Visit Bjørn: Feeling famished? Pop over to Bjørn’s place!
By Celina Tran | Photos: Visit Bjørn
For all its glitz and glamour, fine dining can at times feel a bit intimidating, if not stuffy. Still, when you go out to eat, you should not have to choose between comfort and quality. Well, at Visit Bjørn, you don’t have to!
There are restaurants where dinner is the main event, and then there is Visit Bjørn, where the meal is only one part of the story. Tucked away in the heart of Trondheim, musician Bjørn Fjeldvær and his wife, Mette, have created an evening dining experience that feels less like a conventional restaurant visit and more like being welcomed into someone’s home – think food, music, ceramics, stories and the unmistakable spirit of the Norwegian coast.
Mette and Bjørn.
From mum’s comfort recipes to five-course meals
Fjeldvær grew up on a small farm on Hitra, an island two hours west of Trondheim. In these idyllic seaside and rural settings, he was exposed to an array of organic flavours from an early age, a seed which would lay dormant until later in life. Fjeldvær grew up to become a musician, and later, he met his wife, the ceramic artist Mette.
Years of marriage and three children later, the couple decided to pack up their lives and take off on a journey around the globe… as street musicians! “The experience did something to us, both as a family and as individuals. We lived cheaply – often in the homes of friends we met – and got to know many new and interesting people, as well as ways of living,” says Fjeldvær. “When we came home, we held concerts and presentations about our journey, and after a while opened a restaurant on Hitra with food and music.”
The restaurant was in fact started in their little wooden house in Ila, where Fjeldvær brought flavours from his own childhood to the table. “I made local food using recipes passed down from my mother and grandmother, told stories around the dining table and performed live music in the living room. Mette made the ceramic pieces on which I served the food,” he says.
The response was greater than anticipated. With the music, stories and food receiving a hot reception, Mette began to think that there were rather too many guests in the house. “I think the neighbours thought so too,” Fjeldvær muses. “In 2024, we moved Visit Bjørn to a bigger and older wooden house in Trondheim city centre. At first, we ran it on our own, but it became popular rather quickly, so we had to expand our team with four more.”
Despite its popularity, Visit Bjørn remains deliberately intimate. Guests book in advance and everyone is served the same five-course menu, with adjustments made for allergies and dietary preferences.
Even at the new location, the food continues to connect the restaurant with Bjørn’s upbringing. Most of the ingredients are sourced locally, reflecting his connection to Hitra and the wider Trøndelag region. Visit Bjørn is also a proud host of the European Region of Gastronomy, an initiative celebrating the area’s food culture and producers. “Even though this is not fine dining, we make food with flavours that go straight to the hearts of our guests.”
Island hop with every bite
An evening at Visit Bjørn begins with food from the islands where Bjørn grew up. Smoked salmon and trout from Hitra and Frøya are served alongside freshly baked bread made with ingredients from Fjellværøya. The opening courses establish the character of the meal: familiar ingredients, carefully prepared, with the emphasis on flavour and provenance rather than technical display.
The centrepiece is bacalao, which Bjørn considers the restaurant’s signature dish. Two versions are served: a red, tomato-based bacalao based on his grandmother’s recipe and a white, creamy version that he developed himself. They arrive with an assortment of accompaniments drawing on the food traditions of the islands, Røros and the Mediterranean. Rather than being presented as a single composed plate, the meal is deliberately generous, allowing guests to serve themselves and decide how much of each accompaniment they want. “Bacalao is our signature dish, and we’ve had many guests tell us they’ve never eaten better bacalao!”
The meal continues with a Mediterranean-inspired course of fried meatballs, olives, pesto, aioli and homemade bread. The combination brings together the Norwegian ingredients and traditions that define much of Bjørn’s cooking with flavours associated with his travels and the wider world. Dessert brings another personal story to the table. The final course is a ‘royal dessert’ inspired by the couple’s meeting with King Harald and Queen Sonja aboard the Royal Yacht.
Between courses, Bjørn’s musical background becomes part of the evening. He performs and tells stories, while Mette’s ceramics and the character of the old wooden house provide the setting. “Both Mette and I put the guest first, and it probably shows that we love what we do, and that we enjoy ourselves every day at work.”
So, the next time you are looking for a new, relaxed culinary experience, why not pop over to Trondheim and pay Bjørn a visit?
www.visitbjorn.com
Facebook: Visit Bjørn
Instagram: @visitbjorn
SHARE
Requests to commercially license our content for republishing are now being processed through PLSclear. Please visit www.plsclear.com to complete your permission request. You can search PLSclear by title, ISBN/ISSN, author, or keyword.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Receive our monthly newsletter by email
