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cool copenhagen, hot restaurants
Published in the April-June 2011 issue.
Denmark’s largest city is fast becoming Europe’s capital of cool, with inventive restaurants and a preternaturally sharp eye for design. SM King eats her way around Copenhagen, sampling everything from fusion sandwiches to cheese made just metres from her table.
Usually, the sight of a cockroach rattling across a restaurant ends in an argument or a free meal. In, Copenhagen, the creatures are part of the décor. Insects, weeds and other wild plants weave along the wallpaper of Mielcke & Hurtigkarl, an airy dining room opened, unsurprisingly, in collaboration with artists. Sound effects of thunder, rain and more bugs complete the au naturel experience.
Set on the grounds of the Royal Danish Garden Society, the eatery is part Lewis Carroll, part entomologist, and totally whimsical. And it’s among a breed of hip new eateries casting the Danish capital in the global dining spotlight.
I’ve always felt Denmark was magical, somehow: the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and home to the second-oldest amusement park in the world, how could it not be enchanting? The rise of “new” Nordic cuisine certainly reads like a fairytale.
In 2010, the acclaimed S.Pellegrino World’s Top Fifty Restaurants list gave its top gong to a Copenhagen eatery. Noma was barely three years old when it garnered its first Michelin star. Now open six years, the restaurant – helmed by Danish wunderkind René Redzepi – has pipped Spanish Restaurant elBulli from S.Pellegrino’s coveted number-one position and, in so doing, has become one of the most difficult restaurants in the world at which to get a table.
Some 100,000 people attempted to make a booking here after S.Pellegrino announced its 2010 honours list; Noma has only 40 seats and one sitting per service. But getting a table is not impossible. With a bit of planning and a little luck, I managed to snare a seat at the dining room on everyone’s lips.
Housed in an 18th-century warehouse, the restaurant’s understated interior offers little to distract you from Redzepi’s food – Danish playfulness is reserved entirely for the dishes that come from the kitchen. While Noma doesn’t shy away from the techniques of molecular gastronomy that underpinned elBulli’s rise to fame, it does embrace elements of control, stripping back dishes to their fundamental elements and using simple, fresh ingredients.
Redzepi is a master “forager” – his meals at Noma utilise weeds, flowers and other produce sourced locally. My tartare uses beef from a nearby farm and is peppered with juniper, tarragon and wood sorrel, a clover-like herb that reminds me of childhood days spent playing in the park. It tastes very similar to the sour grass my sister and I would pluck from the railway tracks and chew on as we made our way home from school. Why didn’t we think of using it to decorate our family meals?
The rest of Redzepi’s dishes are equally surprising – at once foreign, yet strangely familiar. Before Noma, I’d never eaten pine-tree shoots. They taste every bit as fresh and clean as you would expect. A little pile of purple powder turns out to be dried seaweed, which I sprinkle over langoustine from the Faroe Islands. Served on a smooth river rock – the most interesting “plate” I’ve encountered – the dish has me dreaming of lazy days at the beach. Redzepi’s carrots are even more arresting, presented in a terracotta pot replete with edible soil and herbs. Warm bread is served wrapped in felt parcels; another dish comes on a slab of marble.
With only 12 tables, the restaurant offers diners an extremely intimate experience. Various members of the kitchen staff, including Redzepi, deliver dishes to my table and take the time to explain everything that they put in front of me. It’s impossible to not feel a deep connection to the food.
Set beside the Tivoli Gardens, established in 1843 and still operating carousels and rollercoasters today, the Nimb building offers a completely different taste of Copenhagen. The über-cool complex includes a brasserie, a boutique hotel and chef Thomas Herman’s eponymous restaurant.
Originally known as the Bazaar, Nimb is a dazzling example of the 19th-century Orientalism of the Tivoli Gardens. Part Taj Mahal and part Arabian Nights, with a touch of Chinoiserie and a big colonial wallop, Nimb’s quirky décor is outshone only by the stellar offerings plated up by the Herman kitchen.
Blessed with an on-site dairy, Løgismose, which churns out blissful butter and cheeses, the restaurant doesn’t just favour local ingredients: it eschews anything not found in the immediate vicinity. Welcome to the world of zero food miles.
Back at ground level, Nimb Restaurant in the Tivoli Gardens is regarded by many as the birthplace of the open-faced sandwich, smørrebrød. This classic rye-bread stack features a countless variety of toppings – herring a classic – and can be sampled at dozens of cafés and taverns across the city. At The Royal Café, just off pedestrian strip Strøget, the smørrebrød has undergone the sort of fairytale transformation in which Copenhagen specialises.
Lunch at The Royal is a cavalcade of small dishes that eccentric proprietor Rud Christiansen has dubbed “smushi” – what you get when smørrebrød and sushi meet. From a roster of more than 200 combinations, nine or so smushi platters are prepared daily. Try the mini-burger with chutney and radish balanced on a round of beetroot and toast.
The design at The Royal Café is as riotous, improbable and overstuffed as Christiansen’s creations. I pause in devouring a miniature plaice fillet with a fennel rémoulade, dill and paprika to admire a colossal painting of King Frederick V of Denmark that dominates one wall. There’s wallpaper on the ceiling, and the walls themselves are a very specific shade of “English tea-house pink.”
It seems thrown together in the shabby chic way that actually requires meticulous consideration. It isn’t easy getting the perfect mix of kitsch and cool, but Christiansen manages it, and has dubbed his style “Baroque and roll.” No detail has been overlooked: Christiansen knows the exact plantation that produces all his teas, has his own double-roasted coffee blend, and knows the precise height of the custom-made Arne Jacobsen-inspired stools dotting the dining room.
“This floor was handmade in Sicily,” Christiansen tells me. “Those are porcelain tiles. It’s the most expensive floor in the world.” He pauses, and we both just stare at the ground for a moment. Clearly, he still marvels at his surrounds, and his passion is infectious. But The Royal is no flight of fancy. In fact, Christiansen tells me that the art of creating smushi is now taught at the Copenhagen Hotel and Restaurant School. Serious stuff indeed.
I decide to walk off my smushi with a stroll around Tivoli, admiring the game arcades and rickety rides. In many ways, Copenhagen’s dining scene can be likened to this place: it’s moving very fast, is exciting, and is an experience you won’t want to end. •
Photography by SM King and courtesy of respective restaurants.
TRAVEL FACTS
getting there
Finnair fly from Sydney to Copenhagen via Bangkok and Helsinki. 1300-798-188; finnair.com
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) offers daily flights from all Australian capital cities to Copenhagen via Bangkok. 1300-727-707; flysas.com
when to go
Anytime is a good time to eat in Denmark. New Nordic cuisine moves in intimate step with the seasons and the bright, clean flavours of spring are certain to arrest your palate every bit as much as the fortifying, preserved meals of winter. Get online regularly if you want to dine at the capital’s premier restaurant, Noma.
where to eat
• Noma: Strandgade 93, 1401; 45/3296-3297; noma.dk
• The Royal Café: Amagertorv 6, 1160; 45/3814-9527; theroyalcafe.dk
• Restaurant Herman: Nimb building, Bernstorffsgade 5; 45/8870-0020; tivoli.dk/nimb
• Mielcke & Hurtigkarl: Frederiksberg Runddel 1, Frederiksberg; 45/3834-8436; mielcke-hurtigkarl.dk
where to stay
The petite Nimb Hotel features just 13 suites decorated with vintage furnishings, complemented by birch furniture and futuristic knick-knacks. Bernstorffsgade 5, 1577; 45/8870-0000; nimb.dk
Comfortable, affordable and located in the heart of Copenhagen, The Grand occupies a handsome building dating back to 1890. Vesterbrogade 9, 1620; 45/3327-6900; grandhotelcopenhagen.com
further information
The Scandinavian Tourist Board can provide advice and information on visiting Denmark. visitscandinavia.com.au
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