Hammerfest is "the food city" in Finnmark
- based on the variety of gastronomical offers of both local and international food. 

Cheers - at SOMA restaurant. Photo: Marthe Nyvoll

Local food - with a twist 

In Hammerfest you have the opportunity to taste high quality food from local suppliers, such as reindeer meat from the Finnmark platou, or delicacies from the Barents sea. Cod, salmon, king crab and cloudberries are good examples of local favorites. And we love to mix traditions with the modern kitchen, and make combinations such as reindeer tacos, clipfish burgers or sushi. And by the way, according to TripAdvisor the restaurant Niri Sushi in Hammerfest is the best (the highest rated) sushi restaurant in Northern Norway! There you can try combinations with local salmon, whale meat, king crab and many more. Other local specialities are reindeer steak with mushroom sauce, or halibut filet.


Steak served at Turistua Lodge. Photo: Marthe Nyvoll

Cloadberries on top! In Finnmark we call it our gold. Photo: Marthe Nyvoll. 

An exciting variety of international food
The fact that it lives people from more than 80 different nationalities in Hammerfest may explain the variety of the food offers here. You will find Chinese, Thai, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, American, Turkish and Syrian food to mention some. What about tapas? Or the famous "Kaikanten pizza"? There are burgers, steaks, ramen soups, asian curries and spring rolls - you name it. 

Where to find... 
The best burger? Fresh or SOT. 
Tapas? SOMA.
Sushi? Niri Sushi, Sakaya or NizKa Sushi (Slakteriet). 
Chinese food? Sakaya.
Waffles? Sweet Fantasy. 
Food with a view? Turistua Lodge. 

Café culture 
The café culture is strong in Northern Norway, also in Hammerfest. Especially on saturdays, the locals like to meet up at cafés for a cup of coffee, a waffle or a slice of cake. Try the Norwegian classic "kvæfjordkaka", also known as "the world's best"-cake. You can try it any day of the week, and if you want to hang out with the locals it's a good idea to find a kafé offering a lot of cakes - that's where you find the Norwegians. If you are visiting Hammerfest in the summer, you will find us sitting on a table outside as soon as the sun is shining! "Utepils" means outside-beer, and it is very common during summer. 



Night life 
Hammerfest is known to be a great culture hub and a night life city among our neighbours in the county. Here you can find a cocktail bar, live music pubs, dance floors and a brown sports pub. If you are lucky to meet Leander behind the bar at Fresh, you meet the first spirit sommelier in Norway. There you can taste cocktails with special ingredients such as local herbs. Are you more of a beer person? Don't worry. At Slakteriet they even have their own beer, served with a concert almost every weekend!