Bass Oslo

A warm and friendly neighborhood bar with cool interiors, plenty of regulars and relatable waiters that are real wine geeks. Bass has also become popular among certain in-the-know travelers as it’s received some favorable––and well-deserved––write-ups in international media. It’s obvious that the competent chefs here love food, their cooking is creative and free of predictable, safe bets.

Their risk-taking usually pays off. Fried chicken wings with numbing Szechuan pepper are tantalizing, tingly and acutely crispy, if a tad too salty. The giant pacific oyster, a recent invader of the Norwegian coastline, is poached and served with crispy cucumber, lovage and tarragon in an unmistakably, of-the-moment-Oslo way, yet the dish is more laid-back and honest than it would be in other places.

A winter salad with tender chunks of raw reindeer, funnel chanterelles, Jerusalem artichokes, and bitter endive is a stroll through nature; woodsy, wild mushrooms tempering the meat’s slight iron aftertaste. Beef tongue is beautifully textured: crisp on the outside and meltingly rich on the inside, with a tart sauce of lingonberries and lemon thyme.