Thursday, January 23, 2014

fixer upper.

Normally I would blog about my trip to Denmark(went with my mum) but really in terms of sightseeing we didn't really do that much. And also my hands were too cold to want to take any photos. We did go and see The Little Mermaid statue(because Hans Christian Anderson was from Copenhagen) which is quite some way out of town and not quite worth the effort since you can't get close to it because it's out in the water. Also went to see Tivoli gardens which is one of the oldest amusement parks around. It was really nice and pretty but it is still an amusement park where the main attraction are the rides and we all know I am no a fan of roller coasters and such so it was just a nice stroll round. We did do a day trip out to Elsinore Castle because the lit student in me insisted on it. For those who don't know, that's Hamlet's castle. Hamlet may be most famous from Shakespeare's play but he is based on a real individual and walking round the castle had me imagining all the scenes playing out.

That takes care of the sights. The difference with this trip and all my other Euro trips is the food. Got to eat in some really good places this time round because I wasn't on a student budget. Mainly I got to experience my first ever Michelin starred restaurant, in fact it was just awarded it's second star just before we ate there.

Geranium
Per Henrik Lings Alle 4
Kobenhavn, Denmark

It's actually located in an office building which is right next to a football pitch which is slightly strange. The chef Rasmus Kofoed has won bronze, silver and gold medals at the Bocuse d'Or which is considered one of the important culinary competitions.

On to the menu!
Branches of sea salted cheese.
The black stuff on it was ash from some vegetable.


Carrot and sea buckthorn.
It was like a candied carrot shell. 

Jerusalem artichoke and walnut.

Wild pea sprouts and gooseberries.
This was really nice and fresh. 

Dried flowers and dried apple.
By far the strangest thing I ate that day. Honestly it felt like I was eating potpourri. 

Cep soup and pickled egg yolk.
A nice shot of mushroom-y soup.

Jellied ham and tomato water.
Quite nice and light but full of ham flavour at the same time.

Razor clams.
Really liked this as the 'shell' was wafer like. 


Mackerel in burned juniper, frozen horseradish and pickled cucumber.
Sashimi Danish style. 


Bread with emmer and spelt.
Sourdough bread is my fav so having these fresh out of the oven bite sized ones were really good.

Onions, chamomile and melted hay cheese.

Salted beef, milky cheese and juice from fermented carrots.
Enjoyed the salted beef but the milky cheese and fermented carrots not so much.

Charred potatoes, smoked lard and unripe berries.
My favourite of the meal because how can potatoes cooked in pork lard be anything but delicious. 
Also despite it looking burnt on the outside, the insides were nice and fluffy.

Tea from vegetables, beech leaves and pine.
Had this while getting to go inside the kitchen and watch the chefs at work. 
Well mainly just the plating side of the kitchen but you could see just how much time and effort were being put in to plating each dish so delicately. 


Flora danica rhubarb and crystallised thyme.

Green egg.
Only the eggs were edible and were actually made out of chocolate.

No photos of the accompanying juices but the ones we had were

Algae, cucumber and apple.
Bio plum.
Elderberries.
Blackcurrent.
Rhubarb and roses.

Overall you could see a lot of thought and effort had been put into the preparation of each dish and although I felt like I was eating a garden at some points it quite an experience. I can see why they were awarded two Michelin stars. I think there was also only like 10 tables in the whole restaurant so the tables were quite spread out which I liked because some times restaurants tables can be too close to each other that you can just hear everyone's conversation. But due to that fact and also the fact that there is almost no turnover as the tasting menu takes 2-3 hours, I can see why it costs more. But worth every penny I think.

So for my first Michelin star experience I'd say it has set the bar high.

1 notes dropped:

Amanda said...

definitely looked like a cool experience! Not traveling on a student's budget definitely has perks :)