Thursday, February 13

This day is dedicated to two of Halvar's great heroes. One made Halvar want to become a chef, and the other made Halvar the chef he is today. More about who these are later.
There will be a five-course dinner with wine in Gulfjøsen. There will be stories, eating and drinking – and we think it will be popular. Two celebrities will be there! Get your selfie hand ready!

Ole Martin Alfsen!
Yep, you read that right! Halvar grew up with Ole Martin on TV in the program "Show me your fridge", where he traveled around to people and cooked food from what he found in their fridge, often for celebrities. Along with Ingrid Espelid Hovig, Ole Martin was one of Halvar's great heroes.
Since then, Ole Martin, aka OMA, has done a lot more on TV. He is perhaps best known for his 69.69 seasons of Four Star Dinner. But Ole Martin is not only good on TV – he is even better as a chef, and not least with wine. In fact, ridiculously good.
He was also a lecturer when Cathrine and Halvar took their sommelier training. Now he comes to us and brings some of his wines, which he will talk about and serve with the food as..

...Oyvind Hjelle...
...will make!
After the summer of 2008, Halvar was asked if he would like to try working one evening at a place in Oslo called Kulinarisk Akademi. It's not a restaurant, but a competence center for food and wine. Halvar agreed, showed up with knives under his arm, convinced that he knew what food was. Tough as nails, that is.
Then he opened the door and met Øyvind Hjelle. Then everything went to hell! Nope. Sure. It was love at first sight – at least on Halvar's part.
Øyvind is a guy full of wild ideas. He is bursting with creativity and curiosity, and he has an enormous amount of knowledge that makes him something very special that must be experienced.
Øyvind has also done "Show me your fridge", about 20 years after Ole Martin. He also makes ribs minute by minute on NRK every Christmas Eve.
He has been named the “chef’s chef” – a prestigious award given by other chefs. Øyvind was the one who set the standard at Palace Grill, and he can be called Norway’s first “rock chef”. Together with Ole Martin, he worked there for many years before Halvar was allowed to take over the kitchen at Solli plass.
Halvar and Øyvind have enough stories together to fill at least five books. It's been everything from reindeer seasoned from the inside with hail, one has been dressed as a rabbit while the other used the rabbit as a paintball target. They've boiled cow hearts, used pig's trotters as sausage skins and run a nachspiel in Nyksund with Alex Rosén. They've made a lot of wild food – often served only once, since Øyvind doesn't like to repeat himself.

For those who are joining on Thursday and staying overnight, the day starts with breakfast and continues with lunch, perhaps a mountain hike, relaxing with a book, sauna or maybe a Ribtur?

In the evening we serve Kvitnes Gård's tasting menu in the restaurant.

Breakfast, lunch and...Lunch concert with Sindre Myrbostad

Sindre is a pianist and songwriter and released his third album this fall. He currently works as a District Musician in Ensemble Blå in Sortland and is currently promoting his latest album "Endringsblenda". Myrbostad comes from Bodø, lives in Vesterålen and is a trained classical pianist. He is definitely a musician and composer with a passion and fascination for many genres and can point to broad experience from many years in ensembles, orchestras, bands and projects within classical, jazz, big band, rock and popular music. In recent years, he has also had a great focus on communicating his own music as an artist. In this concert we hear him alone at the keyboard where he sings his songs connected by interludes filled with both humor and seriousness.

There will be more information about the concert in a separate event.

Kvitnes x Palace Grill!
Yes! This will be fun – a never-ending reunion! We will be visited by three of those incredibly talented chefs that Halvar worked with at Palace Grill, when they were all young. This evening there will probably be (somewhat) loud music, low shoulders, good food, equally good drinks and an insanely good atmosphere.
The chefs will each prepare two snacks and two dishes. So there will be a total of eight snacks and eight dishes – or so we think. What will be served? We don't know yet – the menu will be created while we cook!

Mads "Erling-Cato" Revheim-Skjolden

Mads is almost a cult figure. He started his apprenticeship at Palace Grill while Halvar was running the kitchen. He was a kind of adult apprentice – not very adult, to be sure, but he turned 21 while working there. On his 21st birthday, Mads-Erling had the following to say: “Today, the birth certificate of the undersigned indicates that I am old enough to be allowed into my own workplace.”
He speaks very nicely! This was a few years ago, he doesn't speak so nicely anymore, but he has become all the better at cooking.
After completing his apprenticeship, he helped open Restaurant Rest, before opening his own restaurant, Hedone. Hedone ran for a few years before they had to find new premises – something he is still looking for. At Hedone, Mads served hedonistic food with many Japanese references – or maybe it was a Japanese restaurant with hedonistic tendencies made with Nordic ingredients?
And why do we call him Mads “Erling-Cato”? Because Halvar has always wanted an apprentice named Erling – it rhymes with apprentice. Cato was added for fun. It will definitely be fun when Mads-Erling comes to us – and good too!

Kim Daniel Mikalsen�

There is a Båtsfjord before and after Kim was born, rumor has it that the flight alarm goes off when Kim comes home for a visit. He looks a bit like the computer game hero Duke Nukem – he may look a bit scary, but he is a lot kinder, and a lot better at cooking. Kim has worked in a number of good places before and after Palace Grill. After Palace he opened Aymara, a Japanese/Peruvian restaurant right next to Palace Grill. He has a relatively versatile cooking background that CAN result in quite schizophrenic food dishes - it's always good. He came third in Top Chef, when Halvar almost won. Kim doesn't skimp on anything – and he won't do that when he comes to us either!

Jimmy the Eye

Here's the long list of achievements! Jimmy has been a commis (and won the Bocuse d'Or), represented the Norwegian national team, won the Young Chef Award presented by Michelin, received a green star in the Michelin guide, worked at Palace Grill, received a diploma and pin from the Rotary club in Bamle, and been the man behind one of Norway's best restaurants: Restaurant Rest.
Rest was a restaurant that focused on using ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away. They shined a spotlight on weaknesses in food systems and proved that “bycatch is fucking good,” “chicken comb is fucking awesome,” “research eel is incredibly delicious,” and that we should definitely eat more king crab flap!
We don't know if Jimmy will bring back any of the signature dishes from Rest, or if he's closed that chapter and is ready for something new. But one thing is for sure: The food will be incredibly good!

• All three days:

Two people in a double room: 21,400,-
One person in a single room: 15,700,-

(includes accommodation, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, drinks are extra)

• Friday and Saturday:
Two people in a double room: 13,900,-
One person in a single room: 10,950,-

(includes accommodation, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, drinks are additional)

• Thursday only:

Five-course dinner with wine: NOK 1,750

With accommodation
Two people in a double room: 7,500,-
One person in a single room: 4,750,-
(includes accommodation, breakfast, dinner and wine)

Send us an email to booking@kvitnes.com and we will book you in!

All bookings are binding and deposits are non-refundable after payment has been made. If canceled later than 1 month before the gathering, the total amount will have to be paid in full.
If you have to cancel due to health reasons, you need to contact your insurance company to seek a refund from there. Kvitnes gård is not responsible for refunds related to health issues.

Weather conditions

Vesterålen is a weather-prone place in the world and you can experience very varied weather all year round. If the trip is canceled due to weather conditions, no refund will be given. However, to date, we have not experienced having to close the restaurant or events.

Cancellation of stay

Kvitnes drift as reserves the right to cancel if there are too few registrations or due to other circumstances beyond our control. In such cases, you will be refunded 100% of payments made to us. Kvitnes drift as does not cover any additional costs you may have, such as non-refundable airline tickets, equipment, accommodation or other travel-related expenses. In order to avoid financial losses, we recommend that you have a good travel insurance before departure.