IN OUT
Oslo’s hottest nightspots, mojito madness and down and out in London and Paris
Northern lights
If you’re visiting Oslo this winter, make sure you head east to trendy Grünerløkka. More laidback than the brash west side, the area is packed with cafés, bars and clubs and has found favour with students, artists and hipsters alike
Start your night at Fru Hagen (Thorvald Meyers Gate 40, Grünerløkka, tel. +47 2238 2426). You can grab a bite to eat here, or just perch on the antique sofas, while soaking up the cool atmosphere and listening to the DJ spinning a soulful blend of funk and hip-hop.
Move on to Bar Boca (Thorvald Meyers Gate 30, Grünerløkka, tel. +47 2204 1377), a great little venue famous for its excellent cocktails and quirky 1950s’ décor. Don’t miss the live jazz nights on Thursdays, which have built up a regular following.
Finish up at Auralux (Trondheimsveien 50560, Grünerløkka, tel. +47 2335 3070), an intimate club housed beneath the fashionable restaurant Sudost. It attracts a chic crowd of clubbers and it’s great for a bit of celebrity spotting.
Latin spirit Favela Chic
18 rue du Faubourg du Temple 75011 Paris, tel +33 (0)140 03 02 66
Favela Chic has been serving up street food and caipirinhas to crowds of fashionable Parisians for over a decade. A London branch (91-92 Great Eastern Street, London EC2, tel. +44 0)20 7613 5228) opened in 2005. The bars are decked out in materials which evoke Brazilian favelas (shanty towns), and employ a music policy that reflects the creative output of these areas. Dinner, a robust blend of Brazilian and French cuisine, is served until midnight, when the tables are pushed back to make room for dancing. Expect an effusive carnival atmosphere, especially at weekends.
On the menu
Food: A favourite in both Paris and London, feijoada is a peasant stew of black beans, pork, chilli and orange served with white rice and dressed with farofa (toasted cassava flour).
Drink: Try a caipirinha, Brazil’s potent answer to gin and tonic, which is made from cachaça blended with sugar and lime.
Add vodka instead of cachaça for a caipiroshka.
Clientele: Homesick Brazilians and modish art students.
Music: Eccentric. Resident DJs play samba, hip-hop and baile funk along with Michael Jackson and the Ramones. Tuesdays in London are a good bet for eclectic live performances.
Cocktail corner
Make mine a mojito
It might seem like the mojito – sugar and mint mixed with lime, rum and a dash of soda – has had its heyday. But there’s no need to eschew this timeless cocktail for fear of being laughed out of the bar just yet. We asked three of Europe’s best bars to offer a tempting twist on the classic.
Try a passionfruit mojito at Stockholm’s Eken Bar (Scandic Hotel, 8 Guldgrend Södermalmstorg, Stockholm, 10465, tel +46 (0)8 517 353
07), where fresh passionfruit pulp is mixed with the sugar and lime.
Vienna’s Sky Bar (Kartnerstrasse 19, Vienna, 1010, tel +43
(0)1513 1712) serves a gorgeous vanilla mojito, which is made with vanilla vodka in place of rum and blended with pear juice and soda.
At the Living Room (Unit 4, Regency Wharf 2, Broad Street, Birmingham, tel +44
(0)870 44 22 539), a venue widely regarded as Birmingham’s best cocktail bar, the most popular alternative is the Hello Sailor, a mojito made with Sailor Jerry’s vanilla-and-lime flavoured rum topped with apple juice.
* If you know a great nightspot that you want to share with other b there! readers, let us know. Email: info@btheremag.com
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