Just about one year ago, the busy Grünerløkke neighborhood was gifted yet another restaurant. Grab a seat at the bar or in the dining room, which is decorated with exposed tiles, concrete walls, designer lamps, and ironic artwork. Choose four or five of the menu’s reasonably priced small dishes per person to share with the table. The service team — so relaxed that you can't tell them apart from the guests — presents the modern bistro style dishes on rustic handmade plates. Try the beef tartare, raw scallop with mango, pulled beef with radishes, or salsify with Gruyere.  

You’ll never feel lonely at Way Down South in Oslo. The scent of smoked pork is so irresistible that this very tight 32-seater manages to attract and serve 150 guests every night of the week. Let the trademark juicy ribs, fat burgers, crispy fried chicken, and beef brisket form the core of the meal. Add a couple of sides, like crispy sweet potato chips, mac and cheese, cornbread, and house-made sauces.  

Pontus Dahlström, co-founder and former head sommelier of three-Michelin-starred Maaemo, opened Kolonialen last year. The corner restaurant in the well-off Bislett neighborhood serves morning coffee, lunch, and dinner. Enjoy oysters on the half shell, lumpfish roe, or beef tartare to start, followed by cod with aquavit spices, poached chicken, or glazed pork with black garlic as mains. Satisfy your sweet tooth with Nordic-inspired desserts, like sea buckthorn curd or carrot ice cream with creme anglaise.

This corner restaurant has made the surrounding Tøyen neighborhood more welcoming. The name means “greedy,” and may be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the affordability of the food. The relaxed but knowledgeable staff will bring you lunch, snacks, small plates, or brunch, depending on the hour. The menu features Norwegian comfort food based on quality produce with a mix of Nordic and other more distant influences. Order the fish sticks with remoulade; braised ox cheek with lingonberries; barley risotto with local cheese and wild mushrooms; or the pork, duck, or potato sausages accompanied by traditional condiments.

In a central location close to the National Theatre and the Oslo Concert Hall, Ett Bord attracts power lunchers and pre-concert diners, plus plenty of guests who seek out this restaurant solely for its straightforward, hearty dishes made with mostly organic produce from a farm near Oslo. For lunch, choose a main dish, soup, salad, and dessert (with options for vegetarians). For dinner, a more elaborate, three-course menu is on offer daily. Enjoy either meal at one communal 24-seat table.

Living up to its motto “from savings bank to bank of ideas,” Sentralen’s pompous bank building was remodeled to suit its new role as a culture and innovation hub, and now has a fine dining restaurant, a cafe, and a cafeteria. At the restaurant, four renowned Norwegian chefs present a modern menu of seasonal shared plates. The large cafe offers early-morning and late-night eats, including bread from the owner’s own bakery and pizza. And although it’s more than a year old, Sentralen is still packing in diners, helped by a new cafeteria menu from Michael Jordan’s former private chef.  

An impressive building from the late 1800s now boasts 4,000 square meters of space for offices, events, startups, and co-working space. The roomy cafe in the front of the building offers breakfast and lunch daily, followed by drinks and coffee at night. The humble lunch menu features a daily rotation of invigorating salads and sandwiches with local, organic, and biodynamic vegetables, cheese, and grains, plus a selection of decadent gluten-free cookies, cakes, and rolls.  

In a huge warehouse right on the edge of the Oslo port, Vippa is the newest and hippest food, culture, and music center in the city. Thursday through Sunday, carefully chosen food trucks offer a selection of diverse dishes, accompanied by a DJ or live music. Indulge in Vietnamese summer rolls, Chinese dumplings, Southern chili, Syrian shawarma, Japanese ramen, and a selection of local, organic, and biodynamic beers, wines, and other brews. This is the spot to await sunset in the Oslo fjord.