In the event of the ongoing Norway Chess Tournament 2024 that began on May 27, a South Indian restaurant within the country has been a source of comforting and familiar flavours for Indian Chess Grandmasters – Praggnanandhaa and his sister Vaishali. The sibling duo, accompanied by their mother Nagalakshmi, paid a visit to Spisoh – which is known to serve up a selection of lip-smacking, authentic fare. Although the players are usually conscious about following a vegetarian diet while travelling abroad, alternating with their mother cooking in hotel rooms for them, the brother-sister decided to skip the usual meal for something a little more indulgent.

Enjoying podi dosas, Kerala chicken curry and porotta, both – Nagalakshmi and Vaishali opted to enjoy two dosas each, while Praggnanandhaa decided to relish the chicken curry and flaky porotta. Spisoh, which was started in Stavanger by five friends as a secondary business to their energy and IT sector jobs, has had some experience in playing host to Indian players who have been touring Norway previously. They also served a delicious Indian meal to India’s third-youngest Grandmaster – Chennai-based Dommaraju Gukesh – who happened to visit last year, and enjoyed the aatu irachi, a preparation of lamb cooked with spices and a South Indian masala curry.

Clearly proving that you can take the Indian out of the country, but not away from their spice, FIDE Women’s Rapid Chess champion, Koneru Humpy has also been a patron of the restaurant. Her top favourites included rasam-rice, chicken biryani and the Andhra-style kodi veppudu – a street-style preparation of chicken sauteed with spices. Gukesh and Humpy also had the pleasure of relishing a Kerala Sadhya lunch on special invitation from the owners, during their visit last year. With an intent to popularise South Indian flavours and dispel the notion of Indian food being limited to tikka masala or butter chicken, the friends often find themselves joking about ‘feeding Norwegians masala dosa for breakfast!’