There is a song in Estonia, which states that football is better than sex. I’ve never understood this statement, you cannot compare something so boring with something so enjoyable. If they’d sing “food is better than sex”, then I’d agree. At least after yesterday’s visit to Hvelvet restaurant on Stortorget Lillehammer.

I actually owe you a review from December when we were there first time to try the lutefisk menu. It was just beautiful and I felt a bit bad that I had said there is no good restaurants in this town. But there is. The one standing majestetically on the market place, appropriately for an house which used to be a Norwegian Bank.

Now during the Youth Olympics they have a special menu with the finest ingredients and tastes of Norway. It can be served as 3,5 or 7-cours dinner, accompanied with the best selection of wines (wine menu costs extra).

As a starter we had a creme soup of Earth Apple with Fenalår. This was a soup of Masterclass. So delicate and tasteful. I would say devine. The downside of it was that we didn’t order extra food for Ida (unfortunately the had french fries and sausages for children) and as she usally does not eat much, we decided to share our food with her. She refused to share the soup with us. And you know what they say, when a child loves food? Then it really must have been good!

For main course I had “skrei” – the king of Cod as it is known worldwide. The pearly white fish from Lofoten together with cauliflower pure, risoni and marinated onions was beyound belief. It was a perfect combination of tastes. The sour in onion with Riesling which was served with this dish, was a bit like tasting heaven.

My husband had a honeyglazed duck with root parsley, rosehip broth and Savoy cabbage. I could see the happiness in his eyes. He said he had not had such a good duck since Diip ( a small restaurant we owned in Estonia.

For dessert the others had chocolatenemesis with black currant syrup and rasberry jelly and ice cream. Ida ate my dessert, but I was not too sad. For the first I was already full from the two courses and I am not too fond of chocolate desserts.

We found out that Ida has an expensive taste. It is second time she behaves well in this restaurant (and she is actually in the age where she doesn’t know what “behaving well” means) and she ate. She never eats. By the way, she also slept yesterday and we know she actually doesn’t think highly of sleeping at nights either.

When we left, she also had to tip the waiters/waitresses. He got a five-kroner coin, but the girls were luckier – they got papermoney. In real world it may have been our check, but in a world of a two year old it probably was a (five)hundred bill. That’s how satisfied she was with the dinner. And so were we. It is definately the place you have to eat when visiting Lillehammer.