Oslo – review

Scandelicious: Cod, clams, parsley and liquor

When it threw open its doors this month, Oslo promised us a hip new late night hangout, a local music venue and eatery for Hackney, catering for early birds and night owls alike. If its maiden weekend was anything to go by, it has already delivered on the first part of the bargain, with the bar packed and the queue for entry backed around the corner of Mare Street.

Cathedral-like lofty ceilings, bare wooden fittings, lamps draped in translucent indigo silks like celestial jelly fish drifting idly overhead – it’s definitely bringing a slice of Scandinavian class to the neighbourhood’s nightlife. But how does its kitchen hold up?

Not bad at all. There are of course burgers and sliders on offer – this is gastro London after all – but the rest of the menu draws heavily on Nordic cuisine with lots of fish, fresh flavours and unusual morsels to sink your teeth into. You can get your hands on smoked eel – a hat tip to the venue’s East End heritage – and there’s even a ‘salmon BLT’ with smoked tomato and lettuce butter.

We weren’t brave enough for that, but started with some lovely apple and horseradish-cured mackerel with the skin blow-torched into crispness. It comes stacked on wafer-thin slices of apple, with the tartness of the fruit and fiery horseradish slicing cleanly across the oily fish. Then there was a great little trio of fat scallop-like cod cheeks with tartar sauce and a fine crust of breadcrumbs sweetening the salty flavours.

We had a delicate piece of pan-fried plaice with lots of green herbs and some fried potatoes. It came on a bed of lusty sea veg and Jerusalem artichoke that has a gentle nutty flavour and marries well with the sweetness of the fish. A savoury little drumstick billed as a ‘chicken lollipop’, which was – in truth – a key motivation for ordering it, rounded out the mouthful beautifully.

Then there was the pork fillet, which came with some lovely little rafts of carrot and parsnip rosti and a whip of cider apple sauce. It’s finished off with some cider-soused juicy blackberries that went nicely with the salty meat.

We didn’t have room for dessert, but I was intrigued by the cucumber sponge with gin and tonic icing and the peanut butter cheesecake for two with caramel bananas. Next time perhaps. And there certainly will be a next time, if only to try out the bar snacks.

If you’re just stopping in for a drink, there are ‘bar buckets’ of deep-fried chicken poppers with BBQ sauce or tartar-battered whitebait. There is also pulled pork, Sloppy Joes, chips cooked in bacon fat with bacon ketchup, chips with oxtail gravy, chips tossed with confit duck and plum ketchup. Confit duck? And chips?! Why ever not?

Two courses and two G&Ts comes to around £25 per head.

Oslo, 1a Amhurst Road, E8 1LL.