open every day
MONDAY - THURSDAY
16.00 - 00.30
FRIDAY - SATURDAY
15.00 - 02.00
SUNDAY
17.00 - 00.30
Svaneapoteket opened in Karl Johans gate in 1896 in neoclassical style. Today it is listed as a cultural heritage and one of the best preserved intact venue interiors from the late 1800s.
Please let your server know if you have any allergies or intolerances.
There aren’t many cultural heritage sites that make cocktails this good. Svanen’s location is remarkable, complete with its marble columns and dark-wood panelling. The building housed a pharmacy, Svaneapoteket, since 1896, and the interior has been almost entirely preserved, from the ceilings and countertop all the way to the minor details throughout – expect a lot of swans everywhere, in keeping with the venue’s name. In contrast with the space, the cocktails aren’t mired in history at all, but are instead a collection of compelling, forward-thinking libations using all manner of interesting ingredients, balanced by a list of beautifully-presented classics.
Many a modern cocktail menu resembles an apothecary’s shopping list, but here’s a bar in an actual apothecary. And it’s one of the finest: a mahogany and marble-columned wonder crafted in 1896. The bar itself is the former counter; rows of cabinets are lined with jars and namesake swans; the panelled ceiling is illustrated with the clean-living Greek gods of medicine. The menu is inspired by ingredients marked in Latin on the wooden drawers – gentian and rowanberry, fennel and juniper. Order a Nordic Tiki (aquavit, orange liqueur and bitters) and hole up in one of the alcoves resembling old train carriages. While this is the newest venture by Yunus Yildiz, co-founder of Oslo hotspot Himkok, there’s a fin-de-siècle atmosphere you could bottle, as if Edvard Munch was about to wander in and pick up a tincture of laudanum.
Many a modern cocktail menu resembles an apothecary’s shopping list, but here’s a bar in an actual apothecary. And it’s one of the finest: a mahogany and marble-columned wonder crafted in 1896.
Gløgg, akevitt og jule-øl hører tradisjon tro desember til, men om du vil oppdatere drikke-menyen i år, kan kanskje en drink fylt med julesmaker friste?
Det passer jo ekstra fint i år, siden pandemien har ført til at folk de siste månedene tilsynelatende mikser drinker hjemme mer enn før.
– «Alle» skal lage drinker hjemme i år, og ønsker å oppgradere sitt bar-utstyr. I år har vært året vi ikke har fått tak i nok utstyr, da etterspørselen er stor. Og det er generelt for alle butikker i landet, sier Nina Blikeng-Hoel innkjøpsansvarlig Kitch’n til VG.
