Huset in Longyearbyen, Svalbard is not a typical fine dining restaurant because its biggest design challenge is not mood lighting but months of darkness and midnight sun. The restaurant sits at 78 degrees north and is described as the world’s northernmost fine dining restaurant. Its building dates back to 1951, when it served a mining town as a church, hospital, school, post office, cinema and community hall under one roof.
A dining room shaped by Arctic light
Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta has reimagined Huset for its next chapter while preserving key parts of the original building. In Svalbard, that kind of reuse has a practical benefit, since most new materials must be shipped in at considerable cost.
The redesigned dining room uses stained oak, Öland stone, stainless steel and red linoleum to create warmth without ignoring the restaurant’s harsh surroundings. Textile screens made from three layers of transparent fabric shift with the light, helping the room respond to polar night and midnight sun.
Snøhetta also designed round tables for the space, while solid Swedish pine chairs by Simmer add a sharper sculptural quality. An adjacent private dining room is enclosed with fabric-clad screens and centred around a custom three-metre oak table.
Arctic cooking and a serious wine cellar
Head chef Alberto Lozano builds the menu around what Svalbard can provide. The kitchen works with trappers, fishers and foragers, using preservation techniques to make the most of Arctic seafood, game and seasonal ingredients.
The 14-course Arctic Experience includes dishes such as reindeer charcuterie, ptarmigan pâté en croûte and scallops in kefir cream. Beneath the restaurant, Huset’s wine cellar dates back to the 1980s and holds more than 1,000 titles.
Fine dining in the Arctic Circle could easily rely on novelty alone, but Huset appears to offer something more considered. Its history and extreme shifts in daylight are worked into the experience in a way that goes well beyond the location.