Huset

Take a trip to 78 degrees north and experience the world’s northernmost fine-dining restaurant and wine cellar!

Huset – literally: the house – was designed by Jakob Hansen, who was also the architect of the Colosseum cinema in Oslo. The mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani AS started building work in 1948, and the doors opened on 13 October 1951. Huset enjoyed a central location and came to be called the ‘heart of the town’. It was neutrally situated between the different social groups: the mineworkers and the officials.

Huset restaurant’s tasting menu is a journey across Svalbard. It tells a story through different servings, which adapt seasonally, depending on what mother nature has to offer. They work in collaboration with local trappers, fishers, and foragers to provide Svalbardian and Arctic ingredients such as seal, reindeer, rock ptarmigan, mushrooms and mountain sorrel.

Using traditional Nordic preservation methods and culinary techniques, the cuisine offers a unique insight into the rich flavours of the polar region. Their key words are sustainability and preservation, and often utilize methods such as fermentation, curing or smoking.

Hroar Holm, Huset’s former manager, started the wine collection in the 1980s. The wine cellar at Huset is one of the largest in the Nordic region, with more than 20,000 bottles of 1300 different wines. Since 2006, Huset’s wine list has been recognised by Wine Spectator with two glasses and the designation “Best of Award of Excellence”.