Plah – Oslo's original Thai table, reborn inside Sommerro

On the first floor of the Sommerro hotel at Solli plass, reached through the door of its sister restaurant Ahaan, sits Plah – the counter kitchen that introduced Scandinavia to modern Thai cooking. Chef Terje Ommundsen entered the Thai kitchen in 2003 after years in some of Norway's best dining rooms, and opened Plah in January 2004 as the first restaurant of its kind in the region. After eighteen years on Hegdehaugsveien, he carried the restaurant into the newly built Sommerro, where it now shares a twin-restaurant concept with Ahaan's street food. Plah is Selected in the MICHELIN Guide, a recognition that sits alongside a 91-point rating from Falstaff for a kitchen that fuses traditional Thai flavour with Norwegian seafood. It remains one of the surest addresses in Oslo for guests who want Thai cooking taken seriously, course by course, in front of an open flame.

01The room and the setting

Sommerro itself stands at Solli plass, described by its operators as a rich and diverse meeting place open to everyone, and it is here, through Ahaan's street-food room, that Plah's own door is found. The evening is built in two movements: guests first settle into intimate, railway-inspired compartments for a cocktail or a glass of Champagne served from a trolley, with five small bites to set the tone, before moving through to the open kitchen itself.

The dining room proper is a 19-seat counter bar built around the kitchen, with a separate Emerald Room offering a private table for five to seven guests who want the same tasting menu away from the counter. One wine writer who dined there described the aperitif unfolding in a private booth ahead of what stretches into a ten-course meal plus snacks, chef Terje Ommundsen moving along the pass to finish each plate within reach of the guests.

02The chef

Terje Ommundsen is the reason Plah exists at all. With a background in some of Norway's best kitchens, he entered Thai cuisine in 2003 and opened Plah the following January as Scandinavia's first modern Thai restaurant, a title the restaurant still carries. He is widely regarded as Norway's leading Thai chef, overseeing both Plah and the adjoining Ahaan, and has built his reputation on a simple conviction: that Thai food is fundamentally about freshness and the balance between sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

Insider tip

Entrance via Ahaan; book ahead, credit card required to confirm the table.

His roots show up in print as much as on the plate. Thaisommer, his most recent cookbook, published in June 2022, draws on his own childhood memories from Lillesand on the southern Norwegian coast, reworked with Thai flavour – part of a shelf that also includes Thaimani and Thaiobsessed, tracing his path from Bangkok street stalls to the Oslo dining room.

03The cooking

Plah's own description of its kitchen is direct: Norwegian ingredients, Thai flavours. The menu follows the Norwegian seasons and layers them against the Thai culinary calendar, so a dish built on local shellfish or game is seasoned and finished the way it would be in Bangkok rather than Bergen. One recurring example on Sommerro's own pages is king crab cooked with ginger and garlic, built around fresh, seasonal Norwegian ingredients rather than imported ones – the clearest statement of the kitchen's method.

The menu runs as a single tasting format rather than à la carte, and the kitchen will adapt for gluten, lactose, nut or shellfish allergies with 24 hours' notice, preparing a pescetarian version where needed – though there is currently no vegetarian or vegan menu available.

04Wine and drinks

The wine list is managed through Star Wine List and has been singled out for being especially strong on classic German bottles, a slightly unexpected pairing partner for a Thai tasting menu but one that plays well against the kitchen's sweet-sour-salty balance. As of October 2026, the restaurant lists its tasting menu at NOK 2,495, with a dedicated wine pairing at NOK 2,195 and a non-alcoholic pairing at NOK 995.

Dinner itself still opens with that trolley service – a cocktail or Champagne poured tableside in the lounge compartments, alongside the first five bites of the evening – before guests move to the counter proper.

05When to go and booking

Plah seats guests Wednesday to Saturday from 18:30 until late, and bookings must be confirmed with a valid credit card, though no amount is charged or reserved unless the cancellation policy is triggered. Menu and pricing are subject to change without notice, so it is worth checking plah.no before booking.

The location puts Plah within easy reach of the rest of central Oslo: the Royal Palace sits nearby, and it is roughly a fifteen-minute walk to Aker Brygge or twenty minutes to the Astrup Fearnley Museet, making an evening at the counter an easy pairing with a day spent along the waterfront.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.