NB! This restaurant is closed down and doesn’t exsist anymore.
Wow! What an evening! What absolutely surprising and fantastic food!
The restaurant with the peculiar name Tyvenkokkenhanskoneoghendeselsker (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover) has got a new owner: Kasper Rune Sørensen. Before Kommandanten had closed, Kasper commanded the kitchen flag ship at this former Michelin two stars restaurant. Only a few months ago Kasper took over the little cosy place in one of the oldest and most pretty streets of Copenhagen Magstræde, and is now in full control of the establishment.
I wasn’t aware of all this. I was going out with my wine lover friend and we had chosen the Independence Day for our little tasting event. The month of July actually excludes a lot of nice gourmet places which are all closed during this month. So tourists, if you come for excellent food experiences pick another month of the year. For a very long time I have wanted to try out ‘Tyven’, but somehow the choice had always been some place else.
What attracted me about this place was that it was small, sounded special, sounded unpretentious, and seemed to be a place run by dedicated people really passionate about food and doing it according to what they would appreciate most about eating out. Naughty in a way, but that’s probably just the name of it.
We could choose from the a la carte menu or we could have the set menu comprising 6 courses. It was a hard choice because everything sounded tempting. And so did the short but interesting wine list.
While discussing all of the possibilities, we enjoyed a nice glass of Deutz rosé champagne with a great snack of puff paste sticks with dip.
The set menu this evening offered the following:
Salted langoustines served with mayo, cabbage, dill and apple
Fried Gurnard with green asparagus, mussels and savory
Confit of roe deer with pea purèe and rhubarbs
Saddle of roe deer with shiitake and peas, dried blueberries and lardo
Selection of cow milk cheeses, peach-onion chutney and manitoba bread
Mascarpone cream with strawberries sorbet, nougatine and pepper
One of the attractive main courses was the turbot served with bay shrimps, asparagus and elderflower, but we didn’t really want to miss any of the set menu dishes either. We were also looking for a nice bottle of wine which would suit the main course well. I wasn’t sure how this could come out. But Kasper knew. He kindly offered that we could get both the roe deer as well as the turbot in two small main course servings. What a most thoughtful and perfect gesture. (And then there I was again with my exaggeration. Will I ever learn?). Anyway, my friend and I both love fish and we preferred to match the numerous fish dishes with white wine and then to have a glass of red wine to accompany the deer.
It’s a bit embarrassing but I don’t remember exactly the reason for our selection of the wine but it went something like this. It had to be Burgundy and preferably (to me) not a Chablis. The choice was 2004 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clavoillon.
When we had finally ordered the wine, the amuse arrived. This appetizer was too delightful not to mention and it comprised a piece of scallop and some smoked eel rillettes. Very tasty and the eel wasn’t too intense for the shellfish. I found it appealing that the greeting from the kitchen contained delectable and rich fish and wasn’t just some empty filling you get sometimes. This amuse really titillated my senses. Wow, I thought. What can possibly follow now?
A wonderful wine this Clavoillon. Really. It was striking the smoke in the nose and the characteristic mineral scent. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me and remembering the flavour of the smoked eel from the appetizer, but it wasn’t. It was the wine itself. A bit closed at start and not much fruit scent or taste but after a while in the glass it evolved much fruit and tannin too. A well-balance wine. Domaine Leflaive didn’t fail although 2004 can be rather acidic – according to Decanter.
I’ve never had salted langoustines before and this was a brilliant dish, probably one of the best starters I’ve had lately. The shellfish was sweet and the texture raw. I’m unable to say why but the slender mayo on top with the apple dashed over it made the fish even nicer, as adding perspective to the simple and fresh flavour of the langoustine. The green dill and the white brittle cabbage also matched it well.
Fried gurnard with crispy skin, asparagus and common mussel with touches of lemon and savory herb butter. The fish was moist and as fresh as if it had been caught the minute before serving it. A very elegant dish.
I love turbot and this was a heavenly dish. The fish flavour was so strong and intense like almost no other type of fish can be. The bitterness of the white wild asparagus and the sweetness of the scrimps and the elderflower (foam) gave balance and perfection to it.
This looks like a classical Danish dish called ‘hakkebøf’ so the image doesn’t give full credit to this most tender rillettes of roe deer, which had been cooked for seven and a half hour! A very rich dish, very delectable and the tiny rhubarb squares as well as the red onion rings putting a damper on the rich meat and sweet flavoured peas. I have to mention also that the potatoes were perfectly crispy but a waste in this picture. I don’t like mixing honest wholesome food with snacks.
This is the buck main course. I wonder how big the portion would have been if we hadn’t got also the turbot. Again a nice dish, saddle of buck with full tasted shiitake mushrooms and a good sauce.
With the two courses above we had a glass of red Pinot Noir 2004 Coteaux Champenios, which was a disappointment. The bouquet and taste was nice but thin and with very short finish. The Clavoillon overdosed it completely.
The sweet final of the fat Italian cream cheese, white chocolate and strawberries. Just right. Before this dessert painted with the colours of the national Danish flag, we had some lovely cow milk cheese that were served at the perfect temperature and a nice strawberry pre-dessert.
The service all evening was excellent an very personal as Kasper was the only waiter. The two of us were the only guests almost all evening and that was fantastic. Sometimes the food was brought to our table and explained by one of the cooks who seemed very competent (and cute, sorry). But we waited a bit too long before we got the coffee which we were pining for and which wasn’t strong enough to my taste (no espresso).
To summarise, if you are looking for food of the highest quality, but enjoyed in relaxed surroundings with an easy-going atmosphere then this is the right place. I have never tried private dining but this felt what I would imagine that would be like. All the courses were perfect and it was gorgeous to feast on a rudely large number of gourmet dishes and an even more impudent wine. A spoil in away, but a spectacular and memorable one. Feeling like this, the foodie in me got exactly what she came for and certainly hope to come back for more.
Now that was the end of Tyvenkokkenhanskoneoghendeselsker. But tell me please, why that name anyway?
Good luck with Nouveau!
Pleased to hear you’ve succeed, Laurent! Wooow, can’t wait to hear your verdict! 🙂 Hope you’ll find it enjoyable.
Best
Trine
Yep, difference between 1 and 2 is sometimes unexplicable… it’s the same everywhere, here too in France. I’ll be able to have my own opinion soon :o)
Btw, i’ve booked my table at Paustian for the saturday… raising star 2007 looks promising in this type of gastronomy. Look forward to bring you some fresh pictures.
Cheers
Laurent
I was at The Paul in February I believe. Don’t remember, but I wrote a brief note about it on my blog: http://allancantona.blogspot.com/2007/01/restaurant-paustian.html
Noma’s great, but I find it hard to see why they get 2 stars when other CPH restaurants “only” have 1. I don’t find them better than some of those I’ve been to.
Thanks for the tip friends !
I’ll check their website and make a final decision tomorrow. Probably for Paustian as i can”t miss a restaurant doing molecular gastronomy (Trine : can’t stay longer but will probably be back soon… shhht).
Allan, great review on your blog on Noma, i’m pleased to see there is an unanimous opinion on the food quality !
greetings
Laurent
Thanks, You’re a genius, Allan! The telephone number is the same as of Tyven, so it must be the same place. Cool!
I know what you mean (if you ask me). When did you visit Bo Bech’s place?
So, Laurent, need to stay one more day in CPH? 😉
Isn’t it this one: http://restaurantnouveau.dk/?
Paustian’s a good choice, but in my humble opinion it’s more of an experience than great food. Of course it’s good food, and other restaurants are an experience as well, but I hope you get what I mean …
Hi Laurent
Now, you’re flattering me! (o:
Have been thinking about you and wondering whether you succeed in booking a table at Tyven. I actually took a detour cycling to work this morning to check out the front of the restaurant, assuming they would have painted the house if the new setting and name would be ready. But no. And the website was up this morning but later today and now it’s clearly not working properly. Hmm.
Are you in the business of private detectives? I think you must be!
Yes, I have been too Paustian a few years ago shortly after Bo Bech opened his restaurant in the
Nordhavn part of CPH. It was my virginal molecular dinner and I felt a bit like the very first time I ate sushi. I needed to get use to it. Now I love it – both the sushi and the molecular gastronomy. 😉
Why didn’t I think of recommending you Paustian myself? Let me guess, fifthteen September?
Hi Trine,
I’m a little bit struggling with this booking to Tyven (website is now down since today…).
But good news, while trying to find anoother way to reach them through the web, i’ve found one of your post on belmaati (http://www.belmaati.com/about86354.html)… and i see you are recommanding Paustian.. offering molecular gastronomy ! Something i’m really addict to ! Have you been there ? really molecular gastronomy ? I need some help here from the most epicurian danish woman i know… :o) I think i’ll book a table there for the saturday night (if it’s not too late .. :o(
Cheers
Laurent
Thank you so much for your kindest long comment, Zarah, and for revealing this name mystery of Tyvenkokkenhanskoneoghendeselsker. First hand evidance! 🙂 I love that!
Wow, it must have been great fun working there, and I envy you for all the fantastic food I imagine the guys have been conjuring for you.
I stopped by the restaurant today to find out what’s happening with the name change and the new website. Kasper wasn’t there, and I sort of interrupted the staff having their dinner. Anyway, 3 September is the date when Tyven will become Nouveau! As far as they told me, the website url will be restaurantnouveau.dk. I’ll be watching out for it!
I will certainly look for epicures recipes, images, and memorable thoughts on your site.
Thanks!
Hi Trine!
Thanks for stopping by my blog, I think I actually noticed yours a while back, arriving here from MitKbh.
I just had to comment on this one, I used to work at Tyven, before Kasper took over. And the name? At the time they started it up, all the restaurants had really short names, so they kind of wanted to go in a complete different direction and chose the longest name they could think of. Some of them being movie geeks, I guessed it all seemed natural (there’s a movie by Peter Greenaway that’s called The Chef, The Thief, his Wife and her Lover – a morbid affair, but food-related) So there you go, the name! 🙂
Happy to hear Kasper is doing well – I always loved that old house, so it’s good to know they still serve awesome food…
(and sorry for being a blabber-mouth and know-it-all – in reality, I’m so far from it, so when there’s finally something you know, I guess it just spills over!!:))
Will definitely keep up with your posts here – I haven’t got the guts (or the wallet!) to do reviews, I’m afraid, so I’ll live vicariously through you! Thank you for doing this!
I love the name:) I would go there just for the name! But, of course, the food looks delicious also.
I agree with you, the saddle really looks weird in this picture and certainly less like minced beef in reality. 🙂
I believe that this place have had a number of different chefs over the years. Rasmus Oubæk and Singh Gill amongst others.
But all that matters is that it’s still worth to pay a visit at the Magstræde 16, and that’s good to know! Also. I’d like to stress that Kasper’s wines are reasonably priced, compared with what you pay in other restaurants.
A shame I never went to Tyven, but I’m looking very much forward to Nouveau. So Kasper is already there now? I thought he might have to close down the restaurant for about a month before opening up Nouveau, did he mention anything like that?
A great gesture of them to go around the a la carte/set dishes and serve what the customer would love to have. That’s a minor thing but to the customer it means the world.
The dishes look good, apart from the saddle I must say. I think it looks like a mess, sorry 🙂