Ægir BrewPub — Local services in Aurland

Flåm is a remote and small settlement.

This establishment is disproportionately eminent in such a setting.

The dining options are as follows:

Budget dining on what you can find in the Co-op supermarket.

The bistro at the hotel you're staying at.

One of the semi permanent 'food truck' [without the truck] establishments.

Ægir.

Fortunately, this establishment is top notch.

Some reviewers have stated in varying degrees of eloquence, that it's basic pub fare.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I beg to differ.

What I selected from the menu was what I'd call inspired.

I chose the meat Viking Platter. This is a set of five tapas sized servings of an assortment of dishes, each with an accompanying matched beer.

I'm an omnivore, and only vegetarian when I take my daughter and son-in-law out to dinner in inner west Sydney.

The beers are served first, and there's a brief interval until the food is served. The waitress advised me to wait until the food was served before I commenced consuming the beers. I took her advice. When the food came out, the waitress carefully explained the food and beer pairings.

So, the five dishes were, in order of destruction, as recommended by the waitress [I normally go from blandest to most flavoursome, but in this case I went from temperature hot to cold]:

A coconut and tomato seafood soup with Cod and Mussels. It had slight heat, but I'm of Indian heritage, and what's mild for me might not be considered mild, universally. It had whole Coriander seeds, which was a surprise. I enjoyed this.

The second dish was a delightful goat curry, subtly spiced in a Nepalese style, topped with mashed potato and lingonberry sauce. It was spicy as nd aromatic, without the heat you'd associate with south Asian food. This too was delightful.

Then I moved to the cold selections. The third was a Salmon and roe sashimi dish served with kelp and aioli. I'm a huge Sashimi fan, and this was the ticket.

The fourth selection was sliced an smoked venison [reindeer], with pickles and some kind of pink mashed vegetable, I think a hint of beetroot. Being a carnivore and a fan of game meat, I loved it.

The last dish was a chocolate pudding/ cheesecake with an edible earth crumble, topped with strawberry and a fruit I was unfamiliar with. Now, I'm not a huge chocolate dessert fan, preferring custards and apple based sweets. But this was GOOD!

All in all, the portions were small, and the whole concept worked really well.

The pairings were mostly good. The fourth pairing was a little dissonant, but not unpleasant. Taste is quite a subjective matter, so don't mind me.

I would recommend this to a friend, I'd bring my beautiful partner here , and im coming back in about two years.

I'm hoping that this establishment is still going strong.

I also loved the ambience of the place. It...

We had an interesting experience at Ægir Brew Pub, with both highlights and areas for improvement.

Beer Sale: The beer selection was fantastic! We enjoyed the variety and the prices on the flights were reasonable, likely because they don’t offer tastings. However, we wished there were higher alcohol percentage options available.

Layout: The pub has a great setup: a bar on the first floor and a restaurant on the second floor. (Assuming they comprise when it comes to accessibility) There are two toilets, one for men and one for women, but it would be beneficial to have unisex options given the customer ratio.

Service: The service was a mixed bag. The man who served us beer had a "too cool for school" attitude, which came across as dismissive. While it's understandable that dealing with tourists can be exhausting, a smile and better customer service would go a long way since tourists are the main customers.

The system for getting a table to eat was confusing. We had to wait at the bottom of the stairs, hoping someone would come down to assist us. After waiting for 15 minutes, I went up and asked (In Norwegian), only to be met with a dismissive "I don’t speak that, what!" followed by "Yeah, you ask her!" It was quite frustrating.

Thankfully, Klara (hopefully I remembered your name) turned things around with her excellent service. She is a true asset to the pub.

Overall:

Good beer Good food Best option in Flåm, despite the general tourist fatigue among workers Ægir Brew Pub has a lot of potential, and with a few improvements in service and facilities, it could be...

I found this one a tricky one to review.

The food we had was tasty - we had the aubergine hummus, some potatoes, focaccia and a salad. It was all great, they clearly have a good chef.

The restaurant is able to accommodate vegans, but the downside for me was that they were very inflexible about altering the dishes and reflecting a fair price. One of the two vegan options was to have the tomato and coconut soup, which usually comes with the mussels and fish. It is around 245 NOK for the mussels, fish and soup. We asked how much it was just for the soup, and they said it was still the same price. Typically if large and expensive part of a dish is being cut out (I.e. meat or fish) usually the price is lower too. We also asked if we could substitute potatoes for the fish if the price was to be the same, and they said no to that also.

Not a very accommodating place, but we were happy they were able to do something vegan.

Overall, if you are happy with hummus (which by the way is a big portion!), or if you are happy paying £/$20+ for tomato soup, it was fine for vegans.

I personally wouldn't go back for the food as a vegan, probably. All the restaurants in Flåm served something vegan - one did a vegan burger, and one did a vegan risotto.

I did however LOVE the beer. The beer is fantastic.

And our waiter was very nice and attentive, despite the restaurant (I would say) being under staffed.

Nice atmosphere in a viking beer hall style.

A hard...