Credo Restaurant & Bar in Trondheim is probably Norway’s most famous restaurant, internationally. The reason is their ability to pair top quality wines with their imaginative food. Many renowned wine producers have been begging to come to Trondheim to present their wines in the shape of an exclusive winemaker’s dinner at Credo.
Among the wine producers who have visited Credo are Jean Luc Colombo, Georg Breuer, Dirk Niepoort, Fritz Haag, Izadi, Renato Ratti, Heidi Schröck, Domaine Weinbach, Nicolaihof, Col d’Orcia, Grans Fassian, Leitz, Dönnhof and Coffele. A lot more are queueing up.
Credo is Latin for “I believe”. The restaurant was established in 1998, when three of the leading nightlife players of Trondheim joined their forces to create a place unique to any other restaurant or bar in the city. They were Head Chef Heidi Bjerkan, Head Sommelier Calle Fegth and Bartender Tor Schjølberg. Together they had their pockets full of experience and knowledge. And they had the belief that they could come up with something different.
Credo was an immediate hit amongst wine and food lovers. Among the admirers were members of the Norwegian Royal Family, and the story tells that Queen Sonja has dined at Credo several times. Some years back Chef Patron Heidi Bjerkan, who then was staying in Oslo on a leave from Credo, was asked to take the job as Head Chef at the Royal Castle in the capital. Heidi is still cooking for King Harald and Queen Sonja, but today she is also the owner of Credo.
The real celebrity of the Credo team from the start was the Head Sommelier Calle Fegth, but he has left the restaurant. He is named the world’s most knowledgeable Riesling expert, and the cellar of Credo contains one of the most comprehensive Riesling collections any restaurant could exhibit. All together, the wine list at Credo has 1,600 different listings.
When speaking about wine, there is a focus on champagne as well as Riesling wines from Germany and Austria, paired with white French wines from Loire and Burgundy. For the reds, the selection is the best you could get from quality producers in the Rhône Valley, Piedmont or Tuscany. Many of them have been at Credo themselves.
At Credo the five course menu changes every day, depending of what fresh ingredients are brought to the restaurant by its suppliers in the mornings. The main focus is on fresh seafood from the coast of Trøndelag. Most likely that will be fish, shells, crayfish or lobster, caught wild that very same day. The chefs at Credo explore new ways of presenting fish species that are not normally served at fine dining restaurants – like pollock, arctic char, mackerel and whiting. But they of course also serve monkfish, halibut, salmon and turbot, always caught wild and prepared either smoked, roasted, baked, marinated, poached, pickled or cured. The meat most likely will come from the mountain town of Røros, where they breed veal and lamb nearly 100 per cent organic. Reindeer, together with a special ancient breed of Norwegian cattle, plus deer and wild sheep from the island of Hitra will also find its way to the menu.
The real treat when dining at Credo Restaurant is the pairing of food and wine. If you let the Sommelier in the dining room make the choice, you will certainly be surprised, but you are guaranteed to have an eye-opener of an experience.
In addition to the fine dining restaurant at the ground floor, Credo can also boast of having a French-inspired brasserie and a popular bar (and music scene) on the second floor in the old building in the centre of Trondheim.
Written by Ulf
