[CHEFS]
[RENEE FAGERHØI]
: CHEF
The owner and chef at Bula Neobistro in Trondheim, isn’t a chef who thrives behind the pots: In 2017, «Adressa» (newspaper) named Renée Fagerhøi the cultural personality of the year because of her commitment.
With a bachelor's degree in gender theory and media communication, Renée is a champion of more diversity of gender, sexuality and ethnicity in a white and male-dominated industry. When she stood on the podium during the Norwegian Championships in Culinary Arts in 2013, it was 10 years ago (!) a woman had last stood there.
Although she did not take the certificate until she was 24, Renée has used the years well: She won the unofficial World Cup in seafood in 2015, was named chef of the year in 2018 and has judged countless cooking competitions. The cookbook «Fritter shjiten» (fry that shiiit) was published in 2017, at the same time as she opened her own restaurant Bula Neobistro.
Many know her from Top Chef Norway (where she won the whole thing), and soon Renée will be on TV again, as part of "Familiekokkene" on NRK in November 2020.
[TOM VICTOR GAUSDAL]
: CHEF
[Tom Victor Gausdal] is one of Norway's most famous and acclaimed chefs. Gausdal's international breakthrough began when he was named Chef of the Year in 2003 after overcoming Sven Erik Renaa. He holds the title of the world's second-best chef, having become number two in the Bucuse d'Or in 2005, one sharp point behind the winner. He is also a silver winner from the Global Chef in Dubai 2008, and in 2006 his cookbook was named "Best Cookbook in the World" during the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Kuala Lumpur. Tom Victor has competed in many countries with his 12-year running time with the chefs national team (Kokkelandslaget), and was then the winner of the 2006 World Cup gold.
Tom Victor Gausdal is also co-owner and one of the minds behind the restaurant collective Lava Oslo, which is behind successes such as Katla, Sentralen, Hitchhiker, Smalhans, Strand, The Golden Chimp, Brutus, Hrìmnir, Stasjonen, Handwerk and Dugurd. He has also been a regular food columnist in Dagsavisen, published seven cookbooks, including the latest arrived "Grønnsaksboka†(Vegetable Cookbook) which climbed to second place on the bestseller list for general literature and made it the country's best-selling cookbook author. We also know him from the TV screen, where he has acted as both host and participant in, among other things, Top Chef, Master Chef, Chef's match and Tilbords med fienden.
[CHRISTOPHER HAATUFT]
: CHEF
In 2001, Christopher Haatuft came into cooking from a food writers angle. At 21, he had a double spread in one of Norways main papers (Bergens Tidende), writing about food. Here he would explore local and exotic recipes and the stories behind them. Paralell with food writing, Christopher was asked to be the chef at a bar/restaurant. With unbridled enthusiasm and criminal arrogance, he jumped on the project, thinking “How hard can it be?”. The restaurant failed and Christopher joined an apprenticeship program. From there he took the vocation seriously and worked through the restaurants of his home town of Bergen, moving on to Paris as the head chef at the Norwegian Embassy before ending in New York in 2010. There he worked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns as well as 3 Michelin Per Se. He moved back to Bergen in 2013 and opened Lysverket the same year.
He continues the odd food writing, and is one of Norways leading culinary voices on sustainability, ecology, politics, tradition, progression and internationalization within the culinary profession.
Haatuft has also been the host of the Norwegian tv-show "Mitt Kjøkken Ruler", adapted from the Australian format "My Kitchen Rules". The program is on Discovery Networks “TVNorge”.
Through Lysverkets success, Haatuft has traveled extensively representing Lysverket, western Norway and Norwegian cuisine in general. Through the last couple of years, Haatuft has cooked at Feast Portland, for the James Beard Foundation, for Norwegian Embassies and tourism offices in Germany and France and of course at friends restaurants in places like Paris, London and Miami.
The cuisine of Lysverket is closely connected to the North Atlantic Ocean and the focus is sustainable seafood. Through collaborations with research facilities and local fishermen, Lysverket continues to push the envelope in terms of utilization of local uncommon marine species, locavorism and regional identity.
[EVEN RAMSVIK]
: CHEF
[Even Ramsvik] has in recent years emerged as one of the country's foremost chefs and is known for his creativity and inquisitive exploration of Norwegian cuisine. As chef and owner of Ylajali, he created a place that had legendary status in the Norwegian restaurant industry. The restaurant received a Michelin star in 2014 and was named the restaurant of the year three times.
Even is also a cookbook author and released his debut "Ny Norsk Mat" (New Norwegian food) at press publishers in October 2017. The result was a unique and educational meeting with top class cooking and the book brought home the award for this year's cookbook the same year after only a few weeks in the store .
Today, Even Ramsvik is co-founder and CEO of the restaurant collective Lava Oslo, which is behind some of Oslo's best eateries; Sentralen, Katla, Hitchhiker, Smalhans, Strand, The Golden Chimp, Brutus, Hrìmnir, Stasjonen, Handwerk and Dugurd.
[HANNE RUTGERSON]
: CHEF
[Hanne Rutgerson] from Oslo always knew she wanted to become a chef, and at the age of 14, she got a job at Jacobs på Holtet. She underwent her apprenticeship at Feinschmecker and Havsmak, then worked at Grefsenkollen, Astral, and the Nikkei restaurant Chotto Matte in London before returning to Oslo. She became the first female chef to secure a permanent position at Palace Grill. She also served as a sous chef at Einer before becoming the Head Chef at Kastellet in Oslo. As a chef, she prioritizes Norwegian quality ingredients, but above all, she is passionate about recruiting more women into the culinary profession. In 2023, Hanne moved to the southern town, where she currently works as the head chef for Smag og Behag in Grimstad.
Hanne has also participated in the 2020 "Årets grønne kokk" (Green Chef of the Year) competition, securing a 4th place. She appeared on Truls Ala Hellstrøm's Bistro on TV2 and served as a taste judge for the "Årets Unge kokk" (Young Chef of the Year) competitions in both 2021 and 2023.
[JIMMY ØIEN]
: CHEF
[Jimmy Øien] is the head-chef at Restaurant Rest. A simple concept. Make delicious food with leftover ingredients that nobody wants or would otherwise be thrown away. Everything from weird shaped vegetables to parts of the animal no one else will buy.
Despite his young age, Jimmy already has experience from Palace Grill in Oslo, the Culinary Academy, the cookery team, Bocuse d'Or as Ørjan Johannessen's commis when he took gold in 2015 and also worked for Regis Macron in France
Today, at Restaurant Rest, he is most concerned with the creative part of his work. The focus is to serve good food to the 30 people who come to the restaurant every single day and help reduce food waste.
Jimmy was also in 2019 nominated for D2 magazines Guiding star under 30.
[ATLI MAR YNGVASON]
: CHEF
[Atli Mar Yngvason] has had amazing success with his new restaurant Katla. The Icelander has a worked for a number of years in the kitchen and has worked under Eyvind Hellstrøm (Bagatell) and Even Ramsvik (Ylajali) before taking a full year of inspiration and traveling Asia around 2009. It was precisely this year that pointed out a new direction for Yngvason, and soon after, Pjoltergeist became a huge success with Atli at the forefront as the city's new star chef. He is known for his seamless use of Nordic ingredients mixed with flavors and techniques we know from Asia and Latin America. This has taken him to events world wide with pop-ups in cities such as Tokyo, London and Austin. The latter as one of the curators for the House of Scandinavia during the SXSW festival in Texas last year.
Katla, named after one of the largest volcanoes in Iceland and is Yngvason's new flagship and the food profile is a continuation of what he has already established with Pjoltergeist. But in the new restaurant it is facilitated to further develop the concept with wood-burning grills and a kitchen structure that is located within the dining room. Atli is always looking to provide the most authentic dining experience to its guests and is full of surprises. The hard-working Icelander is one of the few culinary artists of this caliber who still cooks daily in the kitchen. This testifies to his dedication to the subject and how important it is that his ideas and raw materials are played out with the right quality and precision.
[KAJA RAMBÆK]
: CHEF
[Kaja Rambæk] born 1980 is a chef, food stylist and founder of the neighborhood cafe Lille Tøyen Kolonial. She started her cooking career in Copenhagen in the early 2000s, and she has since been involved in the launch of several eateries in Oslo. When SüdØst, a restaurant in Grünerløkka opened, Kaja was in the kitchen, working her way up to head chef. Later, she took on a new challenge leaving her mark in the kitchen at organic cafe Kolonihagen, located in Frogner. Her interest in organic food and produce was growing, and in the kitchen of Kolonihagen, Kaja was a pioneer in the Oslo foodscene using organic produce, as well as farm to table collaboration with farmers and local producers in Oslo.
In 2015, Lille Tøyen Kolonial opened its doors in the idyllic townhouse area located in Hasle in Oslo east. Kaja is the entrepreneur and co-owner. Lille Tøyen Kolonial focuses on serving honest food, based on organic ingredients following the Norwegian seasons. Here you can enjoy a delicious brunch, salads, sourdough pizza, a large selection of exciting drinks, organic beer and carefully selected biodynamic wine. All served with love in the cozy old brick building, with a fantastic sunny patio in front. The homely atmosphere attracts both people with home office and those who just want to enjoy coffee from the best roasters in town and some delicious home baking. The place has become a meeting place and is a popular hiking destination on weekends.
After four years of operation, Kaja is heading on towards new projects, and now also works as a food stylist with a main focus on sfx commercials at the production company Flambert. Christmas 2018 was Kajas first appearance on national television, cooking Christmas dinner with her husband Esben Holmboe Bang on the annual holiday show «Kvelden før kvelden» on NRK.
You will see more of Kaja on the TV screen.
[BJØRN JOHAN DONG-SOO SVENSSON]
: CHEF
Bjørn Johan Dong-Soo Svensson, is a chef from Sundsvall in Sweden. He has opened 4 restaurants in Oslo, between 2005 - 2021, and received 1 star in the Michelin-guide for all of his restaurants. In addition to run a restaurant, Bjørn has worked with Dagens Næringsliv with different food series for years. He is known and famous for his nordic style cuisine.
His first cookbook published at Cappelen Damm: "The chef, the baker and the comedian" was nominated for “This year's cookbook” in 2019. At TV he has been judge for Pellegrino, Young Chef of the Year 2019, guest judge in MasterChef, Camp Kulinaris, Mitt Kjøkken Ruler , judge in the Linnie Awards and Bocuse d'Or in the Czech Republic./ Schlägergården
[ANDERS BRAATHEN]
: CHEF
[Anders Braathen] aka "Hipstakokken" is one of the most famous and beloved personalities of the Oslo. Many associate him with the restaurant Smalhans located in St. Hanshaugen, which is the only restaurant in the country with the award "Bib Gourmand" in the Michelin Guide. Anders has a great focus on diversity and sustainability, and is known for creating places and experiences that add something new to the areas and environments in which they exist.. Anders is also very passionate about wine without additives, and has a burning desire to open people's eyes to natural wine, as well as how conventional wine affects you when you drink them. When Anders makes dinner at home or at one of his restaurants, its often with many components put together. He has taken this from his stay at the Michelin-starred Da Candida restaurant in Campione d'Atalia and his great love for Asian cuisine.
Anders Braathen is co-founder and one of masterminds behind the restaurant collective Lava Oslo, which is behind successes such as Katla, Sentralen, Hitchhiker, Bollebar, The Golden Chimp, Brutus, Hrìmnir, Handwerk, Dugurd and the aforementioned Smalhans. His ability to build new concepts that take root and persevere has inspired many newcomers.