Refreshing Ti Trin Ned

First time I heard about Ti Trin Ned (ten steps down) was when the Danish news paper Politiken printed a review years ago. I remember so well that I instantly thought that I would have to experience that place. I’m only sorry I didn’t make it happen any sooner. By chance, I finally got an opportunity to visit the restaurant on 9th of April, during the Easter holiday.

Ti Trin Ned is since 2001 run and owned by Mette Hvarre and Rainer Gassner. The restaurant is located in an old booze house where fermentation tanks took up the rooms more than 150 years ago. There are two big rooms with whitewashed walls and arched ceilings and soft lightning. The interior is beautiful and the atmosphere is warm.

There were four of us dining that evening and we were kindly seated at a big table at the end of the second dining room. We opted for the tasting menu and accompanying wines.

Snacks – nice and appetizing, some with refreshing herbs

Amuse of tomatos and basil

Whipped butter and fat with herbs

The food was clearly inspired by the new Nordic cuisine trends, light and refreshing. What I find characteristic about Ti Trin Ned is the pureness and the attention for the quality of the products forming very delicate dishes. The dishes were not particularly innovatinve but found in classic traditions with a freshness to it. If I were to compare it with something I think Herman and Søllerød Kro’s new style are similar to what Mette and Rainer strive for.

Shrimps and salad leaves and pomelo fruit

This was a nice interpretation of the Danish classic “Shrimp Cocktail” with a dressing egg yolk, tomato, herbs etc. The taste of these shrimps was intense and lovely and the pomelo added a fine touch and was not too overpowering with acidity.

Lump fish roes with crispy and soft textures

This dish was presented as homage to noma, and the look of it certainly reminded me of some of noma’s creations.  It’s my guess that it’s inspired by the “Chest nuts, walnuts, Löjrom, milk skin and cress” dish. I liked it but, personally, I found that it lacked sour and the macadamia nuts were a bit too dominating. The lump fish roes could easily have been more generously dosed.

Uhmm, Zind Humbrecht!

Poached zander, morels and stock

I really enjoyed this dish. The fish was fresh and juicy and decorated with pretty and tasty morels. The poached egg worked in this picture and I like its contribution although I’ve had too many egg yolk dishes lately and feel a bit fed up with it. The fact that the egg was poached gave more substance and carachter to the dish than just being a running yolk.

Fusion of pigeon and Asian influences

The accompaniment here almost overdosed the flavour of the pigeon. It was very tasty, though, and the accompaniment of mango, coconut, passion fruit suited each other. Most importantly, the wine for this dish a Gewürtztraminer was surprisingly marvellous with the ingredients as the aromatic flavours of the wine match the perfumes of the exotic products. I mean, pigeon and Gewürtztraminer, who would have thought of that marriage?

On a side note, Ti Trin Ned’s sommelier is really talented and had done a great job in matching wines with the food and making intriguing selections. He was also willing to play with us and served some of the wines blind which I found amusing, of course.

Veal and Waldorf salad

The meat was superbly cooked, you can easily see that above and it was very, very delicious and the garnish of apples and celeriac added sweetness and sour to it in a nice way. Unfortunately, the flavour of the  Waldorf salad too diminished.

European Cheeses

Originally I had passed the cheeses, but when I saw this offering I couldn’t say no to trying a few of them. I loved the Chambertin and the Roquefort.

A perfect cleanser full of acidity to freshn up. With the pipette  fill with vanilla essence I would dose the sweetnes myself.

The first rhubarbs served with butter ice-cream and wood sorrel

Desserts very executed on a very high level and were even better than few of the savoury courses. The first one was fantastic and consisted of very tasty rhubarbs in different textures, meringues, ice-cream and woodsorrl and it all formed a perfect balance of fruit, dairy and herbs. I really enjoyed this.

Blueberries in different textures with clotted cream and herbs

I love blueberries too and this serving was a very interesting combination with verbena herb, which is quite aromatic for a dessert. But it worked well and was an excellent way of ending a very delicious meal.

By the way, we stayed at the Kongebrogaarden hotel, which Mette had recommended. It’s about ten kilometers from Fredericia but worth the distance and the taxi trip. Especially because of the stunning the view to the water and to both the old and the new Little Belt bridges.

Oh, as to the name of the restaurant? The odd thing about it is that there are in fact twelve steps down from the street level to the restaurant but no one was able to explain the history of the name and the unlogicalness about it.

Ten or twelve steps, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that if you are in the neighbourhood of Fredericia, Ti Trin Ned definitely worth visiting!

Mette and Rainer, thank you for a delicious dinner and very nice experience! Hope to see you again!