Christmas Arabic Dinner with My Former Colleagues

I just got home from a dinner party with my former colleagues. Being without a "formal" job nowadays leaves me out of the Christmas dinners and parties that each work place arrange for their employees. I think that's probably one of the nicest things about having a job -- a work place that actually spends some money on their employees to show their appreciation.

Well, even though I quit my job 4 months ago I still got invited to their Christmas dinner party :-)

There's no shock that a group of Middle East experts chose an Arabic restaurant, Sahara Bedouin Restaurant. It was Arabic "Christmas" food last year as well, at Habibi Cafe near Oslo City.

We arrived at 19.00 and we were met by a Swedish lady dressed in a traditional Arabic cloak. The atmosphere was nice and I liked their Bedouin concept which was reflected in their furniture, warm design and earthy colors, strange decor and exotic music.

After 20 minutes the appetizers arrived!

Meza! Great meza and their hummus was delicious. Every one was having a good time, and I got the chance to hook up with my favorite colleagues :-)

While we were eating and in between the waiting, there was some belly dancing in the room. The belly dancing was OK. I've seen better and I personally think that she could have shaken her hips a little harder! The guys were just staring at her like she cast a spell on them... MEN! :-P

Time went and we were still waiting for our main course.

How long did we have to wait?

1 hour and 15 minutes. They apologized and said that they were short-staffed...

The main dish:
Lamb with rice and vegetables. How was it? My god, I've tasted better than this. It didn't taste awful -- it just didn't taste...anything. Lifeless salad and cold lamb. So I'm kind of disappointed about their food. With such a reputation you would think that they served the best Arabic food in town. The only dish I liked was their Meza.

Price: 259 kr (appetizers + main dish)

Address: Dronningens gate 21
Tel: 22 41 90 00

The Closest You Can Get to Thailand in Oslo, Norway

A couple of months ago I discovered a small Thai shop in center of Oslo called "Thai Yum Yum", only 10 minutes from where I live. My boyfriend was the one who discovered it first, and he was like:

"Amanda, I know where you can get your cheap Pad Thai now!"

When I heard the words "Pad Thai" I totally lit up :-)

On a cold day we tried their warm Pad Thai and spring rolls (89 kr for the Pad Thai and 35 kr for the spring rolls). They're nothing like the Pad Thais you find on the streets in Bangkok, yet they're delicious. Their Pad Thai dish has more sauce and the smell reminds me more of biff chopsuey than noodles.

If you're in Oslo and want cheap food, you should definitely try this place! Food for less than 100 kr is considered cheap, and there are only a few restaurants that serve dishes to reasonable prices. Most of them are located around "Torggata" (the main street where different cultures are in business -- Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish).

Other dishes they can cook up for you:

Appetizers:
Tod Mun -- fried fish cakes (45 kr)

Soups:
Tom Kha Kai -- sour chicken soup with coconut milk (58 kr)
Tom Yum Kung -- sour scampi soup with chilli paste(58 kr)

Rice dishes:
Kaow Pat -- fried rice with chicken, beef, scampi or vegetarian (89 kr)
Pad Med Mamoung -- fried chicken, beef, scampi, vegetarian with chilli paste, cashew nuts and vegetables.
Kaow Na Pet Yang -- grilled duck with rice and sauce (118 kr)

Thai curry:
Gaeng Panaeng -- chicken, beef, scampi or vegetarian dish in coconut red curry, panaeng and rice (98 kr)
Gaeng Ped Pet Yang -- grilled duck in cocobut red curry, vegetables and rice (128 kr)

Mango Sticky Rice (58 kr)

They also serve sushi if you're interested in that! :-)

Another great thing about this place is the fact that you can order take-away. As I mentioned this is a small restaurant, and there are very few tables and seats.

If you do decide to sit there and eat I can definitely tell you that you will feel like you're in Thailand. Plastic chairs, colorful table cloth, "christmas" light and souvenirs hanging on the walls.

Yaya's is another Thai restaurant in Oslo and is a lot more popular than Thai Yum Yum. But the prices at Yaya's are a lot stiffer -- most dishes cost between 150-200 kr. The atmosphere there is fantastic though; the whole place looks like it was taken from Koh Phi Phi -- hammocks, reggae music, wooden tables, plastic chairs, plastic plates, fake thunder storms once in a while and colorful bathrooms styled with under water themes.

Cool place! But as I said: more expensive.

Here's Thai Yum Yum's contact information:

Tel: 21 37 82 87
Mobile: 96 88 11 79

Address: Rostedsgate 16 A
Open: 11.00 - 13.00, 15.00-22.00, Sat and Sun: 15.00-22.00
E-mail: KP_IMPORT(at)hotmail.com