Aku Aku Tiki Bar

I had never put it together, never connected the dots, never followed the path back to the logical explanation that the Tiki boom was all due to a crazy Norwegian explorer who, in the 1940s after having survived a near-drowing event as a child and never having had learned to swim or get over a fear of the water, had a crazy idea to tie a bunch of reeds together and go to sea off of South America to see if his idea that early people from that continent could have sailed to Polynesian. Thor Heyerdahl, I salute you and apologize for never really putting to and to together to get fire. (That's all the Norwegian I got folks except for a curse about going to sea and an exclamation most recently heard by a drunken older Norwegian woman stumbling around a North Sea ferry.)
However, Aku Aku , like the Oslo neighborhood around it, is more hipster than Tiki at this point. Folks around us were drinking beers. Another table got daring for Norwegians and got Rums and Cokes - look out! Sinatra was on the sound system, Drinks had things infused into them and the Tiki standards - Mai Tais, Zombies, etc. - that were pictured in previous visits by others no longer appear on the menu. I ordered the Coco Cabana and it was OK-ish. My husband had the Witch Doctor and it was infused with chilis and was OK. My Mom ordered off the menu with a Pina Colada and it was OK. OK is hard to swallow when you're paying almost US$20 per drink. Oh and the Tikis were for display only - no take home/buy mugs. Verdict as of September 2017 - go for the awesome decor (some of which is on loan from the Kon-Tiki museum across the harbor - but skip the drinks until Aku-Aku finds the plot again.

By every sacred carving I can lay hands upon, I swear this bar makes jet-setting to Oslo worth the while. My partner and I loved this place so much we violated our cardinal rule of travel and visited a bar twice. The dug-out canoe hanging over the floor is on loan from the Kon-Tiki Museum (there's a funny story about its installation you should inquire about when visiting.) A "young, hot hipster beach bum" vintage photo of Thor Heyerdahl hangs next to the bar. The bar staff foments fantastic, playful potions (I had a "Black Star," a licorice-pineapple candy drink created in homage to David Bowie, yet their Mai Tais are as classic as they come.)

Everything in Norway is crazy expensive. Got thing about Aki Aku is they make a stiff cocktail. Met some very fun Locals as well. Will deft go back again