Growing up in Spain, Alberto Lozano always found a sense of calm in the kitchen. He was a hyperactive kid, so his mom put him to work mixing cake batter or making meatballs. “The mess and the craziness of the kitchen calmed me down,” he recalls, speaking to Observer in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, a small town far above the Arctic Circle. Svalbard embraces a Scandi charm and aesthetic thanks to being part of the Kingdom of Norway, but life here can be challenging during the cold winters and long polar nights. The isolated destination is one of the world’s northernmost towns and home to just about 2,400 residents, as well as the occasional polar bear.

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It’s a far cry from Lozano’s home country, but his upbringing is still what drives him. “Whatever my mom was doing was my first experience in the kitchen,” he says. “And it turned me into the chef that I am today.”

These days, Lozano fully embraces that kitchen craziness at the helm of Huset, a fine dining restaurant built in Longyearbyen’s former town hall. It was acquired by Hurtigruten Svalbard a few years ago, and the company hired Lozano, then working in France, to come in and refine the restaurant, which caters to locals and visitors alike. Lozano incorporates some Spanish influence into the innovative 16-course menu, but primarily draws his inspiration from the Arctic itself. The dishes include reindeer in various forms, including a chorizo, and even seal, served in small, cleverly-presented bites. Many of the ingredients come from Svalbard itself, a remote place very few people have visited due to the distance and cost of travel, not to mention the adventurous spirit needed to survive the long winter.

“When you come here, you’re going to better understand the Arctic,” Lozano explains. “We’re going to show you what we do here. We’re going to explain the methods and the ideas and where they are coming from.”

Although Huset is located at 78 degrees north, it has welcomed some notable guests, including Tom Cruise and the crew of the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two. The actor originally came by Huset to see the old film projector housed in one of the upstairs rooms, but eventually booked in for dinner. “We have a private dining room and a wine cellar with a table, but he ate in the dining room with everyone else and was very humble,” Lozano says. “But we have a lot of important people who come here, either politicians or documentarians. The Global Seed Bank is here, so there are a lot of important people coming to Svalbard.”

Lozano speaks with Observer about building a menu from scratch in the........

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