A fishy norwegian weekend

Why don't we eat more fish in this country? Its so tasty!

Considering we're really quite a small island I find it quite surprising how unavailable good fish is. I know I live about as far from the sea as its possible to get in the UK, but nonetheless you would expect some good outlets for fishy things. Even the supermarkets have aisles of meat and maybe a tiny section at the end of one for all of their fish. Its really quite odd.

The Norwegians don't have this problem. We just spent a fabulous weekend in Bergen. Its a cliche to say it, but it was amazingly expensive (Dan was horrified - a beer cost about £8!), but really when the food is of good quality you don't resent it too badly. I don't think we could have afforded to stay for more than a weekend though!

So here's a brief tour of our gluttony...

We started at the fish market on the harbourside:




Where we bought a massive smoked salmon, crab, prawn, and crayfish salad for lunch. It may have been pouring it down with rain but we were quite happy:


The next day we decided to head up into the mountains for a good long walk. Of course, we couldn't possibly go for our expedition without a picnic. The bakery across the street from our hotel provided wonderful seed and dried fruit rye bread, and the fish market also came up trumps. We were deeply indulgent, and lunch consisted of a langoustine each and a massive bag of prawns. Yum Yum Yum.....


That night we went out for dinner to a fish restaurant near the harbour. And yes, we spent more than I ever have before on a meal.
But what a meal...
Fish soup
Crayfish, salmon and angler fish with layered potato and sweet pepper
Blackberries marinated in schnapps with vanilla icecream
I know it doesn't sound all that exciting, but it was delicious because it was beautiful ingredients, perfectly cooked.

The next day was our last day. We went in search of fish and chips, but in the end this looked more interesting:


Spicey kebabs of scampi. Massive meaty prawns. Delicious.


We couldn't resist buying some smoked wild salmon to take home. Its buttery textured, smokey flavoured, and melt-in-your-mouth perfect.


So there you have it: We went to Norway, we ate more fish and seafood than you would ever believe, we walked, and saw the sights and the countryside, we had a lovely time.

And came home feeling distinctly poor!