To complete this:
The last night in Bergen, we went to Colonialen (thanks for bringing it to my attention, Magnus). We thought of Lysverket, but it was booked and apparently very noisy on a Saturday night. Anyway, Colonialen had some things that were off the charts (in a good way), especially appetizers. The starters and mains varied a bit. For starters: My other half: Beets with black currant and sabayonne, which was greatly appreciated, me: Hake with sea weed, tomato and mussel consumé, also very good if not spectacular. Mains were lamb with cabbage and chanterelles (apparently they get ripe in September and October up there!) and monkfish with cabbage and gooseberries (what they list as cabbage could in fact be some root vegetable, didn’t taste like cabbage usually does). Anyway, there were at least very interesting, but our impression was that their chef tries a bit too hard–the dishes had a few too many ingredients, making them overly complicated; they might have been better if a bit simpler. The ambiance is very pleasant, and the service attentive but not too much so and very knowledgeable. Of course you’re paying roughly 2X what you would at Marg & Bein, but so be it! Our wine was Domaine du Pélican Arbois 2014, a mix of Pinot Noir and two Jura grapes (one was Poulsard IIRC), very light and on the acidic side, but went very nicely with all these dishes.
The next night we were in Oslo, but by the time we were ready for dinner it was late and we didn’t feel like exploring, so we went to the nearby Brasserie 45, which is fine if not very elaborate. I had mooseburger, very tasty! The next night we were at the Opera, so we stopped at Sentralen on the way back to the hotel. This was really fun, a very informal but pleasant and welcoming place, that serves a list of smaller dishes; kind of a choose your own tasting menu. The food was very high quality and well prepared, I’d definitely go back there. The next (and last) night we ate at Tjuvholmen Sjømagasin. This is in a very welcoming modern building, right near the water’s edge (but it was too late to see much, I’m not sure how much view you’d get in daytime) and the service was again very good, if not at the Colonialen level. The food was of extremely high quality and imaginative. I had scallop starters and fish of the day (common ling).
Perhaps I should mention the breakfast buffets at the hotels we were in (Clarion Admiral in Bergen, where we got a view of a rainbow over Bryggen one day!) and Christiana Teater in Oslo. These were really impressive, in Bergen they had about six kinds of herring and three of smoked salmon, besides lots of other things, and the quality was very high. I ended up eating fish three times a day!
Overall, we really liked Norway, and not just for the food!
PS I should add, it’s not as expensive as you (probably) think! Prices are, very roughly, like in Manhattan. I think the NOK has come down quite a bit relative to the dollar in the last 4 or 5 years, which I suppose explains that. The hotels, for ex, were about $200/night (which is actually cheaper than NYC for the equivalent).