Restaurants

Many of Oslo’s restaurants offer Norwegian specialities such as salmon or reindeer. There are excellent seafood restaurants with a wide selection of fish and seafood dishes. If you come to Oslo at the right time of the year you might get a chance to try a whale steak or "lutefisk" (stockfish softened in water and lye, then cooked and sometimes grilled).

Norway has some of the world’s finest chefs, and several of them are found in restaurant kitchens in Oslo. Norway's Michelin rated restaurants are all situated in or near Oslo.

If those restaurants are a little out of your price range, Oslo has plenty of other options. In Oslo you can find any type of food to suit any wallet.

For Norwegian specialities you can go to the old city centre, Aker Brygge or the Holmenkollen area. You find good seafood restaurants close to the harbour. For travellers on a tight budget, the area around Youngstorget, Grønland and Grünerløkka has many informal restaurants with good food at a reasonable price. Or if the weather is good, why not get some quick take-away food and have a picnic in the nearest park?

Nightlife

If you feel like a drink after dinner, there is always a pub or bar nearby. The traditional pub is the place to go for a pint of beer. The modern bars and night clubs usually offer a long list of exotic and refreshing drinks. Many cafés stay open late; changing their image from a family-friendly coffee place during the day to a trendy bar with DJs and fancy cocktails at night.

After midnight the clubs tend to get crowded, especially at the weekends. Most discotheques and night clubs are located in the city centre and Majorstua. Oslo is a great city for clubbing, and top DJs from Norway and abroad draw people to the dance floor. Downtown the bars and nightclubs are open until around 3 am – outside the city centre they close earlier.

There is hardly a day without a concert in Oslo. The city is recognised for its jazz scene, and the small jazz clubs offer live music several nights a week. There are many small clubs where you can hear anything from a late-night blues jam to an up-and-coming local punk band.