Liker du å gå på kafé? (Do you like going to cafés?) Although Norway is not Italia (Italy), you can find koselige kaféer in most byer (towns and cities). Even in very small bygder (Norwegian-style villages), there often is a place where you can buy kaffi med noko attåt. Yes, that is usually written in Nynorsk. In everyday-ish Bokmål Norwegian (which this blog is trying to teach), you’d probably get ”kaffe med noe i tillegg” – coffee with something extra. The ”extra” might be a kake (cake) or a lefse. Norwegians generally love søtsaker (”sweet stuff”)! 🙂

A Norwegian café meny [menEE] is often easy to read for an English-speaker, as many words are international and (almost) the same in both languages. Can you guess what you get if you order a kaffe latte? 🙂 Here are some other menu items:

Varme drikker – Hot beverages

kaffe – coffee

te – tea

melk, sukker – milk, sugar

kakao m/ krem – cocoa w/ cream

dobbel espresso – double espresso

Kalde drikker – Cold beverages

glass juice [yooce] – glass of juice

brus – fizzy lemonade, mineral water

vann m/ isterninger – water w/ ice-cubes

lettøl – ”light” beer (with little alcohol)

Mat – food

sjokoladekake – chocolate cake

vaffel m/ syltetøy – waffle w/ jam

lefse m/ smør & sukker – lefse w/ butter & sugar

muffins [mooffins] – muffin(s)

bolle – bun

is – ice-cream

pølse i brød – hotdog

smørbrød (or blings) – open sandwich

And a bit of dialogue to place your order:

Ekspedient: Hei!

Du: Hei! Jeg vil gjerne ha … to kakao med krem. (Hi! I’d like … two cups of hot chocolate with cream.)

Ekspedient: Noe å spise til? (Something to eat with it?)

Du: Ja takk, gjerne. Da tar jeg … ei lefse med smør og en muffins. (Yes, please, I’d love to. Then I’ll take… a lefse with butter and a muffin.)

Ekspedient: Værsågod. To kakao, ei lefse og en muffins… Det blir 125 kroner, takk. (Here you are. Two chocolates, one lefse and one muffin… That’s 125 Kroner, please.)

Globally speaking, Norwegian cafés are quite expensive. Some places an ordinary cup of black coffee may cost three US dollars or even four, so save a little extra before you embark on your great Norwegian adventure. 🙂