Kari Innerå (born April 14, 1982 in Harstad) is a Norwegian gourmet chef who has won the Nordic Culinary Championships and the Culinary Olympics. Innerå is known for her restaurant Cru vin & kjøkken which she established in 2008 together with investor, former Olympic cross country ski champion

Thomas Alsgaard Thomas Alsgaard (born 10 January 1972) is a Norwegian former professional cross-country skier. Alsgaard is regarded by many as the best performer of the freestyle technique (skating) in cross-country skiing and many of today's best skiers have st ...

. When she was headhunted to establish the gourmet restaurant Fru K at The Thief (hotel) in Oslo, Innerå was simultaneously introduced to a wider audience nationally and internationally.

Career

20 years old Innerå moved to London to apprentice under chef Marco Pierre White at the venerable gourmet restaurant Mirabelle (London restaurant) in London. She later worked at the in Stavanger and

Bagatelle restaurant Bagatelle was a gourmet restaurant in the borough Frogner in Oslo, Norway. Until 2012, it was the only Norwegian restaurant that has held two stars in the Michelin guide. The restaurant lost one of its stars in 2008, though was restored as a two-s ...

in Oslo, and won gold in the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt with the Norwegian Culinary Team in 2008 and started her own "Cru vin & kjøkken" restaurant the same year.

Restaurant

Along with Thomas Alsgaard, wine connoisseur Merete Bø and noted chef

Terje Ness Terje Ness (born 7 April 1968) is a Norwegian chef. He was born in Førde. His mother was a diet cook at the hospital in Førde. Ness was apprenticed at Sunnfjord Hotell in 1987, received a trade certificate at the age of 21 in 1989, was with F ...

she opened the gourmet restaurant "Cru vin & kjøkken" in October 2008. The inspiration was taken from Willy's Wine Bar in Paris, and the wine cellar is one of Oslo's most extensive with over 1000 wines available. The award-winning restaurant focuses on local food, and grow their own fruit and vegetables in an allotment close to the city centre.

Wine theft

In the morning of May 2, 2011, thieves broke into Cru vine & kjøkken and stole 100 bottles of expensive wine and champagne worth US$40,000–50,000, including a Romanée-Conti,

La Tâche La Tâche () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. Population See also * Communes of the Charente department The following is a list of the 364 communes of the Charente department of France. The communes coopera ...

Grand Cru 1972 and top wines from

Château d'Yquem Château d'Yquem () is a '' Premier Cru Supérieur'' ( Fr: "Superior First Growth") wine from the Sauternes, Gironde region in the southern part of the Bordeaux vineyards known as Graves. In the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, Ch� ...

, Liger-Belair, Jacques Selosse and Dom Pérignon. Because some of the wines were absolutely irreplaceable, owner and chef Kari Innerå announced a bounty of US$10,000 for those who could contribute to the clarification of the robbery. The robbery was never solved.

Awards and merits

* Culinary Olympics in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

**On the national team in 2008, when Norway won gold. **On the national team, as the sole girl, in 2004 when Norway won bronze. *National Culinary Team **On the team from 2005-2008 *Nordic Culinary Championship **Gold in 2007 *National Culinary Championship **Silver in 2007, when she worked at the Bagatelle **Bronze in 2005, when she worked at the **6th place in 2004, when she worked at the *The Hulda Award (Norwegian female chef of the year) **Gold in 2007 as a cook/chef de partie at

**Silver in 2004 **Silver in 2003 *Norwegian Youth Culinary Team, Culinary Olympics in

**Bronze in 2004 *Trophée Passion in Paris - international cooking competition with participants from 15 nations and a jury headed by top chef Pierre Gagnaire **Gold in 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innera, Kari 1982 births Living people People from Harstad Norwegian expatriates in the United Kingdom Norwegian chefs Norwegian restaurateurs Women chefs Women restaurateurs