Gammelbua

Are you tempted by crispy fried cod tongues or fried stockfish a la Reine? Then you have come to the right place. Here at “Gammelbua”, which is the oldest building on Reine, you will find a traditional restaurant with world-class local food from both the sea and land. The “Gammelbua” as an old general store or “krambu” in Norwegian, which was a small shop where you got the most necessary things. Here you will find an old American cash register from the 19th century, a small rowing boat, fishing nets, whale bone and the characteristic round glass floats that kept the fishing nets afloat. A float can be made of cork, wood, plastic, or glass. The glass float is a Norwegian invention, the first glass floats were bottle-shaped, before the round glass rolls or glass balls took over the market. The balls were covered in a woven net of sisal or hemp so that they could be attached to the fishing nets. They went out of production around the middle of the last century and were eventually replaced by plastic buoys. The “Krambua” was a necessary institution in the fishing village, on an equal footing with the telegraph, the police, and the church. Although the fishermen had brought clothes, food, snuff, and tobacco from their wives at home, there was occasionally a need for places where they could get both physical and spiritual replenishment.