A rare dining spot called Salmon Eye, a floating art installation in Norway’s Hardangerfjord.
Food creator ‘Eating with Tod’ has shared meals in some incredible places, from luxury tasting menus to small local kitchens around the world. But his recent trip to Norway might be his most unusual yet. This time, he visited Iris, a Michelin-starred restaurant located inside Salmon Eye, a circular floating structure in the middle of the Hardangerfjord.
Tod begins his trip in London and explains that reaching the restaurant is an adventure in itself. He takes a two-hour flight to Bergen, drives three hours south through the mountains, boards a ferry, and then a speedboat to reach the final stop, a round, silver building floating in open water.
“This is Iris,” he says as the camera pans across the water. When Tod arrives, he is greeted by servers who lead him down a staircase to a level 10 feet below sea level, where the dining experience begins.
Iris has a multisensory dining experience that pushes the boundaries of our senses.
The main dining room is surrounded by glass panels that offer breathtaking views of the fjord and mountains. “You feel like you’re dining through a cinematic screesaver,” he says, describing the view as unlike anything he’s seen before.
In his video, Tod walks through some of the restaurant’s 18-course tasting menu, describing each dish in simple terms that still manage to capture how unusual the experience is.
The first course starts with a seaweed cracker hanging from the ceiling that guests pull down and dip into seafood pâté. Another course features a 30-year-old clam with caviar, followed by a Bellini that “almost looks too good to eat.”
He points out that every dish at Iris represents local food and sustainability. The salmon is caught just 500 meters from the restaurant. One of his favorite bites is a plate of cuttlefish spaghetti, followed by what he mentions as a dessert made from pine trees. He also shows the restaurant’s own version of strawberries and cream, so good that guests are not just allowed but encouraged to lick the bowl.
The menu changes daily and costs about $460 per person (around NOK 4,200).
Many people in the comments said it’s one of the most surreal dining experiences they’ve ever had; one mentioned, “We went there last year for our wedding anniversary. Unforgettable! Loved it.”
Another person joked, “Looks like the movie ‘The Menu’. Let us know you came back alive,” to which Tod replied, “Don’t worry, I made it back safe, unlike the guys on the menu.”
What is Salmon Eye?
Salmon Eye is a floating exhibition center in the Hardangerfjord that highlights both the opportunities and the challenges within the aquaculture industry. The exhibition encourages new perspectives on how seafood can be produced responsibly and inspires visitors to think differently about the future of food from the sea.
Through viewing tours, conferences, and culinary experiences such as Iris, they use sound, light, film, and storytelling to create an environment where guests can learn, reflect, and be inspired.
Inside the Iris experience
The Michelin-starred restaurant Iris offers what it calls Expedition Dining, a multisensory food experience built around the surrounding fjord and mountains. The restaurant is located inside Salmon Eye, the world’s largest floating art installation and a center for sustainable aquaculture. It sits in the Hardangerfjord in western Norway and can only be reached by boat.
Guests first travel by boat from Rosendal to chef Anika Madsen’s boathouse on Snilstveitøy, where they’re welcomed and offered a small tasting. From there, they continue across the fjord to Salmon Eye, the floating venue where the rest of the dining experience takes place below sea level.
The dining room offers clear views of the fjord and nearby mountain ranges, creating a beautiful backdrop for the restaurant’s tasting menu. The whole experience lasts between five and six hours from start to finish.
Reaching Iris is a trip of its own. The restaurant is accessible only by electric boat from Rosendal, and guests are advised to plan their journey carefully. Guests can also request private transportation.
A menu built around nature
At Iris, the menu is designed as a narrative about food and the environment. It highlights both the challenges facing the global food system and the ideas that could shape its future. The restaurant’s tasting menu revolves around ingredients from the ocean and the surrounding mountains, reflecting the landscape that defines the Hardangerfjord.
The 18-course menu focuses heavily on seafood and local produce. Iris also offers a pescatarian menu for guests who don’t eat meat, but do eat fish or seafood. However, the restaurant cannot accommodate vegan, vegetarian, or seafood-free diets due to its remote location and complex logistics.
Guests can also choose a wine pairing for the tasting menu, ranging from the Voyage pairing to single-vineyard and special-vintage bottles.
Tod's video shows the calm atmosphere of eating in the middle of the sea, surrounded by the fjord and mountains. Each course feels directly connected to the world outside the window, local fish, wild herbs, and ingredients from nearby water and land.
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