Credo

A locally caught, wild turbot is roasting over the open fire in the middle of the restaurant. You can see it and smell it, and feel the heat from the burning fireplace. Pieces of the fish's jaw and fat are served alongside a dark green sauce of smoked mussels and parsley, with last years kale and flowers picked just outside the restaurant's walls.

Credo is an intimate, warm, and welcoming restaurant. You’ll feel right at home here. The meal consists of 23 small courses and starts on the second floor of the industrial glass building. In a relaxed living room-like lounge, one of the chefs arrives with the evenings' first appetizers. Nothing goes to waste at Credo, and several of the dishes are built on what’s left from other parts of the production. A crisp mussel tart with balanced flavors of cereal and sea, and a fresh beverage of fermented bread water with cherries are both made with the remains of the sourdough bread from the restaurants own bakery.

Head Chef and owner, Heidi Bjerkan, has dug into history and rediscovered some excellent traditional Norwegian pastries such as goro and rosettbakkels, served with roe and char. A thick and sweet potato flatbread opens the central part of the menu and is the first course served in the downstairs dining room. It comes with cured meat, butter, and sour cream, from two of the farms Credo works with closely; Fannremsgården and Skjølberg Søndre.

The restaurant’s approximately 200 square meter kitchen garden supplies ample produce. Add to that multiple greens that grow indoors, in all over fifty different species, some of which might surprise you. On a tour of the premises, we admire the last remaining papaya, one of 16 grown by the main entrance. We’re also introduced to the cows that provide Credo with milk, portrayed in photographs on a wall of fame. Milk flows through the veins of this restaurant, giving life to some of the evening’s most memorable bites; a soft and mild fresh cheese (made just an hour before service) is presented with a fruity black currant sauce, cured reindeer heart and crusty pieces of fried potato. When the final drop of milk has been shared, the dairy cows go on the menu as well. A thin slice of rib-eye steak has been wrapped in fat and matured for 45 days before meeting its destiny on the grill. The result is a melting, buttery slice of silky smooth beef, served with a sauce of local morels, cherries and caramelized onion.

Chef Bjerkan’s tiny kitchen, where plates are assembled at an impressive speed, is entirely open. Wine, ciders, and beer are presented with just the right amount of information. Juices are made in-house, sometimes with berries that are left to soak a few days before their liquid is drained, without crushing the fruit. Only a touch of sweetness is added to retain the fruits’ pure flavors.

Restaurant Credo puts nature’s elements––earth, water, fire, and air––right at the heart of the dining experience and celebrates diversity through a variety of techniques and serving methods. This is a meal that is sure to awaken all your senses.

Published January 2020