Located inside the Hotel Brosundet is the Nordic restaurant Apotekergata No. 5, where Stig Strømsvåg is the head chef. After Bro, this is easily the next best restaurant in Ålesund. The menu plays with traditional Norwegian dishes like svele (pancakes) and klippfisk (clip fish) and modernizes them in a fun way. In addition to the sit-down restaurant, Apotekergata No. 5 also has a cocktail bar, Arkivet, and a coffee shop and gourmet grocery store, Butikken.
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APOTEKERGATA NO. 5 Address & Contact Information Apotekergata 5, Ålesund, Norway Website Instagram Facebook
The menu is mainly à la carte, although there is a set five-course menu (the chef picks from the à la carte options), but we decided to pick our own dishes and try as much as possible. At first glance, it might look like dishes you’d find when visiting your Norwegian grandparents – but this is not your grandma’s fiskepudding (fish mousse), and these are not the svele you’ll find on the ferry. Apotekergata’s svele trade the classic butter and sugar in favor of savory toppings – choose from smoked salmon and cream, beef tartare, and cream and Rossini caviar. You can also choose to top your fiskepudding with caviar, but it was still our favorite dish even without this extra bit of luxury. Strømsvåg’s version of this Norwegian classic uses a lot of whipped cream to make the mousse, and the sauce is packed with butter, and lots of onions (both caramelized and regular). Absolutely delicious! We also really enjoyed their interpretation of klippfisk, with ‘nduja, tomato marmalade, potato, ramson foam.
The wine list had a few fun producers, but the bottles we normally would have picked were quite expensive (e.g. 1400 NOK for a bottle of Patrick Sullivan), so we decided to stick to water this evening. We wanted to grab a drink at Arkivet, their cocktail bar, after dinner, but unfortunately, it was Corona-closed when we were there. But we did get a chance to grab a coffee from their Butikken (a deli shop) – they use beans from Jacu Roastery, and it was our favorite brew in town.
Have you been to Apotekergata No. 5? Let us know how your experience was in a comment below.
