Kari Innerå


Kari Innerå 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. When she was headhunted to establish the gourmet restaurant Fru K at The Thief 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 in London. She later worked at the in Stavanger and Bagatelle restaurant 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 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 Grand Cru 1972 and top wines from Château d'Yquem, Liger-Belair, Jacques Selosse and Dom Pérignon. Because of the fact that 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