Hidden in plain sight, not even two minutes away from Grønland T-bane, do you find this small…read moreunassuming restaurant serving basic Somali food. No one apart from the local community seems to know this place, but regular patrons greet each other while having a hearty breakfast of rice or injera. I have been here twice, and each time the lady chef is both curious and welcoming of my presence. The customers were quite amused too, they happily show off their plate of food to help me order. Jubba serves a simple injera and stir-fried chicken/beef with okra, or rice and stewed fish which comes with a banana (always important to complete a Somali meal). Compared to other East African restaurants I have been to in Scandinavia, I think Jubba has adapted to norwegian ingredients (for price reasons?) - the injera does not taste like it's made out of traditional teff flour, but wheat instead and the fish is predictably budget salmon cuts. It might not be the best choice for "exploring exotic Somali cuisine".. still, it's an honest, filling meal for 70kr.

Saba is as real as it gets in Oslo. In the evening this place becomes a busy watering hole to get…read morehonest-to-goodness Eritrean food and drinks with friends. The music blasts loud, people chatting even more loudly, and fingers get dirty dipping into red spicy stews. I wonder why I don't go here more often. As is traditional Eritrean/Ethiopian food, we get one large shared plate of sour pancakes called Injera, topped with little stews called tsebhi (or wot in Ethiopian). For the first visits, I would recommend the "combination" so you can sample different mixes of minced beef stew, vegetable, egg and chicken. You then rip apart the pancakes and use it gleefully to scoop up the meats. The sponge-like injera beautifully absorbs all the juices. It's actually very similar to Ethiopian cuisine, just with different names, and only the true aficionados (not me) could tell them apart. What I notice though is it is more sour and less earthy than any Ethiopian food I have ever had, and tasted of more use of tomatoes. This tiiny bit of over-tanginess - their injera is also very sour - probably keeps me from giving it a full-blown 5, otherwise, the spices are really spot on for my liking, and I always have a weakness for ethnic cuisine made from the heart :)

Service was good but the food portions were on the small side and hence not great value. The sushi…read morequality was average. This place was family friendly which was nice.

Cheap cafeteria for hearty Somalian food. A sign of a good diner: taxi drivers. In any city, taxi…read moredrivers are always a good compass to identify approved food hotspots. There were taxi drivers here. Don't underestimate the importance of cheap eats in society! While in US big cities there's an abundance, here in Oslo it's a welcome rarity. They start to function not only as a restaurant but also a community center of sorts. Of course, none of this would happen if there's isn't good food as the backbone. What you get for 90 NOKs (!) is a HUGE plate of spiced rice/pasta (Somali cuisine use a lot of pasta), and then topped with stewed/grilled/pan-fried beef or fish or chicken. I didn't know what the names are, and they don't seem to bother to explain them either. Most clients seem to know by how it looks. I had rice cooked with green cardamom and raisins, topped with thin slices of beef 'steaks' cooked with earthy spices. The rice was tasty, the beef was sort of dry but I think it was on purpose. Next time, I should order a soup in addition, like many other customers. I'd stop short from saying it's really delicious, but they're good enough and had huge portions: 3-star food with 4-star value. The plate of food is completed with a banana. A must for any self-respecting Somali lunch.