in a modern and very Nordic way that should have a serious place on the world stage. Think of the best of Danish with the abandonment of Norwegian coastline and herbs thrown into the mix, a subtle yet highly distinct difference especially when the sourcing of fish comes into play.

A night to keep in our pockets and remember forever.

24 hour cured mackerel with goats cheese, oyster leaf and variations on dill and cucumber

Tableside fricassee

Carrot, white asparagus, apple before being hit with the buttery seafood fricassee

Buttery perfection!

Oven roasted Atlantic ling with burnt cabbage, chicken stock reduction and 64 degree 2 hour egg.  Burnt cabbage, how utterly delicious you are!!

Strawberries, Nordic brown cheese ice-cream and caramel 

Buttery apple dessert in liquid form!

The Atlanterhavsveien Route, Norway

We drove the Atlantic Road today, named Atlanterhavsveien in Norwegian.  

New Zealand is a beauty...undeniably beguiling in every sense and one becomes rather complacent thinking the rest of the world cannot possibly match the supreme hue differentials, clarity of air, rugged passes and faultless stunning elegance the environment in it’s most natural form has to offer us. Norway (and northern Spain, and alpine France and the Aosta Valley of Italy along with the Dolomites, oh yeah then there's Corsica the island of beauty as it's named for a reason.....) 

OK, so there are a few other gems in the world without even delving into detail. So where was I... yes we are blessed in NZ with great scenic beauty. Norway?  I would not previously have classed it in the same category if not higher.  I have studied this country inside and out for many months, in honesty many years (I’m a slow study in the sheer fact I enjoy the joy of it).  I have been intrigued with the food and the fjords, the seas and the seasons.  The cooking and sheer attention to casual gastronomy (my alliteration ends here!).  To say I am overwhelmed at this point is an understatement indeed.

And finally....just your typical coffee shop at the car ferry dock.

Lunch of yumminess....

Meaning very VERY lets just call it rustic looking scones with cheese, leek, Norwegian cured lamb, chopped fennel and a yoghurt topping.  

Served with a Premier Cru Chablis, a stunning Chablis.  Who says cheese scones and great Chablis aren't perfection?  For me it's my birthday lunch of choice!

Breakfast of yumminess

Meaning pancakes with fresh local teeny weeny berries which pack a punch only available for about 3 weeks here in Norway.

Ummmm.....yummmmm

Fresh fresh FRESH fish....from the fjords of Alesund

At 3.30pm Andy kicked me off the sofa by the fire.  The weather had been cold and rainy today but suddenly the sun announced itself to the fjords and he decided to take the boat out and catch something for dinner.  I can't say I was particularly keen on the idea.  I was so cosy and warm and enjoying a feeling that is rarely experienced in Dubai, smelling the pine burning in the fire.

Ho hummm, yeap OK, I'll come with you bugger it.   What a bloody brilliant idea as it turned out.  We were back in by 5pm, two beautiful mackerel and one stunning pollock later.  We cooked them on the bone, served with a simple beetroot pickle and yoghurt, fennel, onion sauce plus some of this great Norwegian rye bread and butter that seems to go with everything (sorry thighs!).

Dusted in seasoned flour, in the pan with plenty of that delicious butter, finished with lemon...
Absolute, undeniable heaven.  For us it was our first time eating pollock, given my choice I could eat it every day of my life.

I'm not sure if he might have had a red nose but....

He tastes pretty good..Reindeer that is.  Utterly phenomenal.  Yes it's a rustic looking dish, roasted parsnip (with parsley from the fresh leaves of the root), roasted carrot, game reduction, charred leek... Andy cooked this one.  The reindeer was meltingly (and I mean MELTINGLY) tender, cooked to rare perfection.  Oh my goodness, a dish to remember.

Reindeer fillet, game reduction, roasted carrot and parsnip, parsnip tops (i.e. parsley) and charred leek.  that + that + that + that = heaven. Khalas!   Thank you Andy,  what a beautiful plate of food.