Stavanger Restaurants Review: May 2011

Eating out in Stavanger is generally expensive... What if I told you that you can eat a nice pizza for about 100 NOK in a newly-renovated place with nice and warm waiters ? Well, you would probably not believe me and yet this place exists, it is called Torino pizzeria and is close to the harbour.

We have been there the day they opened the restaurant (it was then called Oliven and you can still see that the theme of the restaurant is the olive) and have been there many times since then.

The first impression was that they had a beautiful kitchen. New, clean, with a stone oven for the pizzas... Good food, good service, good price.

A pizza for 1 person costs around 100 NOK and you can ask extra toppings for a small additional fee or big pizza for two persons. We can also see many people coming to fetch pizzas as it is possible to order them on the internet:

http://olivenristorante.no/side/takeaway

Below another pizza and their Calzone Torino. I was surprised at first by the association minced meat/calzone but I think it works out very well.

When it comes to pasta, they have quite good cannelloni that use the same dough as the pizzas. Quantity-wise this dish is a bit small but it comes with nice bread.

Torino pizzeria has also a menu for children: pasta, pizza... Our son liked both (ordered each at different occasions, not the same time) and I can say the quantity was more than enough for him (especially the pizza).

All in all, Torino Pizzeria is a good restaurant, very central in Stavanger, serving good food for small prices and deserves more customers.

Charles&De is a nice restaurant located in Sandnes, not too far from Stavanger. Something quite impressive about this restaurant is that the cook (Charles Tjessem) has won the Bocuse d'Or, one of the most prestigious cooking prize. My wife and I have been there several times for lunch and something that always surprises me is the simplicity of the food. You would not expect to get burgers, salads and sandwich from the best cooks in the world and yet that is what the restaurant serves for lunch. To me, it really shows the nature of Norwegian people in general: simple and not at all show-offs. I would like to try this restaurant at night time though as this is a completely different menu (and surely a complete different culinary experience).

You order at the counter, take the bread/water yourself, ... the typical norwegian style. The only difference is that here, the bread is home made and you have a quite large choice of breads. The butter is nice but salted and there is no non-salted alternative.

Also, something quite interesting about this restaurant is that the kitchen is facing the street and has big windows so that everyone can see how cooks are working.

My wife ordered pasta with shrimps and asparagus and I ordered a sandwich. The pasta was pretty good and it was big enough for one person. The sandwich was maybe a bit too simple and a bit light for one person.

Charles&De has also various desserts and we tasted their tiramisu and a chocolate cake. I am generally not too fan of chocolate cakes as I find them a bit too sweet but this one was pretty good. The tiramisu was also quite good. The only thing is that both desserts were a bit small.

Concerning the prices, I don't think this restaurant is expensive compared to local prices (Stavanger and Sandes are quite expensive cities), ie they don't "charge" you for the fact that the cook has won a prize and as they are using good products, it cannot really get cheaper than that.

All in all, if you want a simple lunch with good quality raw products, Charles&De is a good option. Also, the casual style of the restaurant (at least for lunch) makes it possible to bring small children. But for people looking for some advanced cooking or for people going to this restaurant thinking about the Bocuse d'Or, this restaurant may be a bit disappointing for lunch.

Small Update

We went to Charles&De again and I wanted to share with you some new photos/comments.

The overall review from last time seemed correct this time again. Simple menu with high quality raw ingredients. I ordered a hamburger and my wife went for a shrimp sandwich. The hamburger was quite nice. I was surprised with the bread (more like sandwich bread) but it did actually fit pretty well. The meat was really nice too, so all in all I was satisfied with it.