Radisson SAS: World's Northernmost Hotel

pitsbergen Island, a part of Norway due north of that country and well above the Arctic Circle, makes a place like Iceland look positively tropical. In the island’s biggest town, Longyearbyen (population 2,000), is sited the 95-room Radisson SAS Polar Hotel, touted as the world’s northernmost full-service hotel.

In season--February through October--the hotel gets many tourists, about 90 percent of whom are Norwegians who want to experience dog sledding and snowmobiling, and see icebergs and arctic wildlife. After then it's not the cold that keeps people away. It's the round-the-clock darkness. The hotel also gets business travelers, mainly affiliated with the government or the mining industry, the main employers on Spitsbergen.

Stein-Ove Johannessen has been working as executive chef of the Radisson’s two food service outlets, Brasseri Nansen and Barentz Pub and Spiseri, as well as Funktionærmessen, the gourmet restaurant at the 88-room Spitsbergen Hotel, owned by the Radisson.

PROVISIONING LOGISTICS

Much of Johannessen’s job is figuring out provisioning logistics. At the end of the season, he buys most of the nonperishables and equipment for the next year, placing the order before the sea freezes in December.

It can be difficult to get equipment repaired, so Johannessen buys the most reliable equipment he can find. Because the earth is permanently frozen, it’s hard to properly ground electrical equipment, which consequently fails more rapidly than on the mainland. There is no such thing as getting a part shipped overnight. “All the companies like FedEx exclude us,” Johannessen says.

All perishable food must be flown in from Tromsø in northern Norway, weather permitting, making it expensive. Things like potatoes and meat take a less-expensive three-day journey by sea.

REGIONAL FOODS

Part of the arctic experience is trying foods like seal. Cooking seal was a new experience for Johannessen. He says the meat has a flavor analogous to cod liver oil because the seal’s diet is exclusively fish based. Johannessen tries to make it palatable by marinating it in red wine. “It’s not one of my favorites, but a lot of people really love it.”

The most exotic meat Johannessen has served is polar bear. There are more bears than people on Spitsbergen Island, but the bear is protected. However, government agents occasionally shoot rogue bears and make the meat available. “To be quite honest it’s not good eating,” says Johannessen, “and we give people a diploma when they’ve eaten it.”

A far better tasting meat is whale, which Johannessen says is somewhat like to beef and prepared similarly. However, the restaurants offer more pedestrian fare like king crab, tapas, spring rolls (inspired by his Thai chef), and pizza. With only three other restaurants in town, Johannessen’s dining venues are well-frequented by locals.

Johannessen, who grew up on the mainland, has worked on Spitsbergen Island since 2000, taking a break to work in London. He loves London, “but the working hours were hectic,” he says, and he has a much better quality of life on Spitsbergen.