DENMARK
COPENHAGEN
FRESH DANISH
Eating in Copenhagen is sort of like swopping a cathode-ray tube TV for a high-definition one, where the colours are richer and brighter, and the images seem to pop from the screen.
That is the surreal feeling I have when I eat my way through the Danish capital over five days recently.
I have seen some terrific produce in markets all over the world but a visit to Torvehallerne market (Frederiksborggade 21, 1360 Copenhagen, www.torvehallernekbh.dk), almost right off the plane, is my first introduction to Scandinavian bounty.
Housed in two buildings, with carts, stands and seating around and in between them, the market is a good one to head to for breakfast or a light lunch.
There, I look slack-jawed at fat spears of white asparagus, bundles of juicy rhubarb and crates of finger-shaped radishes each with a little curly white root.
There are strawberries, too, and I buy a couple of punnets, head to the Cava Bar at the market and have bubbly with the sweet-tart berries.
Life does not get any better.
Tomatoes from the Torvehallerne market in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. ST PHOTOS: TAN HSUEH YUN (above and below), PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO (main)
Well, unless you sip cocktails made with parsley or bright and tart orange sea-buckthorn berries at Kodbyens Fiskebar (Flaesketorvet 100, 1711 Copenhagen, tel: +45-3215-5656, fiskebaren.dk/), a laidback seafood restaurant in the city’s meat-packing district.
The cocktails are so brightly coloured and inviting that my friend and I do a double take. When I read up on antioxidant-rich sea-buckthorn after the trip, I am glad I have had plenty of them.
Restaurants often offer alcohol-free juice pairings, and even if you do not want a full one, order a couple to sample with the meal. Most are delicious and intensely flavoured.
Order fish cakes, pickled herring and smorrebrod, which are open-faced sandwiches. The one I choose is blanketed with slices of hard-boiled egg and small, sweet shrimp.
These dishes, too, are full of life with dill sprigs so fresh and aromatic, sharp chopped purple onions and kicky remoulade, a spread that is like a souped-up version of tartare sauce.
While in the city, have a couple of hotdogs from roadside stands in front of train stations and parks, among other places.
Steff-Houlberg ones have the snappiest sausage casings, but Molles Polsevogn is more generous with the condiments, which include ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles and, best of all, fried onions.
The city, with a population of about three million, has a total of 15 Michelin stars, punching well above its weight.
Its most famous restaurant, Noma, has two stars and sat at the top of Restaurant magazine’s annual list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for the last three years. It was knocked off its perch only this year by El Celler de Can Roca in Spain.
I make barely a dent exploring the city’s restaurants in five days. Relae, Kadeau, Nimb Brasserie and others elude me.
Here, however, are six restaurants that should be on any visitor’s list.
GETTING THERE: Singapore Airlines flies direct to Copenhagen from Tuesdays to Saturdays.
COPENHAGEN
NOMA
If you secure a reservation, get invited or somehow land an opportunity to dine at Noma, go.
Go not because you want to tick another item off the bucket list or score bragging rights. Go because you want to experience something wild, weird and wonderful.
It is hard to get a table at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant, headed by chef Rene Redzepi, 39. Once you do, the team pull out all the stops so you never forget the meal. The restaurant, at its waterside location, has closed, and is re-opening later this year at the edge of Copenhagen's hippie Christiana neighbourhood.
The food at its new location is likely to be show-stopping, judging by the meal I had at the old location.
The first of many snacks in a multi-course, 1,500 kroner (S$312.60) dinner is Nordic Coconut (below), which is really a pink potato with a hole in the centre and a dill stem for a straw. I sip a warm, strangely delicious liquid made with fermented split peas, coriander, lemon verbena and white currants. A Nordic interpretation of a pina colada?
Later, I drag pretty, tender elm leaves across a plate of roasted yeast and eat fragile puffs of reindeer moss scented with cep mushrooms.
“You’re going to be eating ants,” a friend predicts.
Yes, pulverised wood ants give a citrusy tang to a blob of fresh milk curd covered with blueberry preserves.
I take apart crayfish and dip them in a sauce (below, left) made with the gooey stuff excavated from the head. It takes me immediately to Or Tor Kor market in Bangkok, where bags of boiled river prawns come with a funky and addictive sauce, also made from crustacean head goo.
The chefs take turns to present the dishes. One of them guides the table through The Duck And The Egg, (below, right) in which duck eggs are fried in hay oil and covered with herbs before we dig in.
A meaty beef shortrib (below) aged for three weeks, cooked sous vide for 36 hours at 60 deg C and covered with dried lingonberries and chopped nasturtium stems, resembles a mossy log on the forest floor. I look at it and experience the kind of wonder I had throughout dinner at the now-defunct elBulli in Spain.
Some places mine the weird for theatrics.
Noma, however, stays true to its name, which comes from “Nordisk mad” or Nordic food.
With every course, I am reminded of Scandinavian heritage in cutting-edge dishes, and the rich pickings from the region’s forests and seas, used in ways no one has thought of.
It is some kind of wonderful.
NOMA
Strandgade 93, 1401 Copenhagen, tel: +45-3296-3297, noma.dk/
DEN GULE COTTAGE
COPENHAGEN
While Copenhagen is endlessly fascinating, the prospect of lunch by the beach leads me to Den Gule Cottage (The Yellow Cottage), about 30 minutes by cab from the city.
The cottage used to be the gatekeeper’s house at the entrance of a 19th-century spa facility and there is a companion Red Cottage nearby, both of which are now restaurants.
Inside the pretty yellow exterior is a casual, chill-out restaurant all done up in white.
A three-course meal here costs 325 kroner or 550 kroner with wine pairing. We go for The Whole Package (700 kroner), which includes a platter of snacks with cava, two courses, dessert and coffee with petit fours.
ST PHOTOS: TAN HSUEH YUN
The snack platter (above, top) is a sight to behold, with rye bread to go with cream cheese, tiny potatoes holding an almost liquid filling of lovage in them and crispy-creamy sweetbreads.
Smoky roasted almonds, (above, bottom) so moreish, are served alongside.
A course of scallop and carrot (below) comes with a perfectly cooked scallop, sweet carrots steamed and raw, lovage leaves and mayonnaise and a sauce neige. It is simple, light and delicious.
Equally good is a creamy chicken stew (below) with potatoes, shaved white asparagus and a mild heat from garlic mustard leaves and flowers.
A friend who has dined there before speaks with a gleam in his eye about mayonnaise with pulverised crispy chicken skin. It comes with a dish we have not ordered but the chefs give us a taste of it. It is as splendid as it sounds.
The music in the sunlit restaurant is 1980s pop, most of which we remember with a bit of cringing.
Before having dessert at one of the tables outdoors, however, a rather different tune, What A Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong, comes on.
My inner cynic rolls her eyes as far back as they will go but feeling mellow and with a belly full of good food, I think: “Yes, indeed.”
DEN GULE COTTAGE
RESTAURANT AOC
COPENHAGEN
The low ceilings, well-spaced tables and low lighting at AOC, located in the vaulted cellar of a 17th-century mansion, make this an intimate, comfortable place in which to dine.
Comfort is important because the 10-course (1,200 kroner) tasting menu, which includes additional snacks, takes about three hours in all.
There is a lot to eat, but skipping the bread would be a mistake. The rolls, (below) presented in a bowl lined with sheaves of wheat, are served with goat milk and regular butters. In a city full of good bread, the rolls at one-Michelin-starred AOC stand out. The kitchen, led by head chef Soren Selin makes the best of Scandinavian produce, with an emphasis on seafood.
ST PHOTOS: TAN HSUEH YUN
Dinner requires some work. The turbot course comes wrapped up in sprigs of juniper all tied up, and a stylish pair of scissors that we use to liberate the fish. We find it moist from its coating of lard, and scented with juniper, which is used to flavour gin. We dip the fish in juniper salt and an emulsion of turbot roe, and the snipping and unwrapping pays off handsomely.
There is but one meat course in the meal, lamb tenderloin (below) with bright yellow beetroot, smoked marrow and ramp flowers – at once pretty and rustic.
Desserts are a treat here. We start with a palate cleanser of sorts made up of sliced-up tart green strawberries and lemon verbena sorbet and sorrel, then move on to a frozen red ball (below) made out of beetroot. Crack it open and there is rhubarb and ice cream inside. Dotted around the plate are bits of licorice, which is a hard flavour to like, except it gives this dessert a beguiling scent.
It is a pity that we are jetlagged and cannot have much alcohol beyond a glass each of Danish sparkling wine, seeing as how the restaurant is owned by respected sommelier Christian Aaro.
However, we allow ourselves to be persuaded to have three juices with our meal. A thick cucumber one is perfect with the first course, blackcurrant and pear with the lamb and unfermented chenin blanc grape juice from the Loire Valley in France with the desserts.
RESTAURANT AOC
Dronningens Tvaergarde 2, 1302 Copenhagen, tel: +45-3311-1145, www.restaurantaoc.dk
GEIST
COPENHAGEN
This stylish, loud, buzzing and dimly lit restaurant and bar is packed when we turn up just before 9pm. We sit at the bar before sharing a long, oval table with two other parties of diners.
It seems painfully hip but I should not dismiss it so quickly. There must be a reason chefs hang out here after work.
ST PHOTOS: TAN HSUEH YUN
Diners expecting proper, serious meals are also taken care of. They simply order more dishes. The plates here stand out because of the remarkable produce and chef Bo Bech’s restraint.
West Coast Turbot With Fennel Ravioli On Cheese (180 kroner) is perfectly cooked and the tiny ravioli add a burst of freshness to the fish.
We also enjoy New Radish With Squids (150 kroner), a tangle of greens with tiny, crunchy radishes at the end, and slices of seared squid. It is simple, unadorned and fabulous.
So is a dish of Heart Of Lamb With Shiitake And Yuzu (150 kroner). Now I love the Japanese citrus fruit but would not have thought to pair it with offal. Still, its distinctive fragrance adds an unexpected nuance to this very primal dish.
These plates make it easy to forget the prosaic ones, such as Salmon With Soya, Ginger, Lime And Sesame (120 kroner) and Raw Beef And Lumpfish Roe With Chilli (130 kroner) with the texture of baby food and no hint of chilli that I can detect.
GEIST
Kongens Nytorv 8, 1050 Copenhagen, tel: +45-3313-3713 www.restaurantgeist.dk/en/
GERANIUM
COPENHAGEN
The first restaurant we hit after arriving is Geranium, housed in a complex that includes a football stadium.
It is an incongruous location for such an elegant restaurant, headed by chef Rasmus Kofoed (below). He famously won the gold (2011), silver (2007) and bronze (2005) awards in the difficult Bocuse d’Or cooking competition.
ST PHOTOS: TAN HSUEH YUN
At the two-Michelin-starred restaurant, parties of two dine at enormous tables draped with white and grey linen. Sunlight fills the space and eating here is an adventure.
We opt for the three-hour, 19-course lunch (1,100 kroner). A two-hour one (800 kroner) is also available.
The chef plays tricks on and delights the eye.
Take Baked Potato & Sheep’s Milk Butter. The baby spuds arrive looking more burnt than baked. They are neither, it seems. Our friendly server says the potatoes have been dehydrated and then coloured with squid ink. We plop them on spoons lined with the butter and sprinkled with sprouts. They are rich, earthy and delightful.
Razor Clams (below) sitting on a bed of shiny black stones (Danish chefs seem to love them) look like the real thing. The dark grey shells even have cream coloured striations on them.
But they are made with filo pastry, using some sort of culinary mojo that I have to say is pretty amazing. Like the real thing, the clam inside is raw.
Another plate of stones arrives, with what looks like green pebbles (below) sitting on top. Bite into the soft dill gel and there is salmon and its roe inside. Delicious and gone too soon.
Some of the plates are almost too pretty to eat.
One of bright pink rings of onion (below) pickled in elderflower vinegar with ramps, chamomile and nettle looks gorgeous but I am fearful of the sharp bite of the onions. I should not have worried – they are crisp but the pickling has taken the sting out of them.
At Geranium, servers and chefs routinely come up to diners to pour various potions into their plates and bowls.
We start to take bets about whether anyone is going to turn up for this course or that. Soon, we notice that pairs of diners are disappearing into what looks like a kitchen. When our turn comes, we are ushered into the most pristine and shiny kitchen I have ever seen.
We take our seats at a high table lined with chef Kofoed’s three Bocuse d’Or statuettes.
“Be careful,” my friend whispers. “The middle one is a bit wobbly.”
We have a dessert that looks like a green field on a plate. A football pitch perhaps? It is frozen herb tea with white chocolate underneath.
The friendly chef talks to us about his craft, and when we ask, writes down the names of places we should check out. Jaegersborggade and Stefansgade turn out to be cool streets filled with interesting shops, cafes and restaurants.
Later that day, after dinner at AOC, my friend declares a bit fiercely that lunch at Geranium is like “eating garnishes”.
When I look at my photos, it seems that way. We pick up cheese sticks from a vase, pluck carrot and sea-buckthorn buttons off a plate, snack on celeriac chips that look like seaweed sitting on a bed of seashells (below), and even the most substantial course of heather smoked turbot is topped with moss on which are sprinkled flowers.
But I relish that meal. Dining at Geranium is like foraging in a forest by the sea. You walk and pick things off trees and rocks, move on and eat some more.
That the chef can create that experience in a plush restaurant on the eighth floor of a building that is part of a sports complex is credit to him.
GERANIUM
Per Henrik Lings Alle 4, 2100 Copenhagen, tel: +45-6996-0020, geranium.dk/#/en/restaurant/
RESTAURANT RADIO
COPENHAGEN
Radio encapsulates what I like about dining in Copenhagen – fresh, seasonal produce cooked simply; vibrant colours and flavours on the plates; and friendly prices in a casual, Nordic-cool setting.
A five-course meal at this restaurant, owned by Mr Meyer, costs 400 kroner, or order a la carte at 100 kroner a course. I have paid much more in Singapore for bad food and there is none of that at Radio.
Vegetables are the stars on the plates here and they come from an organic farm just outside the city.
Radishes are lightly grilled and served with sheep’s milk yogurt and pumpkin seeds. The radishes, which still retain some crunch, are sweet and delicious with the creamy, tangy yogurt.
Then comes a plate covered almost entirely by leaves of violet-hued spring cabbage (below), cooked crisp-tender and great with the mustard seeds and sauce. Hiding under the canopy are chunks of seared scallop, each cooked perfectly.
ST PHOTOS: TAN HSUEH YUN
A course of grilled veal (below) comes beautifully presented, with petals of sweet white onion, a light cheese sauce and drizzled with ramp oil, made with the wild garlic that is in season. Little white flowers from the plant, with a mild garlic flavour, are scattered over the plate.
The tender, juicy veal is cooked medium rare, and served in long strips, an elegant way to serve the meat.
We try some of the juices (bottom) on the menu too; rhubarb for me and pressed red grape for my friend. They are sunny and bright, not too sweet and the flavours are intense.
“Happy juice,” my friend says, and I have to agree.
RESTAURANT RADIO
Julius Thomsens Gade 12, 1632 Copenhagen, tel: +45-2510-2733, www.restaurantradio.dk/en/
A version of this article first appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 16, 2013.
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