Been on holiday with the family for the last week, and since I don't have a travel Joule setup like
@Todd Shewman does, I was forced to dine out once or twice during our journeys.
The first dinner on the trip was Dill in Reykavik. We'd taken the redeye over the pond (or halfway over anyway) arriving at 6:30 AM and spent a long day hiking and exploring, arriving in Reykavik just before our 8:00 reservation. It was a long day, and perhaps my thoughts on the meal suffered a bit because of it. On a whole, it was good, but I felt some of the dishes were not completely balanced, the pace created problems, with long waits 30 minutes+ between early courses and then rapid fire progression later on, as well as a missed course that was on the menu. Also, portion sizes tended to be off - usually larger than what I'd like in a tasting menu. I had a seat with a direct view of the chef plating all of the dishes which was nice. Highlights included the Tusk with Kale and Black Garlic, and the Young Cabbage with Butter Sauce, Breadcrumbs, and Dung Smoked Trout. The tusk verged on being too salty on it's own, but the with a slight bitterness in the kale was perfect. The cabbage was absolutely delicious - heated till it had just started to soften though still retained some crunch. The trout was used sparingly, but packed a wallop of flavor. Very nice.
While in Iceland, I also tried some Kæstur hákarl - not as bad as advertised, though not necessarily good either - the Brennivín chaser helped. Minke whale, on the other hand, - delicious. If you are there, I recommend stopping at Reykavik Roasters for coffee and Brauð & co right nearby for morning pastries. Take a cheese sandwich or three as fuel for the road while you explore the rest of the island. We also had a nice lunch and ice cream at Efstidalur, a small dairy farm east of Þingvellir. And, an obligatory nighttime stop at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur.
After Iceland, it was on to Copenhagen. It's been over 20 years since I was last there and at that time I subsisted primarily on hot dogs, mustard sandwiches and Tuborg. On this trip, I planned to eat a bit better.
First up, 108. They had just opened (officially anyway) a couple weeks prior to our visit. I think it was the 11th night of service, but they were already firing on all cylinders. I started with cured mackerel with last years gooseberries, kelp salt, and spruce oil. Excellent. The bright acidity of the preserved berries with the oily fish worked really well. It may have been topped by the next dish. Raw lamb over elderberry capers and what I think was young celery. So good. The lamb is free range from the Jutland plains where sea water regularly floods the area and the animals graze upon the salty sea plants. Next up was Pork Belly on a caramelized milk skin with wild greens. This was the one misfire of the night. While the milk skin and greens were delicious on their own, I felt the pork belly overpowered them and made the whole dish feel heavy. I decided to finish with the Courgette. Delicious charred squash in an aged cheese sauce with greens and edible flowers. Dessert was fresh blueberries with cornflowers and whipped cream flavored with seaweed and barley. Simple, but tasty.
The next night, well...
We kicked things off with a Rhubarb rose, followed by a smoked quail egg with a still liquid yolk, liquid black currant berry with nasturtium petals, and bread 'twig' with ant paste and nettle leaves. Then came Radish pie, brilliant with a horseradish jus in each of the radish whirls, but not the heat that you might expect from doubling down on radishes. After that, a simple plate of fresh mulberries, flown in that day from Bornholm island. Perfect and simple. Some sourdough bread and cultured butter. Milk curd with kelp in green strawberry juice. Subtle, but very clean flavors. Then Danish lobster, with onions and lavender. I think there was a hint of horseradish again with the onions, balancing the sweetness of the other components. Up next was a Pea Crisp. A salted plum crisp topped with fresh super sweet Danish peas. After that, it was pumpkin soup. Braised pumpkin flesh (or maybe butternut squash?), still firm, but yielding to a spoon, in a barley broth with beechnuts. And then, a previous visitor to our table came back. A feisty king crab that came by during the first snacks reappeared, this time steamed gently and covered with an indulgent yolk sauce. A plate of assorted foraged greens, each brushed with scallop paste and grilled. Then perfectly grilled Turbot, with raviolis of nasturtium leaves filled with the sweetest tiny shrimp you can imagine, ok, even sweeter than you can imagine with wilted greens in a mushroom stock that I later learned was seasoned with grasshopper garum. And on to dessert...a Sheep's Milk Panna Cotta with ant paste and wood sorrel broth. Grilled Rose Ice Cream Bar with an elderflower caramel core and a barley miso coating. Then a Chocolate coated Cep...the mushroom had been intensified and dried into an almost caramel like texture...and Edible Moss coated in chocolate...impossibly light and crispy, really wonderful textures. And the finale was a plate of fresh assorted berries accompanied by a bottle of Egg Liqueur.
That ended the meal, but not the evening. A few minutes later, a certain someone that might be familiar to folks here, stopped by the table. You might remember him for his unintelligible mumbling about Fried Cheesy Mite Sandwiches. The former Intern from Down Undah himself, Hugh Allen. Hugh led us on a tour through the kitchen, up to the research lab, crab and langoustine tanks, library, staff meal tables, the prep kitchen where interns pick through nasturtium leaves and other humble tasks required to elevate the dishes, the outside grills, into the miso room, the lactic acid fermentation hall, the sourdough chamber, the garum closet, and just about anywhere in the restaurant we were interested in seeing. It was amazing stuff, and I neglected to take any pictures along the way. Hugh works the outdoor grill station. There is no electricity, only fire. From small yakitori charcoal grills to a sweet wood fired oven. Orders are passed from the kitchen to the outside grill station via a series of morse code like taps on the window. Behind the grill station were the fermentation rooms. Each at a different temperature. They use almost no salt to finish dishes, relying on the various misos, garums, and other fermented products to season the preparations. Hugh shared that the grasshopper garum was used to season the mushroom stock with the turbot, a detail our server had left out of the description. Altogether we probably spent a good 45 minutes after the meal touring and asking questions. We even talked Joule and ChefSteps for a bit. Amazing hospitality from Hugh and the entire crew, and a fantastic finish to dinner.
Noma after service...I just like this pic. You can see the staff gathered in the kitchen downstairs and around the table upstairs in the research kitchen.
So, how do you follow that up? Well, you probably don't, but I headed to Relæ.
We started out with a pallette cleanser salad of crisp lettuce dressed with dill. That was followed by squash noodles in milk, with raw almonds and basil. This sounds simple, but it was really well balanced and just a freaking delicious dish. I sort of felt that way about most of the Relæ meal. Then cured trout with onion, gooseberries, and herbs, accompanied with a glass of tomato water seasoned with an oil infused with the onion tops. Next was a roasted eggplant covered in summer truffles. And then Carrots steamed gently en pappillote with butter and herbs. The carrots were served still in the paper bag, and accompanied with a plate of foamed Hollandaise topped with grated cured egg yolk for dipping. This sounds so simple, and yet it may have been the best thing I ate on the entire trip. It was just executed absolutely perfectly, with such flavor and texture. A really fantastic dish. Then lamb loin (from what sounded like the same free range salt water flood plain Jutland lamb source as 108) with charred kale and seaweeds that the lamb would have feasted on, accompanied with a side of lamb neck and shank confit with fava beans and black currant. And next a cheese tart with a toasted buckwheat crust topped with a creamy cheese mousse center, and impossibly light shaved cheese on top. It felt like it should be heavy but it was quite light. I don't know what kind of cheese this was, but reminded me of Tête de Moine. After that, a mozzarella whey ice cream with black currants and shaved brown cheese(?) on top. Finally, lemon curd topped with a ethereal yogurt sorbet and chervil.
I also got a tour of the kitchen at AOC, though didn't get to have a meal there. Everybody, from 108 to Noma to Relae told me I needed to go to AMASS, but couldn't make it happen this trip. A couple other notable Copenhagen stops...
Hija de Sanchez...tacos from a former Noma pastry chef.
Smorrebrod. I don't know where this was. We couldn't get in to Schønnemann's, but this worked. All fancy with that raw hamburger on a paper plate and egg yolk in a plastic cup. Good stuff.
And a final breakfast at Mirabelle before catching my flight home.
All in all, not a bad week's work (or vacation).
