The annual Stavanger wine festival is coming soon – this year it is from April 27th to April 30th. The “Route de vin” is already sold out unfortunately but there are of course other activities. You can read more about the wine festival on http://www.stavangervinfest.no/
It is not that easy to find new places to check out in a small town like Stavanger – and certainly not on a Sunday afternoon. We were going out with some friends and as the weather was good we looked into places like Bølgen & Moi (full), Sting (only opens at 3 PM), Hall Toll (closed on a Sunday) etc. In the end we decided to go for a new place called Matmagasinet located on the corner of Løkkeveien/Eiganesveien. Well, it has been there for a while I guess but it is new to me at least. The place is quite small and it seems to follow the concept that quite a few stores in Stavanger is following 
these days…it is part café, part coffee shop, part restaurant and part shop where you can buy food products (including Kusmi tea) to bring back home. The same concept is being used my e.g. FoodStory, Ostehuset etc. Anyway, we came there about 2 pm on a lazy Sunday afternoon and there were a table for us – they even have a few tables in the backyard if the weather behaves, how excellent is that? We decided to go for an antipasti menu as a shared starter while Nikki went for the risotto a fruite de mare (seafood risotto) while I was a bit more boring and went for the lasagna. This is not a restaurant by the way so you just place your order by the cashier and pay up front and the food will be served at your table. I tried to tell the young Swedish girl behind the counter that we wanted the antipasti as a starter but I’m not sure she totally understood my Stavanger dialect 
We had to wait quite a bit for the antipasti to be served but it was a excellent platter: Brie de maux, pecorini, Parma ham, Italian salami, artichokes, olives, capers flowers(?), pesto etc. It was an excellent selection and a good starter for the four of us. The only problem was that it took so long to get it that we were only half way through it when the main dish was served – so you guys have to work on your timing a little bit! Nikki’s risotto was quite a sight when it was served. A good portion of risotto served with a big crayfish on top and with 3-4 scallops. It was of course Nikki’s food but she allowed me to taste a bit as I love risotto – the risotto was maybe a bit over cooked but with a great taste of seafood so I think good stock has been used here. It could also have been seasoned a bit more with salt and pepper but apart from that it was excellent and Nikki was also happy with the crayfish and scallops. Actually this risotto was far better than risottos we’ve had in many other fancy restaurants!
My lasagna was also a good portion and what seemed to be good chunks of meat in it. On the menu it says lasagne with meat ragu and that is actually what it tasted like…like the ragu I had in Bologna last year (see my Bologna trip report). It was maybe a bit on the dry side but I guess I’m just a bit spoiled as I make it all fresh at home from time to time (and there is nothing like home cooking right? ;-) We were actually quite full already but as it had been so great so far we decided to go all the way and also go for dessert. Nikki went for the carrot muffin and I went for the tiramisu (quite a boring choice once again). Nikki was not totally crazy about the carrot muffin as it was a bit compact and it also contained chocolate chips. My tiramisu was served in a small bowl and the taste was good but serving it in a bowl like this makes it look pretty messy if you ask me. I would have like to see more defined layers of cream and ladyfingers. I always try the caffe mocha hoping to find one that can match the one at Charlie Brown but I think I will stick to double espresso the next time.
But all in all I think we have found a small gem in Stavanger 
It is only a few minutes walk away from the city center but I doubt that it is as crowded as e.g. Ostehuset on a Saturday afternoon but I will certainly check it out. From the web pages I see that this place has been open since the end of 2007 and I’m wondering how I have been able to miss it. The owners, Ruth and Else, seems to have lots of experience from around the world and are inspired by the Italian kitchen – my kinda place in other words. Well guys, I will certainly be your guest again, that is for sure and I will certainly recommended your place to people that I meet. There are some details that could be improved like a web page in English, a larger selection of wine, timing of the starter vs. the main dish etc. But these things are only details – I will be looking forward to my next visit and the next time I’ll try Ruth’s famous chocolate cake.
The antipasti was about 175 Kroner (32 USD), the ristotto was 245 kroner (45 USD) and my lasagna was 28 USD). Here is the link to the Matmagasinet homepage: http://www.matmagasinet.no/ . The also have wi-fi available and you‘ll get the password if you ask them politely ;-)
Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures
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We have been to Mogul India before and Nikki went there recently and found it to be quite good. So we decided to do a re-visit before going to the movies one day. The restaurant is located at Verksgaten 9 and it has the same entrance as Piren Pub – not the most upscale pub in town. We did not have a reservation when we went there but they did have a table for us. The rooms are painted in a salmon reddish color that works OK in the restaurant – but in the toilet it is over the top as it is painted in the reddish color and has a pinkish toilet and sink. But enough about interior – we decided to have some vegetable pakora for starter, Nikki went for the lamb rogan josh, I went for a lamb dish (lamb mullaman?)that was recommended by the chef and we wanted it served with raita, pickled vegetables and garlic naan bread. We got a question about how spicy we wanted the found and we went for medium +. It is always difficult to answer this as most Indian restaurants has a tendency to make the dishes a lot milder to fit the Norwegian palate. But we do like it a bit spicy and that is why we went for medium to spicy. We first got a mint sauce and some chopped up chili/garlic(?) and a poppadum, and we soon also got the vegetable pakora which was pretty tasty. We soon got our main dishes served as well in little bowls with a small candle underneath to keep it warm.
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My first impression of my dish was that it was tasty but a bit on the salty side, not spicy at all and not sizzling warm. Nikki had the same comment about her dish when it comes to the dish not being spicy and not being warm enough. My dish had lots of chunks of lamb in it so the portions were generous for us – but Nikki’s portion had not that many pieces of lamb but quite a lot of sauce and the sauce was a lot less rich compared to what I have experienced before in rogan josh dishes. The garlic naan bread was good and Nikki seemed to enjoy her pickled vegetables. We had almost forgotten about the raita when a waiter came to the table to serve it and by that time we were almost done with our meal.
So all in all I would say that this was an average meal. The portions were good but the taste of the dishes that we had did not blow us away in an way. It was also a bit of a letdown to have the food served a bit on the lukewarm side and having raita served way too late. We will go there again in the future but there are room for improvement. And one last word of advice – I know this is an Indian restaurant run by Indians but you have to get someone to spell check the Norwegian menu. It is full of mistakes and it doesn’t make a good first impression. Our food came to about 600 Norwegian kroner (about 110 USD). You can read more about the restaurant on http://www.indiamogul.com/
Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures
We went to Big Horn Steakhouse at 8 PM on a Friday night before going to the movies and we were a party of three. The restaurant is located in the middle of town at the Hotel Victoria and it is a part of a restaurant chain so you can also find a branch in e.g. Sandnes and 27 other places around Norway.
When we sat down at the table a waitress came over to ask us if we wanted to have something to drink and she was speaking in English. This always throws me off a bit as I’m not sure if the waitress don’t know Norwegian or that she assumes that we are non-Norwegians but it is not a big deal for me as I am able to make myself understood (more or less 
) in both languages. I went for onion rings to start with and a t-bone steak as the main. My friend was joking that we would be out of there in an hour and he was wondering how we would kill time before going to the movies. I didn’t take him seriously but it only took like a few minutes before the onion rings were served and I started thinking that he might be right. My wife went for the salad bar instead of a starter but as they waitress pointed out “it only includes one serving”. The salad bar was not very impressive in my opinion. The 4 onion rings I got was a nice portion – not some gigantic thing that we have seen on some restaurants the world – and the taste was not bad.
My wife was still eating her salad when the two waitresses came over with our main meal – and I was just done with the onion rings. We were amazed on how fast the meal was served and we were starting to wonder if they had started preparing our meal the minute we walking through the door! My t-bone steak meal included the meat, half a large tomato, some fried corn, potatoes of your choice, sauce of choice and butter of your choice. I had ordered my t-bone steak medium done and on the menu it said that when you receive the meat you should cut it in half to make sure that the meat is like you wanted it. 
But this sounds a bit strange to me – don’t you lose a bit of the juice in the meat if you cut it in half and it turns out that it has to be fried more? Anyway, my meat was more medium-raw but the main “problem” was that it was a bit on the cold side so there was no point in putting the butter on top as it didn’t melt. But the meat itself was not bad and was quite tender. The tomato was supposed to be a fried tomato but again it seemed like it had barely touched the frying pan and it was just a raw tomato basically. My garlic and creamed potatoes were excellent – nice portion and piping hot. I also ordered the coleslaw and it was also quite good as it came in a good size portion and chunky vegetables. I went for béarnaise sauce and I found it to be OK – my wife is lactose intolerant and she asked if the sauce contained cream and the waitress answered that it only contained egg and butter but we doubt it.
My wife was not that lucky with her tenderloin – the meat came out too rare. And she followed the advice in the menu by cutting the meat in two but by that time the waitresses were long gone and after trying to get their attention without any success , she just gave up and ate some of the meat that were fried. Her meat was also quite cold by the way. The waitress finally came over to ask us what the meat was like and we informed her of the steak that my wife found cold. The waitress immediately asked if my wife wanted a new piece of meat and when my wife said that it was a bit late, the waitress said that she could get a dessert for free – I think this was very well handled by the waitress.
The meal was about 400 NOK per person (about 70 USD) for the starters, a glass of red wine and the main meal. We were not impressed by Big Horn Steakhouse this time but I have been there in the past and I have been more satisfied at least. I’m not sure why they wanted to serve us the food so super fast this time – I mean, I don’t like waiting around for hours for the food but it is nice if you at least get to finish the starter before the main meal is served.
Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures
