Cafe Laundromat: Best Burger in Oslo?

A few days ago, a friend of mine wrote on her Facebook wall that the cafe Laundromat had the best burger in Oslo (she was having the Jamaican burger). And of course, it made me want to have it!

The cafe Laundromat is in Bislett, near the stadium. It was quite full even though it was quite early a week day.

My wife ordered the "Classic Burger" with bacon and cheese:

Classic Burger, 154 NOK

The quality of the patty was better than in most restaurants we have tried in Oslo. My wife found the taste to be a bit too sweet though (I am guessing some BBQ-like sauce was used when the meat was grilled). The potatoes were nothing special and a bit disappointing (the menu said they would come with a home-made ketchup but we didn't see any ketchup).

Jamaican Burger, 156 NOK

I went of course for the Jamaican burger. It looked better than in the picture above, sorry I am a terrible photograph.

The meat quality was the same as in the Classic Burger, not sweetened this time. The burger was quite original as it had... mango, shrimps and garlic dressing! But altogether it worked well and this was a good burger.

My son wanted a burger too and we took the kid's burger for him.

It was a smaller/simpler version of the Classic burger, with the same meat quality and the same taste (a bit sweet). My son liked it. The potatoes were OK.

So, is the Jamaican burger served at the Cafe Laundromat the best burger in town? Not sure, I need to try many more places before I say this but I agree that it was a very good burger.

Restaurant Caspar Brambani in Sandvika: Better than Expected

Yesterday we went to Sandvika Storsenter for a shopping day. For lunch we decided to go away a bit and eat at the Caspar Brambani restaurant. It is only 5-10 minutes away and it is a nice walk (over a river and so on).

Also, the restaurant has a very nice terrace outside at the back, where children can play (sandbox, tree house, big chess board, table tennis...). Yesterday, there was even a live concert!

Live concert

Thr restaurant was full and we couldn't find a table. So we just sat somewhere and ordered some pizzas.

Barnepizza, 95 NOK

The children pizza was better than expected. Not sweetened to please children, just the "authentic" pizza taste. It was also pretty big.

Scampi Pizza, 165 NOK

My wife and I shared a "scampi pizza" and here too, I was pleasantly suprised. It wasn't with small shrimps bug big king prawns! It also had some tomatoes with garlic that went well with the pizza and with the prawns.

Example of what children can play with

The restaurant was named the best Sandvika's restaurant 2014, something I didn't know yesterday. It is a shame we only ordered pizza (pasta looked good, fish and ships was popular, ...) but well, that gives us a reason to go there again :)

Official Website: http://restaurantbrambani.no/

Thank You Note

Before I start with my review today I wanted to thank the readers of this blog. I am getting more and more feedback, suggestions of restaurants to review, dishes to order, etc...

Thanks a lot for that!

Jewel of India: Indian Restaurant Near Solli

I had heard a lot of good thing about "Jewel of India" so I was happy to finally be able to go there 2 days ago. As usual, I was there with my wife and son.

The restaurant is in Solli which is a quite nice area to have dinner (not far from there, you can find a pizzeria, a Japanese restaurant, a French pancake cafe, etc...).

The meal started with some complimentary papadum and a few "sauces".

Among the sauces you see in the bottom pictures, 2 were quite spicy and 1 was sweet (kind of a jam).

After that, we got a "Cocktail Samosa":

Cocktail Samosa, 85 NOK

Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. From the name "cocktail", I was expecting 3 pieces with different tastes. It was only 2 pieces with the same taste. Also, we found them a bit plain and nothing special.

After that, we had ordered 2 types of curry: "Chicken Shahjahani Curry Chef's Special" and "Masala Lam Chef's Special".

Chicken Curry (210 NOK) and Masala Lam (225 NOK)

We had the choice of "hot level" on a scale from 1 to 6 (6 being the hottest) and went for 2 for both curry. It was exactly what we wanted. A bit spicy but not too much.

They both tasted good, especially the curry of the masala lam. Also, thanks to the clever recipient they used (with heating at the bottom) the dishes didn't get cold.

All in all, we are quite satisfied with the dinner. The service was good, the restaurant is beautiful and the rices are OK (maybe on the high/quality side). I would advise you to book a table if you want to go there, especially during rush hours.

As a final note: this is what came at the end of the meal and I found it quite beautiful so I took a picture of it.

Official website: http://jewelofindia.no/

Olivia Hedgehaugsveien: a Cosy Place for Italian Food

I have already reviewed Olivia Tjuvholmen on this blog but thought I would write a few rods about Olivia Hedgehaugsveien too as we were there a few days ago. My son wanted a pizza and as we were in Bogstadveien, we decided to go to Olivia. The weather was really nice and we knew they had a nice terrace.

We started with a plate of cheese and ham:

Salumi e Formaggio, 155 NOK

I really liked it. It came really fast, the cheese was good, the ham was good, the toast/bread was good... Perfect while waiting for the main dishes. There were 3 types of cheese and 2 types of ham. I am not sure if this is intended for 2 or 3 persons as there were 3 slices of ham of each type but only 2 toasts. But well, it was nice for us 3 (2 adults and 1 child).

When it comes to the main dish, my wife ordered pasta with seafood:

Frutti di Mare, 179 NOK

She didn't say much about it but liked it.

I went myself for a classic:

Pasta Carbonara, 175 NOK

But actually this version was a bit original because they made their pasta carbonara with... squash! I actually liked it because it was giving a little "healthy" touch to an otherwise quite heavy dish. But well, if you don't expect it, it may surprise you.

My son wanted a pizza with corn and... sausage?! Not sure where this idea came to him (probably TV or something) but they didn't have corn and the only "sausages" they had were spicy ones (kind of salami type). So we ended up ordering a normal "barnapizza" with ham:

Barna Pizza, 100 NOK

And well, he was happy with it, so it was a good choice. The fish shape is made in other Olivia restaurants.

The service was fine and it was great to be out in the shadow (under the sun would have been too hot). All in all, as I said in the title, Olivia in Hedgehaugsveien (near Bogstadveien) is a cosy place to have Italian food.

New Restaurant in Majorstuen: Azuma (Korean and Japanese Cuisine)

I am always excited when I hear a new restaurant is opening, especially if it is a cuisine which is under represented. So when I heard that a new Korean (and Japanese) restaurant was opening in Majorstuen, I had to try it. It is located in Kirkeveien, where Bambus was in the past.

We like Korean BBQ (bulgogi) so we had to try their 2-person BBQ set. It included a few pieces of salmon sashimi and Korean-style meat (with mushrooms and garlic)

Here is the meat and mushrooms (to be grilled)

And here is our tray, with sashimi and a few Korean snacks

The meat was really good: juicy, tasteful... and my wife and I were really happy about it. As it is grilled in front of us we can choose ourselves when we considered it done. Also, the spicy miso present on our tray fit very well with the BBQ meat.

For our son, we ordered sushi:

It was well presented and my son liked it. My wife (Japanese) on the other hand tried it and wasn't convinced by the rice (maybe too sweet or something). Not bad but not as particularly good as our dish.

About the price: 325 NOK per person for the BBQ set and the sushi was at 165 NOK  for 12 pieces. The service was good and the restaurant was beautiful. Also, it was quite nice to see that there were many Korean customers. If they go there themselves to get Korean food, I don't think we should doubt the restaurant quality/authenticity.

Next, I will go there, I will probably try the Bibimbap which is my other favorite Korean dish.

For an alternative Korean/Japanese restaurant have a look at my review of the Miso Cafe.

Thai Orchid: a Nice Place for Thai Food in Oslo

My wife has a friend who has lived in Thailand so when this friend recommended the Thai Orchid to us, we were quite excited to try it. The restaurant is in the Oslo S area, not far from Storgata. This is a nice place for Asian food, both in terms of restaurants and food stores.

Here is a photo of the restaurant:

Typical Thai design

My wife when for a "Pad Pak Ruam Mith Moo Krob", which is pork fried with vegetables in oyster sauce.

It tasted good. The sauce was a bit sweet and the pork had a small BBQ-flavor (not sure how they did it).

I went for a recommendation from my wife's friend: papaya salad with fried chicken and sweet rice. When i ordered it I was asked how many chili I wanted and I said one.

This dish was really good too. I liked the salad (quite original thanks to the papaya), I liked the fried chicken and I liked the rice (wasn't really sweet). The dip sauce was nice too. Be careful though when choosing the number of chilis you want. It was quite spicy with just one!

Our son got something a bit less original: fried rice with chicken.

It was quite good too.

So all in all, we were really satisfied with the meal and we will probably go there again in the future.

Website of the restaurant: http://www.thaiorchid.no/hovedretter/

Address: Calmeyersgt. 11, 0183 Oslo