September 11, 2011
Bergen, Day 6: Norwegian Food Explosion at Bryggen Tracteursted
Let's go back....seven months. I was in Norway. I'm still writing about it. Refresh your memory with day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, and day 5.
- (O_O)
The food just kept coming. And coming. And...coming. Until Morten, Kåre, and I were faced with a sort of mini buffet of Norwegian tapas more appropriate for a party twice our size. Whoooops.
WELL THE ONLY SOLUTION IS TO EAT IT ALL, I SUPPOSE.
Why did we end up with craptons of food? Because we weren't in charge of ordering it. Morten invited us to eat at Bryggen Tracteursted—located in Bryggen, more specifically in a schøtstue that was built in 1708—since it was part of the restaurant group he was working for. And since he knew the chef, we received a special meal, "special" meaning "nearly half of the menu." (Amusingly, the menu calls the dishes "savoury smallbits." It also calls them "Norwegian tapas," but "smallbits" is obviously the superior name.)
Now, a bunch of photos.
- Bread and spread.
First, an assortment of bread accompanied by oil, Ramsløk butter (a sort of garlicky butter), and bacon fat topped with bacon bits.
- COD TONGUES, where have you been all my life?
The star dish of the night was the breaded fried cod tongues with remoulade. My criteria for "star dish" is when I continue to eat the dish even though my brain says, "Robyn, if you eat any more, you might pop a vital organ. Is it worth it? Popping an organ is serious stuff. Think about it." I didn't really think about it, but thankfully, nothing popped. To my knowledge.
This Icelandic food blog says, "Cod tongues aren't really tongues, but rather the fleshy, triangular muscle behind and under the tongue." (Wait, the tongue is behind and under the...tongue?) I haven't poked around a cod's mouth lately/ever, so I'll accept that description. The restaurant's menu just had this to say: "Cutting out cod tongues are children's work. They got paid per piece, and was a great way for them to acknowledge hard working life." Child labor rarely tasted so good.
What's so dandy about this muscle? When breaded and fried, cod tongues are lightly crisp on the outside and sort of creamy soft on the inside, with a faint sweet flavor, not bearing any resemblance to the body muscle. I've read comparisons to scallop, but they reminded me of sweetbreads more than anything else. If you like fried nuggets of stuff (and, gosh, why wouldn't you?), you'll probably like fried cod tongues.
Now I need to find out why cod tongues aren't a more well known dish. They're delicious, seemingly simple to prepare, and, to my taste buds, quite inoffensive. (Googling pointed me to this restaurant in Newfoundland that serves them topped with crispy pork bits. THAT SOUNDS AWESOME.) Admittedly, I've never scoped out a seafood counter for cod tongues, but in my 26 years of life, I hope I would've noticed 'em by now. Somewhere out there is a bag of cod tongues with my name on it. I must find it.
Next to the cod tongues are "Ulrik" sausages and potato salad with spring onions. I don't remember much about the sausages, but the potato salad was one of those dishes I kept wanting to eat despite my stomach reaching 200 percent capacity. I don't know for sure that Norwegian potatoes taste better than American potatoes (most of my potato-eating in America is in the form of french fries), but...hell, they probably do.
- More!
Although I liked just about every other dish, none of them stuck in my mind as well as the cod tongues and the potato salad. These menu descriptions will have to do. From left to right: liver paté with bacon and pickled onion, trout tartar with quail eggs, and cured ham with herb cream.
- And some more!
Smoked herring with apple and beet salad, a repeat of the cured ham, and aquavit marinated salmon with asparagus and sour cream dressing.
- Aaaaand moooore.
Cured sausage with herb cream and flatbread, maybe the same salmon as before or another fish I can't identify, and that good ol' potato salad with spring onions.
- CANS.
King Oscar sardines with toasted buttered bread. Not exactly a "must order" considering most major supermarkets in the US carry King Oscar sardines, but they are good.
- Last of the tapas.
These two plates featured two kinds of pickled herring, the specifics of which I can't recall. ;_; As for the other dishes, there's smoked herring again, smoked elk and cranberry wrapped in potato bread, and marinated deer with rowan berry jelly.
And after all that...
- Coffee!
Coffee, sweetened by everyone else's sugar cubes. Because I don't like coffee that much. But being surrounded by coffee lovers = PEER PRESSURE, I MUST CONFORM.
- Cheese!
Cheese plate with apple marmalade. There's the creamy cheese, the veiny cheese, and the plain cheese.*
* Not the real names at all.
- Dessert
Lastly, for dessert, wafer cone with cloudberries and cream, and aquavit-marinated berries with another sort of wafer cookie.
The bill came out to 2047 kr, about $370. Yeah, that's...that's a lot more than I ever spend on a meal in NYC. But eating out in Bergen (and I'd guess most of Norway) is considerably more expensive than eating out in NYC. And our dinner could've technically fed four people. So. Yup.
- Morten! And the...no other people. 'Twas a slow night.
I'd recommend Bryggen Tracteursted if you like sharing lots of little Norwegian dishes and sitting in a super old, historical building. ...I'm not selling it very well, but hey, that's why I take photos. Morten would know better than me about the uniqueness of the menu, but I think he told me it's a good place for traditional Norwegian/Bergen cuisine.
- Gotta walk through some wobbly buildings.
- Morten and Kåre.
And then it was time to say bye to Morten (if all goes well, I'll see him again at Christmas). :( He's a weird one. Thank god, or else we couldn't be friends.
Address
Bryggen Tracteursted
Bryggestredet 2, 5003 Bergen, Norway (map)
55 33 69 99; bellevue.no
Posted by roboppy at 12:35 AM
Comments (11)
I always wanted to try cloudberries. Are they good?
Posted by: Jason at September 12, 2011 9:53 PM [#]
Dude, so I didn't even know cod have tongues (durrrrrrr). Love the pics, beautiful as always!
Posted by: Eileen at September 12, 2011 10:23 PM [#]
O_O is right! Wowza!
Posted by: Carrie Dahlby at September 12, 2011 10:32 PM [#]
Holy wow, not only does the food look amazing but the buildings are gorgeous too.
Posted by: Carl at September 13, 2011 9:08 AM [#]
I think I've seen cod tongues at the Asian market, but it may have been cod cheeks. Maybe both, but maybe neither since I don't remember cod being very prevalent in Asian cooking--may be a geographic thing. In any case, everything look tasty! It seems like a lot of Norwegian dishes are served cold, is that pretty typical of Norwegian cuisine, roasty pork ribs, cod tongues, and whatnot aside? My experience with it hasn't traveled far beyond IKEA--pretty typical, I guess.
Hey Robyn, I'm a fellow NYU alum and 20 something Asian girl and I just want to delurk and say how much I love your blog! I've been following your food and travel adventures since early college (2007? Have you been around that long?) and I don't even remember how I stumbled upon it. But your hilarious writing and gorgeous photos really played a big part in getting me into the foodie scene. Anyways, I recently started an internship at omgfoodie.com and I've been telling everyone how awesome your blog is, and basically have fostering a cult of The Girl Who Ate Everything devotees. Are you going to be attending any upcoming food events around town like the Dumpling Festival or the Malayasian Noodle Festival, or any of the events of the Wine & Food Festival for example? I would love to meet you in person! I hope this message doesn't come off as creepy btw. I reiterate that I am a harmless Asian girl from Flushing.
Kate: I hope you get to visit! You can check out...both countries! Most of my family lives in the US so I don't have any new places to meet family members...hoowell.
Jason: I must admit, I wasn't that info em. :[ I don't remember what they tasted like...not that sweet, I suppose. But they have such a fantastic name, and they're quite cute looking. I guess most berries are.
Eileen: Oh, I didn't either. I tried to research fish tongues a bit more, but I kept finding info about a parasite that latches onto a fish's tongue and then...sucks out the blood..and then it becomes the fish's tongue. Sort of. Ew.
Carrie: 'Tis the most appropriate emoticon.
Carl: The buildings in Bryggen are especially cool looking. Cos they're super oooold. But the new ones are nice too. Lots of charming buildings in Bergen!
Julie: I think I've had cod cheeks before, although I can't remember what they were like. Hm. As for dishes being cold, I wouldn't say it's typical...or..atypical...just happened to be the nature of our meal that many of the items didn't need to be hot. Actually, the following night I had a "cold" dinner of open face sandwiches with lil' shrimps (it was goood).
Christine: And now..I want guacamole.
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: This is the 
I hope to make it there someday (I have family somewhere in either Sweden or Norway...I never remember!), and taste all the deliciousness that is the food :)
Looks like you had a lot of fun :) Hopefully you are able to see Morten again at Christmas! :)
Posted by: Kate at September 11, 2011 11:58 AM [#]