Arakataka — Restaurant in Oslo

Part Wine bar and part gourmet Restaurant Arakataka has existed in its current form for over a decade, and although staff has changed over time the kitchen continues to challenge itself with bold plates based on local products combined with Nordic sensibilities plus global influences.

Open 16h00 to 22h00 Monday through Saturday, an a la carte menu served alongside the NOK 895 six-course tasting, tiled floors and wood decorate the L-shaped space where bilingual service is unremarkable but friendly enough to get the job done.

Bolstered by a fairly young crowd and extensive Wine list, each table starting with Malted Sourdough tinged in Fennel, Monday night’s amuse consisted of young Broccoli with briny Cream and Horseradish before the requested addition of a luxurious Donut topped in quality Caviar and Cream.

Served as six proper courses, several hiding the Protein such as in the case of Steak Tartare with unripe Strawberries, local Tomatoes were brightened by two types of Currants before proceeding to delicate Custard beneath Mussels and Beans.

All properly cooked, each Ingredient contributing to the whole without excess, Monkfish showed well alongside a package of Zucchini, Nuts and Onions prior to the main course of juicy Chicken alongside bitter and earthy components.

Glass-fronted but currently obscured by construction it was within 90-minutes that a Dessert of Raspberries and White Chocolate was served, the addition of florals and Caramel creating a beautiful composition before diners departed to home, a nearby concert venue or...

This place has always been good, but this visit wasn't my best. We had several small dishes. Not quite like Tapas, but rather just smaller meals. Great place if you don't eat much, but most will want 2-3 dishes. All our servings had interesting flavors, but none of mine were brilliant combinations. Salty pasta with (løyrom) roe on top was just - too salty?

I also had crab claws, but they were covered in a sticky sauce making the meal a mess. Only 2 of 3 claws had been pre-cracked by the chef, so with all the sauce I made a mess of the table when I finally broke the shell of that last one. The dish came with proper utensils and a big wet napkin, but this course can be solved better/more practically. The sticky sauce was also on the salty side and the taste of it was so strong that it kind of killed the gentle crab flavor?

Great dessert & coffee. We also got excellent sourdough bread while waiting for the food. Great service & location.

The prices are high for Norway/Oslo so I was a little disappointed overall, but my colleagues were really happy with their meals. I may have...

I suppose I’d give it a 3.5 but leaning towards a three given the amount of money we paid for the food and service. We got caught in an unexpected rainstorm on the way to the restaurant so we were drenched when we got there and they treated us like drowned rats when we walked in. They seemed surprised we had reservations which I didn’t appreciate given their Michelin recognition, but then later realized the initial host was struggling with English; however, it’s a huge red flag to me when we go to a restaurant who only says “hi” and then just stares at us. It’s your job to make your patrons feel welcome, not the other way around. The service did get better, though they kept sending the man who had a hard time with English to our table. That doesn’t bother me, but he seemed really uncomfortable and I wasn’t sure how to explain that it was fine if he didn’t give us detailed descriptions of the food. The food was good, but little variety and extremely tangy to the point of an unpleasant sour. We paid about $370 for 2 people, but I’d say this was worth about $175 given...