Rive Gauche

The Other Side of the Bridge

There is a specific kind of bar that only makes sense in cities with a pronounced historic quarter: one that earns its atmosphere from the neighbourhood rather than constructing it from scratch. Trondheim's Bakklandet district, with its painted wooden houses lining the Nidelva's eastern bank, provides exactly that kind of foundation. Cross the Old Town Bridge (Gamle Bybro) from the city centre and Rive Gauche appears almost immediately to the right, at Øvre Bakklandet 66. The address alone signals something different from the main dining strip. This is not where Trondheim's hotel-facing restaurants cluster. This is where locals return.

The name does double work. Rive Gauche is French for "left bank" — the Paris arrondissements long associated with bohemian café culture, loose evenings, and conversation that outruns the clock. But cross the Nidelva from central Trondheim and you arrive on the eastern bank, which is, geographically, the right bank (à droite, as the venue's own description notes with dry self-awareness). The naming gap is the point. The bar imports a Parisian register into one of Norway's most atmospheric wooden-house districts and lets the tension between those two reference points generate the room's character.

Atmosphere as the Product

Norwegian winter does not lend itself to the kind of loose, unhurried evening that southern European bar culture takes as a baseline. The country's drinking venues have historically sorted into two modes: the polished cocktail bar calibrated for technical appreciation, and the pub that capitulates entirely to the cold. Rive Gauche positions itself in a third register. Entering the space, according to the venue's own framing, is described as "stepping away from the Norwegian gloom" — which tells you something about the deliberateness of the interior mood. The warmth is designed. The effect is Continental without being a pastiche.

That kind of atmospheric intentionality places Rive Gauche in an interesting tier within Trondheim's bar circuit. The city has developed a credible drinking culture in recent years, with technically focused venues like Spontan and wine-led spots like Blomster og Vin pushing the scene toward a more considered register. NB6 and Raus Bar fill out the mid-range. What distinguishes Rive Gauche within that company is that its primary offering is not a format or a menu category , it is a sustained atmosphere. The bar succeeds or fails on whether the room feels right, and by most accounts, it does.

Bakklandet as Context

Location is not incidental here. Bakklandet is one of the best-preserved wooden-house districts in Norway, a neighbourhood that escaped the fires that periodically reshaped Trondheim's centre and has retained a domestic, human-scale streetscape that the rest of the city largely lost. Walking Øvre Bakklandet in the evening, with the Nidelva running below and the old facades lit from within, is one of the more specific pleasures the city offers a visitor arriving with no particular agenda. Rive Gauche sits inside that experience rather than apart from it.

That neighbourhood context matters for planning. The bar is a short walk across the Old Town Bridge from the central district, but it is not a detour so much as a continuation of an evening that begins in the city centre. Trondheim is compact enough that Bakklandet reads as walkable from most central accommodation , a point worth factoring when considering where to stay. For broader orientation across the city's accommodation options, our full Trondheim hotels guide maps the relevant areas.

Where It Fits in the City's Drinking Culture

Trondheim does not have the bar density of Oslo, and it does not try to. The city's drinking culture skews toward the personal and the neighbourhood-rooted rather than the showcase. Rive Gauche fits that pattern: it is a place for the evening, not a branded destination. Visitors who approach it with the same expectations they bring to a technically ambitious cocktail bar , the kind represented nationally by Himkok in Oslo or internationally by Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu , will be calibrating against the wrong peer set. The comparison that makes more sense is something like Amtmandens in Tromsø: a bar in a Norwegian city with strong historic character, where the atmosphere carries as much weight as the drinks list.

For travellers building an evening in Trondheim, the practical logic is clear. Start on Bakklandet, let the neighbourhood set the pace, and use Rive Gauche as an anchor point for the kind of evening that extends beyond a single stop. The bar sits within walking distance of the city's restaurant options, which are covered in more depth in our full Trondheim restaurants guide. For the broader drinking circuit, our full Trondheim bars guide covers the full range of the city's options, from wine bars to late-night venues.

If your Trondheim itinerary extends to other categories, our Trondheim wineries guide and our Trondheim experiences guide cover the rest of the city's premium circuit.

Planning Your Visit

Rive Gauche is at Øvre Bakklandet 66, reachable on foot from the city centre via the Old Town Bridge in under ten minutes. The Bakklandet side is leading approached in the evening, when the wooden-house facades are lit and the neighbourhood is at its most atmospheric. Phone and booking details are not currently listed, which suggests walk-in is the operating model , consistent with the bar's neighbourhood character. Given the scale of the space implied by the venue's setting, arriving early in the evening on weekends is the sensible approach if you want to settle in rather than queue.