Vaaghals – the Barcode daredevil built on a buried ship

When builders broke ground for Oslo's Barcode district, they struck the timbers of a cargo boat roughly four hundred years old, buried in the mud beside what is now the Opera House waterfront. The find gave the site its name: Vaaghals, Norwegian for daredevil, became the first restaurant to open in the district in October 2014, and has been busy ever since. It was founded by restaurateur Jørn Lie together with Eirik Lillebø, and backed on the ownership side by cross-country skiing legends Bjørn Dæhlie and Vegard Ulvang, television host Arne Hjeltnes and chef Arne Brimi — the team behind the Norwegian TV series Gutta på tur. Today the kitchen is known for chef Christer Rødseth, and the restaurant is listed as Selected in the MICHELIN Guide, its Scandinavian cooking served family-style on boards built for sharing. The dining rooms occupy the first and second floors of a glass office tower, a short walk from the Opera House and the Munch Museum.

01The room and the setting

Vaaghals sits inside one of the office buildings that define Barcode, the row of glass-and-steel towers raised along the fjord next to Oslo Opera House. At the time of opening, founder Jørn Lie described securing fantastic premises across the first and second floors, with a view out towards the sea, plus a large outdoor terrace facing the Akerselva river for warmer months.

Inside, the architecture firm Radius Design was brought in to soften that glass-and-steel shell with timber and warm lighting. A staircase lined with wine bottles leads guests up to the first floor, where the room opens onto views towards the fjord, and an open kitchen lets diners watch the pass at work.

02The chef

Head chef Christer Rødseth has become something of a fixture on Norwegian television, and he presides over a kitchen built for generous, shareable plates rather than fine-dining portions. Arne Brimi, the chef known for his wilderness restaurant in Gudbrandsdalen, joined Vaaghals purely as an investor and passive adviser — the first time he had put his name behind a restaurant outside his own territory in the north.

Insider tip

Open for lunch Tue–Fri, Saturday brunch and dinner Mon–Sat; closed Sundays.

03The cooking

Since 2014, Vaaghals has paired Norwegian ingredients from sea and land with continental touches, built around tasting menus designed to be passed around the table rather than plated individually. The format has stayed consistent: four-course and eight-course menus that typically open with the restaurant's own house-aged, cured hams, sliced tableside.

In October 2026 the dinner card runs across three tiers — Vaaghalsstykke (four courses), Vaaghalsgilde (five courses) and the signature Vaaghalsskifte (eight courses) — each served to everyone at the table, for groups of up to eight guests.

04What to order

The eight-course Vaaghalsskifte opens with warm brioche, sunflower bread and flatbread alongside homemade butter and whipped sour cream from Røros, followed by Nevemat — homemade ham with a chicken-liver pâté from Holte farm and baked celeriac. Further courses on the current menu include brisket of veal with soft potato flatbread, celeriac, lovage and apple; turbot with grilled carrot and a pumpkin-seed remoulade; and potatoes from Østerdalen with sunchoke, chanterelles and smoked bacon from the restaurant's local butcher.

The shorter Vaaghalsstykke menu features pan-fried hake with grilled celeriac, Holtefjell XO cheese and creamy cavatelli, while every menu can be extended with dry-aged entrecôte from Bjerka or reindeer from Røros with a sherry sauce. Desserts run to a baked cheesecake with blueberries and vanilla ice cream flavoured with the house vermouth, and kaffibrød, a traditional Norwegian sweet treat finished with chocolate and flavours from Nordmøre.

05Wine and drinks

The bar pours a house vermouth, Vermouth di Norvegia, made in collaboration with Anika Perisic, which turns up in riffs on the classics — a Vaag-Hattan built on rye and plum, and a Vaaghals Negroni that swaps in aquavit aged for five years. The wine list for the tasting menus ranges from a feinherb Riesling from the Mosel to red Burgundy from Savigny-lès-Beaune and a Reserva from Rioja's López de Heredia, with an alcohol-free pairing built from Norwegian ciders and juices for each menu.

06When to go and booking

In October 2026, Vaaghals serves lunch Tuesday to Friday from 11:00 to 16:00 (last order 14:15), a sharing brunch on Saturdays from 11:00 to 16:00 (last order 14:00), and dinner Monday to Saturday from 17:00 to 24:00 (last order 21:15). The restaurant is closed on Sundays. Vaaghals was named Norway's best new restaurant for 2014 by the guide Spisekartet.no in its opening year, and by most accounts has stayed full ever since — booking ahead is worth doing, especially for the eight-course Vaaghalsskifte.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.