Solsiden or Sunny side restaurant is situated on the afternoon sunny side of Oslo’s harbor, just below Akershus fortress. It’s a summer restaurant that opens its door every May all the way till September so you will have to wait till next opening season for a visit, but until then enjoy the review.
The restaurant offers seafood dishes that can be paired with over 200 wines from the wine menu. Since we didn’t have a reservation we had only an hour and a half for our dinner, which was just fine but a little bit more would be even better just to enjoy the fresh air and the harbor view because the restaurant has big sliding doors.
We were seated in the middle of the restaurant at a small table for two and we were served by a nice, quiet but informed waiter that offered us a three course daily menu and explained to us the content of each meal.
Debeli decided to go with dagensmeni and to share his starter with me.
It turned out that we should have ordered one more pastrami baked wild salmon with cucumber salad, saffron mayonnaise and piquillo salsa because it was outstanding!
The salmon was marinated with pastrami spices that is a Romanian specialty adapted from Turkish basturma—spiced, pressed, and dried meat—brought to the United States by immigrants in the late 19th century. The mixture consists of salt, sugar, garlic, ginger, coriander, fennel seed, ground black and white pepper and ground cloves. Mayonnaise flavored with saffron was….oh, so, heavenly. I mean, mayo is my guilty pleasure but mixed with one of the most expensive spices in the world…I don’t think I have to continue 🙂
The starter was served with a bit of bread and butter and we were drinking some white vine. Debeli went for a Collio pinot grigio that I didn’t find very drinkable but I liked my Roberto Anselmi “San Vincenzo” which was a blend of sauvignon blanc, garganega bianca and a chardonnay.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-29986-2016-livon-pinot-grigio-collio-friuli-venezia-giulia-italy
https://www.saq.com/page/en/saqcom/white-wine/anselmi-san-vincenzo-2015/13279928
My main course was fried redfish with gnocchi, grilled onion, celeriac and redwine sauce. I’m not a huge lover of fish in general. I adore salmon, but other tipes of fish, specialy if I have never heard of them, are not interesting for me. But this one….I still strugle to understand what kind of fish this was (maybe: https://www.polarseafood.dk/products/fish/redfish) but oh-my
The fish was fantastic; with very little bones, full meat, flavor and a crunchy crispy top. The homemade gnocchi with vegetables were small bites of heaven. An unusual combination if you ask me, but splendid. Oh, yes and we should not forget the beautiful presentation of the meal.
The second meal of Debeli’s dagensmenu was grilled wild halibut with barley orzotto mussel flavor, cabbage salad and lobster. Once more, an interesting combination of ingredients that was designed and done very good.
There is a saying in culinary industry that says: I you f*** up the starters and main dish there is always chance to make it up with dessert. Well, Solsiden crew got our attention with the first meal, but with dessert they got our respect.
Debeli had caramel and hazelnut cake with red raspberry, vanilla cream and raspberry sorbet.
The cake was a small but delicious biscuit cube that got along perfectly with a scoop of raspberry sorbet and a bit of vanilla cream. Fruit was there for decoration but the biggest surprise was crunchy chocolate beneath the sorbet.
Just like in my dessert; where the chefs went a step further with basil sorbet. Beautiful invention full with flavor. Poached pineapple was in perfect harmony with soft fluffy lemon meringue yoghurt cream. Absolute poetry!
We were drinking 2002 Madeira Malvasia Colheita and 2015 Moscato d’Asti by Paolo Saracco.
All in all; Solsiden was more than we asked for. And we ask for a lot. Specially my chef whose idea was to visit the restaurant by the sea. See where I’m going. 🙂
In a city full with overcrowded restaurants during the summer when the whole system easily collapses and, not just that you don’t get what you hoped for, but the cooks are not able to give their best, Solsiden was returning our hope. Our hope in good and delicious meals and new, interesting and inventive approaches to preparing food.
29/6/2017
SOLSIDEN RESTORAN
Na popodnevnoj sunčanoj strani luke, taman ispod Akershus tvrđave smješten je Solsiden ili Restoran Sunčana strana. Radi se o ljetnom restoranu koji svoja vrata otvara svakog svibnja sve do rujna, tako da tko se namjeri u Oslu morat će pričekati još par mjeseci da ga posjeti. A posjet se stvarno isplati.
Restoran u ponudi ima riblja jela koja se mogu uskladiti s nekim od 200 vina s vinske liste. S obzirom da nismo imali rezervaciju, već smo banuli na ho-ruk imali smo sat i pol da objedujemo. To se ispostavilo sasvim dovoljno, ali restoran ima divan pogled pa bi se svakako isplatilo još malo ostati chillati i uživati u popodnevnom suncu koje je u Oslu, upravo tada, u naponu snage.
Posjeli su nas u sredinu restorana za mali stol za dvoje, a posluživao nas je simpatični, tihi, ali vrlo informirani konobar koji nam je odmah pri dolasku ponudio trodjelni dnevni menu objašnivši nam odmah o čemu se radi.
Debeli se, tako, odlučio za dnevni meni s tim da podijeli sa mnom svoje predjelo. Što se pokazalo kao greška, jer je divlji losos začinjen pastrami začinima i krastavcima te majonezom sa šafranom i piquillo salsom bio božanstven.
Za one željne znanja pastrami začin je rumunjski specijalitet, a mišung je nastao adaptacijom turskog basturma (začinjenog i sušenog mesa) koji je, skupa s imigrantima, došao do Amerike krajem 19. stoljeća. Mješavina se sastoji od soli, šećera, češnjaka, đumbira, korijandera, sjemenki komorača, mljevenog bijelog i crnog papra i mljevenih klinčića.
Majoneza sa šafranom koja je poslužena uz losos bila je fenomenalna, a kako i ne bi kad joj je sastojak jedan od najskupljih začina na svijetu.
Predjelo je posluženo uz malo kruha i maslaca, a uz jelo smo pili bijela vina. Debeli pinot grigio, a ja blend sauvignon blanca, garganege biance i chardonnaya.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-29986-2016-livon-pinot-grigio-collio-friuli-venezia-giulia-italy
https://www.saq.com/page/en/saqcom/white-wine/anselmi-san-vincenzo-2015/13279928
Moje glavno jelo bila je pržena crvena riba s njokima, pečenim lukom, celerom korjenašem i umakom od crvenog vina. Nisam neki ljubitelj ribe, iako sam zaljubljena u losos, bilo svježi ili dimljeni. No, kad je u pitanju riba za koju nikad nisam čula, malo sam skeptična. Još uvijek nisam sigurna jel to ova ili neka druga vrsta: https://www.polarseafood.dk/products/fish/redfish)
ALI, i to veliko ali, crvena riba je bila fantastična: s vrlo malo kostiju, punog okusa i hrskave korice / kožice. Tri njoka su se super slagala s pečenim lukom i zelenjavom. Vrlo neobična kombinacija iako da, krumpir i riba idu skupa, ali ne krumpir u njokastom izdanju, no fenomenalno. Naravno, i prezentacija jela zaokružila je cjelokupni dojam.
Drugo jelo koje je došlo u ponudi dnevnog menija bio je iverak s ječmenim rižotom koji se kuhao u temeljcu od dagnji, a uz to su još ponuđeni kupus i komadići jastoga. Još jednom, jelo se pokazalo kao zanimljiva kombinacija namirnica prezentirana na klasičan način.
Što se tiče deserta, tu smo ostali najviše paf! Debeli je jeo kolač od karamele i lješnjaka s vanilij kremom i sorbeom od maline, pa iako se desert sastojao samo od kockice biskvita, sve u svemu bilo je odlično! Biskvit je dovoljno sladak, da mu kiselkasti sorbe ijednači okus na nulu, a sjeckana čokolada daje onu hrskavu notu.
Upravo se sjeckana čokolada pokazala kao pun pogodak i u mom desertu koji se sastojao od poširanog ananasa, limun meringue i kremom od jogurta sa sorbeom od bosiljka. Bosiljka! Dakle, to je bio vrhunac! Vrhunac kombinacije okusa, mirisa, boja….mislim da treba dosta znanja i iskustva da se napravi slatko, bilo sladoled ili sorbe, od nečega što zapravo nije namijenjeno za to, ali netko je uspio.
Uz deserte pili smo Madeira Malvasia Colheita iz 2002. i muškat d’Asti by Paolo Saracco iz 2015.
Sve u svemu; Solsiden je bio više nego što smo mogli zamisliti. A mi inače jesmo jako zahtjevni. Barem Debeli čija je ideja bila posjetiti restoran.
U gradu u kojem su restorani ljeti dupkom puni i kad cijeli sustav, često zbog loše organizacije, lako kolabira, pa gosti ostanu razočarani, a kuhari nezadovoljni, Solsiden nam je vratio nadu. Barem nadu u vrhunsko predstavljenu, osmišljenu i napravljenu hranu!
