Denmark: Noma
After a series of fortunate events, we finally got ourselves a table at what might be our most anticipated meal as yet - at Noma in Denmark. Described as 'modern Scandinavian' cuisine by most and fast becoming one of the most talked about places since the "impossible to get a reservation at, El Bulli", we managed to get a table on the last seating of the year, taking a lunch time table just before Christmas.
As unlikely as it sounds, Scandinavia is a haven for foodies. While I have issues with Michelin guides outside of France and Europe in general, it is worthy to point out that Scandinavia has about two dozen Michelin starred restaurants, in a region which - face it, is not known for what one would normally perceive as high quality of produce and ingredients found in the far right scale of gastronomy. Nonetheless, abundance of good seafood, organic vegetables and a wide variety of game meats, one might be in for a surprise.
Rene Redzepi, the chef at Noma worked for a while at both El Bulli, as well as French Laundry and spent most of his cooking career at Kong Hans Haelder - an institution in Danish cuisine. His (and Noma's) philosophy is that the restaurant "...rendition of Nordic gourmet cuisine with an innovative gastronomic take on traditional cooking methods, fine Nordic produce and the legacy of our shared food heritage."
The restaurant's website also notes:
"noma is not about olive oil, foie gras, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives. On the contrary, we’ve been busy exploring the Nordic regions discovering outstanding foods and bringing them back to Denmark: Icelandic skyr curd, halibut, Greenland musk ox, berries and water."
This philosophy has somehow worked and pushed Noma to the top of the San Pellegrino Top 50 list, ahead of the eponymous El Bulli.. for the first time in as long as I can remember!
Situated in the heart of Copenhagen, the taxi dropped us off at the end of a nondescript warehouse at the edge of the Copenhagen harbour...
Kevin opted for the 12-course set menu with a 7-course wine pairing while Leeann took the 7-course set menu..
The stream of amuse bouches began with a dish called "moss and cep".. a cruncy snack which set the tone for what was to follow:
Amuse bouche of sea buckthorn leather with pickled hip roses: Sea buckthorn, while the name suggests otherwise is a plant found mostly in Asian highlands or in Europe, and in this case, it was made into a Japanese-esque side - not our favourite..
Amuse of cookies with lardo and currant: Yes, you read that right! Lardo, also known as cured pork fat served within a cookie tin with just 2 cookies... A play on gluttony??
One of our favourite amuses: Fried fresh organic leek with a touch of garlic. Extremely fresh and sweet, the idea is to eat just the roots of it...
Amuse of rye bread, chicken skin, lovage (a parsley like plant), and smoked cheese.
Amuse of pickled and smoked quails egg. Beautifully smoked and then encased within the fake eggshell, this was a dish reminiscent of an Etxebarri dish that Kevin had..
Amuse of organic radish, turnip and carrot on a bed of soil and herbs. Not real soil of course! Radishes were the freshest we had eaten.
Amuse of toast, herbs, smoked cod roe and vinegar. This was like eating a club sandwich.. a bit strange and difficult to it all in your mouth with it crumbling apart..
A "Grilled Hazelnut Salad" was our first course of the night. The green paste is a rich vegetable puree with lightly grilled hazelnuts.. This was paired with a 2009 Remy Gresser Pinot Blanc from Andlau in Alsace.
Leeann's "Cucumber and dill"
Kevin's second course of "Dried Scallops and Grains" on a bed of watercress and squid ink. Drying the scallops gave it a kind of jerky texture which was balanced by the watercress and squid ink sauce.
Kevin's "Chestnut and löjrom", which is a Swedish caviar (bleak roe) sauteed with some thinly cut chestnuts with cress and bits of walnuts. This was served with a 2009 Pierre Frick Riesling from Pfaffenheim.
One of the highlights of the day: "Langoustine and sol". North Atlantic langoustines on the right, with dollops of oyster cream with parsley and seawater.. Complete flavours of the sea combined into this dish.. Served with a 2009 Laurent Barth Vieilles Vignes Riesling from Bennwhir.
The kitchen hard at work:
Leeann's potatoes with milk skin:
Another highlight of the day: "Oyster and Ocean": Norwegian oysters" cooked in its shell... they should've served more of this one!
Leeann was underwhelmed by these sauteed onions though:
"Cauliflower and pine".. an interesting way of cooking the cauliflower.. but not terribly exciting to be honest. Served with 2009 Roland Schmitt's Altenbourg de Bergbieten Pinot Gris
Celeriac and black truffle.. portion was too big for what it was. Served with a 2007 Josmeyer Pinot Auxerrois 'H' from Wintzenheim
Now this was a dish to come back for. "The Hen and the Egg".. Not completely sure why it is called that, but this is one of those "make your own" dishes. Presented with several local vegetables and a cube of garlic salted butter.
Then with some hay oil and a timer..
an egg is fried..
Other ingredients added in.. and you get a very simple, but stunningly scrumptious egg with veg and onion flakes.. So simple, but the flavours were all there! Served with a 2003 Henri Bonneau Chateauneuf-du-Pape from Vaucluse.
This was followed by Leeann's Beef Cheek and Cabbage Stems to give Leeann's 7 course meal a bit of protein which had been lacking up to this point...
Kevin's Wild Duck and Apple with malted and browned butter. Use of local ingredients from the region and cooked pretty well. Duck was perfectly pink in the middle.
"Pear Tree"..
A dessert of Jerusalem Artichokes and Marjoram with Apple and Malt as the base sauce. Served with a 2008 Dirler-Cade Cuvee Vieilles Vignes Pinot Blan from Bergholtz.
Leeann's Snowman with Elderflowers and Lingonberries.
A view from our seat towards the harbour.
After three hours at Noma and what seemed like 15-20 dishes each, we would have to say that our first thoughts after the meal were mixed. Leeann had asked for a number of substitutions away from game meat and it seemed like they just put together a bunch of vegetables and sauteed them as replacement dishes. Overall, there were definitely some hits and misses, perhaps a few more misses on this occasion. While the restaurant's philosophy of local ingredients and great cooking techniques can't be ignored, our thoughts are that too much emphasis is placed on the local vegetables and not enough protein was used in such a long and elaborate menu.With that said, the langoustine was great, the hen and the egg was superb and the oyster was stunning.. see the trend?
In addition to that, the wines were ok, not great. The emphasis on wines being biodynamic and from Alsace is good and all, but to charge over US$150 for 7 glasses of relatively cheap wine doesn't seem to do this justice. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape was a pleasant surprise, but the rest were... forgettable.
Was it worth it? Noma offers a different take on modern cuisine, and while it is a great restaurant to get new sensations and try out new flavours, the quality of the food and service was lower than what we would expect for a San Pellegrino #1 ranked restaurant. We both agreed that this was a place that you go to really sample different flavours... and we'd say that you should try to add a few other restaurants or sights to see on an itinerary to make it worthwhile going out to Denmark.
Kevin had the 12-course Noma Nasaaq menu for 1395DKK and a 7-wine pairing for 895DKK, Leeann had the 7-course set lunch menu for 1095DKK and. So lunch for 2 set us back a good US$700 including taxes.
www.noma.dk
Denmark: A|O|C
We were perhaps a bit ambitious to try out another restaurant on the same day, but with little time and restaurants closing up for the end of the year, we took the dive and ended up at A|O|C Aarø & Co, a 1-Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen situated in an underground wine cellar.
Located in another nondescript location inside a shady looking entrance, we were taken down to a well lit basement with about 10 tables. The kitchen is helmed by Ronny Emborg, who trained and worked at El Bulli and Mugaritz amongst other restaurants and was awarded Chef of the Year in Denmark in 2007 with a menu not dissimilar to that of Noma, but being a bit more grounded.
The menus are offered in coloured envelopes and served as set menus. As we were jetlagged and still recovering from the massive lunch, Leeann opted for the 4-course dinner while Kevin took the 7-course:
Amuse bouche:
"Oyster water"
The restaurant was getting pretty empty with Christmas around the corner
I think this was burnt bread with smoked cheese.
Beetroot with razor clams. This was an interesting dish, although the beetroot slightly detracts from the sea flavours of the fresh razor clams... The sauce pairing was a nice blend of horseradish and dill though:
Venison carpaccio. Rich red in colour. It was almost like eating frozen slices of beef..
Duck breast with leeks:
Assortment of cheeses:
Icecream which looks like a rock:
Possibly the highlight of the meal was this blueberry ice shell with blueberries inside of it. Silky texture with a nice refreshing finishing touch to the meal.
We were dead tired by the end of it, with our heads sinking lower to the table with every minute, so copious notes were not taken unfortunately. Although with that said, the meal had much better variation than Noma (or perhaps it was just the shortness of the meal) but food wise, Noma still carries the edge.
Dinner for 2 put us back approximately US$250 with a glass of wine.
www.aaro-co.dk
After a series of fortunate events, we finally got ourselves a table at what might be our most anticipated meal as yet - at Noma in Denmark. Described as 'modern Scandinavian' cuisine by most and fast becoming one of the most talked about places since the "impossible to get a reservation at, El Bulli", we managed to get a table on the last seating of the year, taking a lunch time table just before Christmas.
As unlikely as it sounds, Scandinavia is a haven for foodies. While I have issues with Michelin guides outside of France and Europe in general, it is worthy to point out that Scandinavia has about two dozen Michelin starred restaurants, in a region which - face it, is not known for what one would normally perceive as high quality of produce and ingredients found in the far right scale of gastronomy. Nonetheless, abundance of good seafood, organic vegetables and a wide variety of game meats, one might be in for a surprise.
Rene Redzepi, the chef at Noma worked for a while at both El Bulli, as well as French Laundry and spent most of his cooking career at Kong Hans Haelder - an institution in Danish cuisine. His (and Noma's) philosophy is that the restaurant "...rendition of Nordic gourmet cuisine with an innovative gastronomic take on traditional cooking methods, fine Nordic produce and the legacy of our shared food heritage."
The restaurant's website also notes:
"noma is not about olive oil, foie gras, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives. On the contrary, we’ve been busy exploring the Nordic regions discovering outstanding foods and bringing them back to Denmark: Icelandic skyr curd, halibut, Greenland musk ox, berries and water."
This philosophy has somehow worked and pushed Noma to the top of the San Pellegrino Top 50 list, ahead of the eponymous El Bulli.. for the first time in as long as I can remember!
Situated in the heart of Copenhagen, the taxi dropped us off at the end of a nondescript warehouse at the edge of the Copenhagen harbour...
Kevin opted for the 12-course set menu with a 7-course wine pairing while Leeann took the 7-course set menu..
The stream of amuse bouches began with a dish called "moss and cep".. a cruncy snack which set the tone for what was to follow:
Amuse bouche of sea buckthorn leather with pickled hip roses: Sea buckthorn, while the name suggests otherwise is a plant found mostly in Asian highlands or in Europe, and in this case, it was made into a Japanese-esque side - not our favourite..
Amuse of cookies with lardo and currant: Yes, you read that right! Lardo, also known as cured pork fat served within a cookie tin with just 2 cookies... A play on gluttony??
One of our favourite amuses: Fried fresh organic leek with a touch of garlic. Extremely fresh and sweet, the idea is to eat just the roots of it...
Amuse of rye bread, chicken skin, lovage (a parsley like plant), and smoked cheese.
Amuse of pickled and smoked quails egg. Beautifully smoked and then encased within the fake eggshell, this was a dish reminiscent of an Etxebarri dish that Kevin had..
Amuse of organic radish, turnip and carrot on a bed of soil and herbs. Not real soil of course! Radishes were the freshest we had eaten.
Amuse of toast, herbs, smoked cod roe and vinegar. This was like eating a club sandwich.. a bit strange and difficult to it all in your mouth with it crumbling apart..
A "Grilled Hazelnut Salad" was our first course of the night. The green paste is a rich vegetable puree with lightly grilled hazelnuts.. This was paired with a 2009 Remy Gresser Pinot Blanc from Andlau in Alsace.
Leeann's "Cucumber and dill"
Kevin's second course of "Dried Scallops and Grains" on a bed of watercress and squid ink. Drying the scallops gave it a kind of jerky texture which was balanced by the watercress and squid ink sauce.
Kevin's "Chestnut and löjrom", which is a Swedish caviar (bleak roe) sauteed with some thinly cut chestnuts with cress and bits of walnuts. This was served with a 2009 Pierre Frick Riesling from Pfaffenheim.
One of the highlights of the day: "Langoustine and sol". North Atlantic langoustines on the right, with dollops of oyster cream with parsley and seawater.. Complete flavours of the sea combined into this dish.. Served with a 2009 Laurent Barth Vieilles Vignes Riesling from Bennwhir.
The kitchen hard at work:
Leeann's potatoes with milk skin:
Another highlight of the day: "Oyster and Ocean": Norwegian oysters" cooked in its shell... they should've served more of this one!
Leeann was underwhelmed by these sauteed onions though:
"Cauliflower and pine".. an interesting way of cooking the cauliflower.. but not terribly exciting to be honest. Served with 2009 Roland Schmitt's Altenbourg de Bergbieten Pinot Gris
Celeriac and black truffle.. portion was too big for what it was. Served with a 2007 Josmeyer Pinot Auxerrois 'H' from Wintzenheim
Now this was a dish to come back for. "The Hen and the Egg".. Not completely sure why it is called that, but this is one of those "make your own" dishes. Presented with several local vegetables and a cube of garlic salted butter.
Then with some hay oil and a timer..
an egg is fried..
Other ingredients added in.. and you get a very simple, but stunningly scrumptious egg with veg and onion flakes.. So simple, but the flavours were all there! Served with a 2003 Henri Bonneau Chateauneuf-du-Pape from Vaucluse.
This was followed by Leeann's Beef Cheek and Cabbage Stems to give Leeann's 7 course meal a bit of protein which had been lacking up to this point...
Kevin's Wild Duck and Apple with malted and browned butter. Use of local ingredients from the region and cooked pretty well. Duck was perfectly pink in the middle.
"Pear Tree"..
A dessert of Jerusalem Artichokes and Marjoram with Apple and Malt as the base sauce. Served with a 2008 Dirler-Cade Cuvee Vieilles Vignes Pinot Blan from Bergholtz.
Leeann's Snowman with Elderflowers and Lingonberries.
A view from our seat towards the harbour.
After three hours at Noma and what seemed like 15-20 dishes each, we would have to say that our first thoughts after the meal were mixed. Leeann had asked for a number of substitutions away from game meat and it seemed like they just put together a bunch of vegetables and sauteed them as replacement dishes. Overall, there were definitely some hits and misses, perhaps a few more misses on this occasion. While the restaurant's philosophy of local ingredients and great cooking techniques can't be ignored, our thoughts are that too much emphasis is placed on the local vegetables and not enough protein was used in such a long and elaborate menu.With that said, the langoustine was great, the hen and the egg was superb and the oyster was stunning.. see the trend?
In addition to that, the wines were ok, not great. The emphasis on wines being biodynamic and from Alsace is good and all, but to charge over US$150 for 7 glasses of relatively cheap wine doesn't seem to do this justice. The Chateauneuf-du-Pape was a pleasant surprise, but the rest were... forgettable.
Was it worth it? Noma offers a different take on modern cuisine, and while it is a great restaurant to get new sensations and try out new flavours, the quality of the food and service was lower than what we would expect for a San Pellegrino #1 ranked restaurant. We both agreed that this was a place that you go to really sample different flavours... and we'd say that you should try to add a few other restaurants or sights to see on an itinerary to make it worthwhile going out to Denmark.
Kevin had the 12-course Noma Nasaaq menu for 1395DKK and a 7-wine pairing for 895DKK, Leeann had the 7-course set lunch menu for 1095DKK and. So lunch for 2 set us back a good US$700 including taxes.
www.noma.dk
Denmark: A|O|C
We were perhaps a bit ambitious to try out another restaurant on the same day, but with little time and restaurants closing up for the end of the year, we took the dive and ended up at A|O|C Aarø & Co, a 1-Michelin star restaurant in Copenhagen situated in an underground wine cellar.
Located in another nondescript location inside a shady looking entrance, we were taken down to a well lit basement with about 10 tables. The kitchen is helmed by Ronny Emborg, who trained and worked at El Bulli and Mugaritz amongst other restaurants and was awarded Chef of the Year in Denmark in 2007 with a menu not dissimilar to that of Noma, but being a bit more grounded.
The menus are offered in coloured envelopes and served as set menus. As we were jetlagged and still recovering from the massive lunch, Leeann opted for the 4-course dinner while Kevin took the 7-course:
Amuse bouche:
"Oyster water"
The restaurant was getting pretty empty with Christmas around the corner
I think this was burnt bread with smoked cheese.
Beetroot with razor clams. This was an interesting dish, although the beetroot slightly detracts from the sea flavours of the fresh razor clams... The sauce pairing was a nice blend of horseradish and dill though:
Venison carpaccio. Rich red in colour. It was almost like eating frozen slices of beef..
Duck breast with leeks:
Assortment of cheeses:
Icecream which looks like a rock:
Possibly the highlight of the meal was this blueberry ice shell with blueberries inside of it. Silky texture with a nice refreshing finishing touch to the meal.
We were dead tired by the end of it, with our heads sinking lower to the table with every minute, so copious notes were not taken unfortunately. Although with that said, the meal had much better variation than Noma (or perhaps it was just the shortness of the meal) but food wise, Noma still carries the edge.
Dinner for 2 put us back approximately US$250 with a glass of wine.
www.aaro-co.dk
