Dining in Longyearbyen

Facts last verified 2026-10-03

For a town this small, Longyearbyen eats remarkably well. There are cafés for a slow breakfast, relaxed places for lunch and an evening meal, and a restaurant once rated the best place to eat north of the Arctic Circle. Several of them are in old mining buildings. Many menus feature food you won’t find elsewhere, from Svalbard reindeer to seal.

Good to know before you go

• Book dinner ahead, especially for the fine-dining restaurants, where booking is required.
• Pay by card. There’s no bank or ATM in town, and some places discourage cash.
• Take your shoes off if you see others doing it. At many hotels, restaurants and public buildings, people leave them in the hallway.
• Opening hours can change with the season. The hours below are what the restaurants listed when we checked; confirm before you go.

Breakfast and cafés

Hotel restaurants serve breakfast. At Funktionærmessen in Funken Lodge, for example, it runs every day from 07:00 to 10:00. In town:

• Fruene, in the Lompen shopping centre, serves coffee, cakes and food, and is known for its chocolates. There are vegan and vegetarian options, and dishes without gluten, meat or dairy. Open Monday to Friday 10:00–18:00, Saturday 10:00–17:00 and Sunday 11:00–17:00.
• Nordover Café, in the art centre on the pedestrian street, has locally roasted coffee, locally baked cakes and a view of the mountains and the main street. Open every day, 11:00–17:00.
• Café Huskies serves coffee, cake, bagels and soup, often in the company of the café’s huskies. Children must be at least five. Open 10:30–17:00, closed on Wednesdays.

Lunch

• Kroa, at the top of the main street, opens at 11:30 every day. It’s known for its chef’s breakfast (kokkefrokost), as well as steaks, burgers, pizza and daily specials.
• Stationen, in the Lompen shopping centre, serves lunch and dinner, with a dagens middag (dish of the day) based on traditional Norwegian home cooking.
• The cafés above all serve light lunches, and Café Huskies has a soup of the day.
• Saturday steak at Huset Bistro. Lørdagsbiff, the Saturday steak, is a long local tradition, served on Saturdays from 12:00 to 17:00.

Dinner

Relaxed

• Kroa is open until late, with pizza served until 00:30. Its decor draws on Svalbard’s trapping and mining history. Book a table.
• Stationen is in a building that once held the miners’ changing rooms, with a whaling theme, and serves Norwegian dishes alongside international ones.
• Restaurant Nansen, at the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel, serves an à la carte menu of good cuts of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes, with a view of the mountains. You’re welcome to come straight from a trip in your outdoor clothes.
• Pubs with food: Barentz Gastropub (pizza and warming dishes), Svalbar, and Funken Bar, the town’s cocktail bar, all serve food. Det gamle Nordpolet, in the old 1954 liquor store, does too.

Fine dining

• Huset is the town’s best-known restaurant, in a building that opened in 1951 as Longyearbyen’s community house, and which has also served as post office, hospital and school. The dining room has been redesigned by the architects Snøhetta. The kitchen serves a seasonal tasting menu of small dishes built on Nordic techniques and High Arctic ingredients, working with the trappers, hunters and fishermen who spend the winter in Svalbard. Wine or juice pairings are offered, and the wine cellar is among the largest in Scandinavia; Wine Spectator has recognised its list since 2006. Seatings are Tuesday to Sunday from 18:00 (18:30 on Saturdays), and booking is required.
• Funktionærmessen, in Funken Lodge, is the old mess where the mining company’s officials dined, and has one of the best views in town. It’s known for king crab from Finnmark, dry-aged côte de bœuf and Svalbard reindeer, and for a wine list of more than 300 wines and 70 champagnes. Open daily from 18:00.
• Gruvelageret is a former mining company warehouse in Sverdrupbyen, the oldest part of town, with the Longyearbreen glacier just around the corner. It serves a set four-course Arctic menu with wine pairing. Booking is required.
• Polfareren, at Svalbard Hotell, takes its inspiration from Nordic food and polar history. Open daily from 18:00 to 22:00, with vegetarian and vegan options.
• Vinterhagen, at Mary-Ann’s Polarrigg, sits in a conservatory full of plants and trees, and has what may be the town’s most complete Arctic menu, including reindeer and seal. Open 18:00–22:00.

Out in the wilderness

Isfjord Radio, an old radio station on the coast about 90 km from Longyearbyen, is now a hotel with its own restaurant. Guests and staff eat together in the evening, and much of what is served is hunted by one of the last three hunters in Svalbard: smoked seal and whale, halibut, reindeer sausage. It’s a trip in itself; transport is arranged with the hotel.

Local food

These are the things to look out for on Longyearbyen menus:

• Svalbard reindeer, the local subspecies, served at several restaurants.
• Arctic char, the local fish.
• Seal and whale, traditional in the north. If you’d rather not eat them, check the menu or ask.
• Svalbard rock ptarmigan, a game bird.
• King crab from Finnmark, on the mainland coast.
• Beer from Svalbard Brewery, brewed with glacier water. See What to do in Longyearbyen for the brewery’s tastings.

Taste Svalbard, the world’s northernmost food and drink festival, takes place in Longyearbyen in early October, with tastings, workshops, talks and meals around town.

Self-catering

If you’re staying in an apartment, Svalbardbutikken, the town’s department store in the centre, sells groceries alongside clothing and souvenirs. Alcohol to take away is sold at Nordpolet, where you need ID and your boarding pass.