Hotel insider: The Thief, Oslo, Norway

Checking in to the art hotel The Thief in Oslo.

A superior room at The Thief hotel in Oslo, Norway. Courtesy The Thief

The welcome

We arrive in a blizzard and stumble in like snow-caked polar explorers. The double-height lobby is lit by bronze Tom Dixon lamps and decorated with some of the hotel’s eclectic art collection. A jovial concierge offers us tea by a roaring fire.

The neighbourhood

The Thief is the only hotel in Tjuvholmen, a recently developed area just a 15-minute stroll from the city centre yet surrounded by the waters of the Oslofjord. Legal offices and high-end restaurants abound, plus a handy supermarket for picnic supplies, and the Astrup Fearnley art museum (free for Thief guests) is near the hotel.

The room

Softly illuminated, gold-painted panels above the bedhead stand out against the dark charcoal-grey walls, a soft, silver-grey rug and blonde-wood floor. Every room has blankets made by the traditional Norwegian designers Røros Tweed. There’s a Nespresso machine and a minibar containing hair gel, headphones, earplugs, ladies’ tights and a crisp white gentleman’s shirt (from the local brand Moods of Norway). Our room, one of 120, looks over the rooftops of Tjuvholmen and across Oslofjord to the medieval Akershus Castle.

The scene

The hotel has a distinct art-and-design theme (it even has its own art curator) that draws creative guests from across Europe. If you’ve picked up fashion-forward designer outfits in the UAE lately, this is the place to wear them. There’s also a hip new spa with a sea-green pool and treatments that use a wide variety of natural products, from sunflower seeds to Atlantic Ocean algae and mud from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

The service

Good and not too fussy. The waiting team seem a little stretched at breakfast peak hour, but the buffet never runs out and waiters keep smiling.

The food

At the hotel’s only restaurant, Fru K, Nordic cuisine is perfected. Guests can have full meals or lighter snacks from the same kitchen. The langoustines “au gratin” from Midsund (on the North Sea coast) with dill butter (305 Norwegian kroner [Dh150]), the Thief burger with tarragon cream, Gruyère and cornichons (215 kroner [Dh106]), and the cod with pickled turnip (105 kroner [Dh52]) are all amazing. The real culinary joy, however, is Fru K’s breakfast. A small sample: Norwegian caviar, pickled herring, fluffy scrambled eggs, myriad cheeses including a local brown goat’s cheese called brunost, glasses of beetroot and orange juice, pots of homemade jams and marmalades, and almost a dozen types of bread. A truly spectacular start to the day.

Loved

Sipping Earl Grey in the afternoon by the roaring lobby fire, watching the snowfall outside and playing chess with pieces handmade from boxwood and ebony.

Hated

Just when I think I’ve turned off everything in the room (it’s all controlled by an iPad), devices magically reactivate themselves – lights flash on, music leaps from the Geneva sound system and ski-jumping appears on the television. Thankfully, there’s a “technical room instructions” manual, which helps.

The verdict

A design gem that’s perfect for a short Scandinavian break or a recovery weekend after skiing.

The bottom line

Standard rooms at The Thief (www.thethief.com; 0047 240 040 00) from €207 (Dh853) per night, including taxes, Wi-Fi and breakfast.

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