NOTE: New owner. Kim Møller-Kjær has moved to Villa Vest now!
On Friday 9 November Restaurant Glashuset hosted a night of Creative Cooking by three young and talented cooks: Allan Poulsen from Ruth’s hotel at Skagen, Martin Vesterdorf, who has served his apprenticeship at Miro in Århus and Michael ‘Miv’ Pedersen from Restaurant Glashuset. Kim Møller-Kjær had invited me to this event, and it’s my first free dinner, ever. I’m stating this as a disclaimer.
The evening’s concept was based on three different products as the leading roles for the starters and the main courses. The three cooks had drawn between them and composed variant starters, main courses and desserts. The dessert had one common theme of Autumn raspberries and sea buckthorn. The wines to accompany the food were all set by Flemming Holm from Propperiet.
Getting to Lønstrup, which is a 4-5 hours drive from Copenhagen, was quite dramatic, and I was close to not making it. The first storm of the autumn had hit Denmark and due to an incident, a tilted truck, at the 1.6 km long Great Belt Bridge, I was held back for 2 hours. It was a very windy day.
Anyway, after seven hours on the road, one hour and five minutes late, I rushed inside the door to the restaurant and after saying hello to the staff a glass of lovely white Burgundy and the first starter were place in front of me. The sweet guys had slowed down the first two courses, so by the second we had already catched up and not missed anything either. Thank you guys for that!
When going to Restaurant Glashuset for the third time this year I wasn’t sure whether to write one more post about this place. I wasn’t sure that I could add anything new to what I’d already written. But by the first dish and glass of wine I realised that this was not the usual high standards of Glashuset. This was an even higher level.
2004 Olivier Leflaive, En Remilly, Saint-Aubin 1er Cru, Burgundy
Langoustines, caviare, Jerusalem artichokes, rye bread and cracklings
The langoustines were delicate and tasty with a slight rawness to it and very elegantly matched with the not particularly salty caviare and the sweetness of the Jerusalem artichokes and the spiced, fat and salty cracklings. I would have liked the rye bread crisps to have been more crispy, a pity because they were so pretty with the light and dark colours of the grains and the kernels.
The Saint-Aubin was great pleasure, a fruity and clear taste balanced with dryness, and the caviare brought a freshness to the wine that had a nose full of crispy Chardonnay and mineral touches. It had though what I have found a few times with the 2004 white Burgundies a bit of a sour finish. I was interested in knowing whether air could take of some the acidity away, so at the end of the dinner I got a taster again and realized it was still as sour after about four hours but had indeed got more oiliness and full flavour.
Scallop with pumpkin juice
Lemon Sole with pumpkin in different textures
2005 Rene Meyer, Croix du Pfoeller, Katxenthal, Alsace
I love scallops and this was, if any, the loveliest one cooked to perfection, still raw on the inside and crusty on the outside and had a great fresh and nutty taste.
The link between the accompanying scallop and the lemon sole was the pumpkin. I must say that I didn’t really get why they were matched, but I liked it. The sole could have been a little more moist but was still delicious and wrapped in a very thin bread paste, which added a bit of sweetness matching the sweetness of the pumpkin. The pumpkin was good and the spices of star aniseed gave an interesting touch to it. I didn’t fancy the two pumpkin cubes so much as they were too raw to my taste.
The Rene Meyer Riesling was very nice with a sweet-ish taste that went very well with the perfumed food. A bit more character and fullness with the finish would have suited this wine.
Foie gras terrine with quince, pain d’epice, water cress and blackberries
2004 Pio Cesare, Barbera d’Alba, Piemonte
2006 Donnafugata, Ben Rye, Passito di Pantelleria, Sicily
The foie gras terrine was my favourite of the starters. I think. The taste of liver was so delicate and finely balanced with some sweetness to it. The orange M in the middle bridged all the ingredients and gave sour and thereby character to the dish. Very very good, also despite the fact that I did discover a little thin pellicle from the liver when I cut the terrine at a point.
With the dish a foie gras cappuccino also joined in, and it really resembled milked coffee with the beige colour and the light white foam on the top. The smell was clear as well as the taste, a 100% foie gras but good and not too full to become fussy.
The sommelier told us that they were in doubt about what type of wine to accompany, because in their opinion both dry fruity red wine and a dessert wine would go well with the duck liver terrine, and so we got both.
I really liked the Barbera d’Alba. It was a beautiful wine, full of fruit and personality and perfectly carried by a fine tannin in the after-taste. But tasting it with the foie gras its flavours vanished by the dominant and characteristic offal taste. I preferred the Passito because the intensely sweet fruit added a new impression to the dish, which I highly appreciated about it.
Pejhedeskov pheasant with parsley, parsley root, garlic and thyme
2005 Domaine Joblot, Clos de La Servoisine, Givry 1er Cru, Burgundy
This dish was my favourite of the entire evening, totally surprising, and I felt like caught with my pants down of pure marvel. The high quality of the pheasant cooked slowly at 50 degrees temperature, moist and tender and with a good bite too, the yielding texture of it combined with the green parsley, the thyme, the beautiful crudité of parsley root slices, the whole of it was absolutely divine. The thyme’s perfume spread wonderfully when the delicate juice was sloped into the plate. This picture above was taken before that happened. The white mash was a very tasty parsley root pure, and the three fried balls had a variant filling that smelted in my mouth. This was a perfectly united course and I was moved.
Burgundy wine again, what had I done to be this lucky? Perhaps, you have noticed that I have a soft spot for the wines from this French region. Its elegance and the complexity, the sophistication about them is what I love. The Givry was lovely too with fruit and a fresh dryness sticking to my lips and tongue. Somehow, though, it appeared unsettled and slightly disturbed the feeling of the taste was like if it had undergone transportation or something shortly prior.
Pejhedeskov mallard, seleriac, Gymnopilus mushrooms, wood sorrel and ramson onion
2000 Domaine du Grand Tinel, Alexis Establet Charteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone
The mallard had a wonderful game taste and was indeed more full flavoured than duck is normally. The celery root pure with the topping and the mushrooms were delectable too and a good match with the tender meat.
I haven’t drunk that many Chateauneuf wines, so I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but this 18 months oaked liquid was nice. It had a thick ruby red colour with an orange edge for perfect drinking now. A fantastic nose of slightly sweet fruit, moist earth and pepper. A warm feeling spread in my mouth and released the flavours of full but restrained Grenache fruit bridled by fine tannins providing the wine with a light elegance and a lovely dry and long finish.
Deer from Lilleheden with chanterelles, walnuts, cranberries
2005 Massena Vineyards, The Moonlight Run Barossa Valley
The deer was another superb course of intense and very complex deer meat. The chantarelles and walnuts seemed like the perfect marriage, and all of this tastiness was spiced up with the sourish cranberries. Very good.
This moonlight run from Australia was really nice and very fruity and I liked it. But I don’t remember so much else about it. After spending 7 hours in the car with no food and just a little bit of water – couldn’t let myself stop and risk to loose one more minute now that I was already late for all the very good food waiting for me – there was a a big empty hole in my tummy when I finally arrived, and so tasting 6 different wines, the alcohol had really started to take affect. My notes are describing, well this is interpreted into full sentences, the wine as delicious, balanced and very voluptuous but without the charm and elegance I find in some French wines.
The three desserts arrived almost simultaneously and were each inspirations composed by Autumn raspberries from Gammel Rubjerg Skole and sea buckthorn from the back garden of the old local school. The Quinta Santa Eufêmia Old Reserve White Port, Douro accompanied all three desserts.
The first one beautifully presented fresh raspberries and raspberries ice-cream, and it went very well with the caramelised violets and sea buckthorn, which are the small orange balls on the plate. Sea buckthorn is extremely bitter, so the three ambitious cooks really had challenged themselves and the evening’s sommelier.
The white port Flemming had come up with was a marvellous choice, as it was able to battle the bitterness of these small fruits and possessed a fine sweetness too that balanced the flavour of the port as well as the whole concept of the wine together with the thee variant desserts. This amazed me.
I hardly remember this little serving but my notes help me recollect that there was a delightful and perfect vanilla cream at the bottom of the plate with a raspberry jelly covering it as well as a very good raspberry sorbet. The sea buckthorn was only slightly presented in this picture as an orange and bitter but tasty sauce. I’ve totally forgotten what the roll was, sorry.
The last dessert was the sweetest highlight. The bitterness of the buckthorn was like wrapped in the sweetly tasting and indeed fat and thick taste of the dark and white chocolate shield. It appeared to me as a very bright invention, and I was surprised once again. The orange sea buckthorn sorbet on the edge of the plate added sour and balanced the dish, whereas the delicate mint leaves made my pleasure even greater. I sighed, and wanted more although I was really quite full at that point. Another seducing dish – I admit that.
Now, what made this evening a greater experience than the previous dinners I have been blessed with at Restaurant Glashuset? Well, first of all the products and the wine were more luxurious and sophisticated than what the usual menu is like. Second the craftsmanship, which appeared more sharp and clever than ever before. Overall I found it very ambitious and successful. I cannot deny, either, that the fact of having known Kim for so long also had an impact. I was so excited about taking part, but at the same time I felt relaxed and as if I was visiting a friend. I love that feeling, makes me feel special and who doesn’t adore that? Having said that, Restaurant Glashuset is not the only place that has this affect on me. But it’s surely one of the parameters that makes any place worth going back to, and that’s admirable.
Thank you guys for this great experience, especially to you Kim!
Thank you both so much for your support and your very sweet words. I very much appreciate this. 😀
Actually, there is an airport quite near this place, about 35 minutes by car or taxi. Latest news is that they are thinking about renting out a couple of rooms at the top floor of the villa.
Laurent, noma is noma – I have not yet found anything that really compares with these guys. 😉
Terrific !! is their an airport in the surroundings :o))) ??
Lovely pictures, most of the dishes are looking like Noma dishes, and if the tastes were so good as Noma, then i totally understand you enjoyed this dinner :o)
Cheers
Laurent
One of your best posts to date Trine … and there’s been plenty to choose from! 🙂
An excellent and nuanced palate, stunning photography and a fluency with words that completely recreates this fantastic experience for me as a reader. Thank you for sharing ..
and now will you permit me ask an impertinent question? Have you ever considered doing this as a job?!