Bykjeller'n
Torggata 82
About
This is the largest and most imaginative dining, drinking, and disco venue in Hamar. It was built in 1849 as an inn, and the high-ceilinged interior was transformed into its present incarnation in the 1970s. Many visitors never get beyond the street-level pub, whose thick beams and rustic artifacts make up the setting for foaming mugs of beer, and pub items that include salads, pizzas, sandwiches, and meal-size platters of fish, steak, pasta, and game. In summer, a beer garden sprawls out into what used to be a stable yard in back. Relatively elaborate dining is available in the stone-vaulted cellar, which was originally conceived as a coal cellar and which today is artfully illuminated with a mixture of candles and electric lights. Menu items vary with the seasons but are likely to include lutefisk (especially at Christmas); sausages and meatballs; pork spareribs in barbecue sauce; smoked, dried, and thin-sliced mutton; tenderloin steaks; and venison with port wine sauce. There's a disco on the top floor of the restaurant, floored with massive oaken planks and ringed with a wraparound mezzanine that's favored by voyeurs who gaze down at the dancers and the flirts who try to engage them in conversation. The disco is open Friday and Saturday nights from 10pm to 3am. There's a cover charge of NOK90 ($18/£9) that's imposed only on Saturday (not on Fri). Entrance to the disco is free for anyone who dines in the cellar.
