Monthly Archive for March, 2010

AOC – Makes Me Happy

Trine / Published on March 22, 2010 in Denmark and Restaurant. 21 Comments Tags: .

I must tell you about my AOC visit. Last week a friend of mine and I were talking about AOC and the fact that none of us had visited the restaurant since it opened September last year. AOC is housed in the Moltkes Palæ which until September 2009 hosted restaurant Premisse owned by Christian Aarø and Rasmus Grønbech, and since 2008 owned solely by Christian. In September 2009 they split up. Rasmus left, Christian stayed and Ronny Emborg followed as the new head chef with Michael Munck as his associate head chef. The gossip and prospects of the possible Michelin star on Tuesday 16 March, made my friend and me quickly decide on booking a table for Wednesday evening, the day after the Michelin announcement.

On 16th of March 9:10 am: Politiken announced that AOC got the first Michelin star.

We arrived a little earlier than my friend, and it allowed me to calm down for a while and take in the setting and the atmosphere in the 17th century vaulted cellar.

It was a joy to watch the staff do their work with the view to the open kitchen in the back. The sommelier uncorked the wine with firm hands, and carefully but with a pace put the corkscrew back on the shelf. Servers carried salvers with plates and patiently waited while Christian placed the food in front of the guests. The efficiency, the precision, the dedication – it was like a beautiful ballet of gastronomy.

Unripe peaches

I sipped my glass of Larmandier-Bernier 04 champagne and guzzled the unripe peaches. They had a great, bitter taste and a lot of sourness to it. A bit like olives, but richer and firmer. My friend arrived and announced he had brought a bottle of wine for a blind tasting. I love blind tastings. Great.

More innovative and very tasty nibbles were sent to us:

Smoked bacon

Mojito

At our table the first thing to arrive was a cleanser of a highly acidic and refreshing Mojito. It popped and sparkled fireworkedly in my mouth – it sharpened my palate.

Very good bread in not too big pieces

I like to have my own butter

Christian has won several championships for sommelier so we felt safe to put the wine selection into his hands and asked him to find us a bottle of red and a bottle of white that would appropriately fit our dinner. Firstly however, he poured a glass of fine sherry wine to match the raw shrimp.

Lustau, Solera reserva

Raw shrimp, a mayonnaise-ish cream of some kind & potato crumble

The sherry was spot on for this first dish of raw shrimp that we nipped with a pair of pincers and dipped in the cream and the potato crumble. The shrimp were very good with a fine and not too soft texture.

2007 Moric St. Georgener, Burgenland, Austria

Christian had chosen a Grüner Veltliner for our light courses and it was a great wine which I really enjoyed. Rather mineral, nutty, lively and complex. The oak was subtle, and there was a delicious creaminess to the after-taste, which reminded me of a great Chablis.

Limfjord’s oyster, parsley, cucumber & horseradish

Then followed a very sharp and distinct dish,where the cucumber was delicious and with the lovely oyster formed an excellent marriage.

Frozen veal, horseradish, tarragon

The bite was first cool with a softness and tenderness to it. As I chewed the meat it melted in my mouth and flavour of veal and tarragon evolved. The taste actually reminded me of noma’s ox tartar. I hate to compare two dishes, but I appreciated this as much as the tartar.

Scallop, Jerusalem artichoke, almonds & brown butter

Then followed scallop, a good and nutty one. This dish was a bit more laid back and more about enjoyment rather than surprise. It bridged perfectly to the following course.

Foie gras, apples & whipped cream (pic taken before the whipped cream came on top)

I almost swallowed this dish as it was such a delight. The foie gras melted on my tongue and the richness was balanced by apple in different textures and a red berry I forgot the name of.


2007 Armand Rousseau Chambertin, Grand Cru Bourgogne

Now it was time for the blind taster and Christian poured a medium-dark red wine into our big glasses. I moved the glass to exercise the wine and air it. I sniffed it again and again, what a powerful and yet youthful wine. There was a coolness to it and strength. I was quite seduced by it’s bouquet, and for every sniff it evolved. Very fascinating.

I noted cherries and pepper on the very rich and fruity palate. There was an incredible debt in the taste and complexity. There was no doubt that this was Pinot Noir. Although I for half a second thought New Zealand, there wasn’t the sun burnt flavour to the fruit taste. I felt certain that it was a Burgundy wine. So, I took a chance and shot for Nuit St. George and 2007, so region and vintage was correct, as you can see.

Of course, I loved the wine.


Mushroom consomme

The soup was excellent and full of pure mushroom flavour. The mushrooms were perfectly cooked – still firm. They almost popped in my mouth. The after-taste stayed in my mouth for minutes after eating it.


Red deer, burnt salsify & berries

The main course offered a tender and tasty piece of deer accompanied by a rich sauce kicked by the burnt flavour from the salsify and the sweetness from the dried berries.

Smoked Danish Gnalling cheese, stout syrup, hay, ashes & pumpernikkel

Strong smoke infused the room when the lit came of the cheese. Very nice Danish cheese with character and good taste.

2006 Torcolato, az. agr. Maculan, Breganze, Veneto, Italy

Orange and sea buckthorn

I love the orange/sea buckthorn combination with a dessert. This version was particularly good as the sea buckthorn berries had the right amount of sourness and at the same time were fruity. The sorbet formed a pleasing background and as I bit into the berries their taste kicked through the creaminess like rays of sunshine. Beautiful.


2007 Kracher, Berenauslese, Burgenland, Austria

Basil sorbet, cucumber & sifon… something… ;-)

The match of sweet basil and fresh cucumber was very good, I really liked this dessert.


1955 Colheita port, Bodegas Burmester, Douro, Portugal… ahhh


Beet root ice-cream & frozen licorice

The last dessert appeared to be the richest of the three desserts. The licorice wasn’t too dominating but very gentle and the beet root still comprised some acidity. So sharp.

Vanilla marsh mellows accompanied the coffee.

The marsh mellows tasted exactly like vanilla ice cream, but without the cold. Very delicious and beautifully arranged on a marble plate.

Bowls of the aroma of each course decorated the hall way to the loos

I was impressed. I was moved. All the plates were picturesquely beautiful, the food was flawless and the menu as a whole was composed with wit and distinction. Actually, the strong focus was what impressed me the most. These dishes had clearly been worked on and sharpened until they had reached an incredible high level of perfection.

I know this review is extremely positive, but it’s really hard for me to find anything that didn’t work well. Although we got about 11 dishes I wasn’t too full when we left the restaurant as the last guests.

The dinner at AOC was a very emotional and uplifting experience. In fact, even the next morning I was still affected and felt almost in love. Walking from the metro station towards work I just couldn’t help myself smile. AOC had made me happy.

Thank you guys for such a wonderful evening!

Michelin 2010

Trine / Published on March 13, 2010 in Denmark, Michelin, News and Restaurant. 6 Comments

The news we have been waiting almost a year for is here, the new red Guide Michelin: Main Cities of Europe 2010 is here. Congrats to AOC with their first star and congrats to everybody else keeping theirs! Wonderful. :-)

13 stars overall is a step back compared to the 14 stars we had in last year’s guide.

Two stars:
Noma **

One star:
AOC * (New)
Era Ora *
formel B *
Herman *
Kiin Kiin *
Kokkeriet *
Kong Hans’ Kælder *
MR *
Paustian *
Søllerød Kro *
The Paul *

Bib Gourmand goes to:
Fiskebaren (New)
FAMO
Kanalen
L’Altro
Le Sommelier
Oubæk
Frederiks Have

Source: Politiken

CPH Crawl 4/6: noma

Trine / Published on March 13, 2010 in Denmark and Restaurant. 8 Comments Tags: , .

So, we arrived to the fourth restaurant visit this evening. Not that I was really hungry anymore, but I was still very excited and curious about what the second half of the crawl would bring us.

The agreement with Lau, restaurant manager, was that we would be sitting in he lounge. This explains the quality of these photos. The light was a challenge.

I could hardly wait for the food, when I first sat down. What would René be serving us?

Sea buckthorn

We first got a snack kinda thing of sea buckthorn rubber. The texture was a bit chewy like chewing gum, only edible. I liked the taste of it, not too bitter or sour, but it wasn’t something that I could eat a whole lot of.

I wanted to challenge the guys and had asked Lau to serve the wine blind. It was a test. I wanted to learned how my companions would describe a Danish wine, what grape they thought it would be, and what origin they would compare it to. Lau was serving them 2008 Arwen, named after René daughter, born the same year.

Arwen is made from the grapes Solaris (an early matured white wine grape), Sauvignon Blanc, Silvaner and Riesling. The guys guessed Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc and guessed Germany, not Denmark.

Cod milt, cucumber (I think), dill oil and herbs

The first dish was clearly inspired by René Redzepi’s trip to Japan where cod milt is a delicacy. It’s the first time I try cod milt, or cod sperm to be frank. (I will spare you for all the jokes the boys made and couldn’t stop making them laugh). To me it looked like brain, because of the winding intestine-like appearance. It is the rosa-coloured thing in the middle of the plate. The texture was soft and almost liquid, very creamy. It didn’t comprise much taste, though sea water with some creaminess to it was most dominant. Above all it reminded me of the first time I tried oysters. I wasn’t sure how I liked it. I don’t think, however, that I will be as fond of cod milt as I am of oysters.

Cod liver

The second serving was cod liver. The texture of it was very fragile and fatty, and the taste was quite fishy. A bit too much, I thought. The berries added some acidity and flavour-wise the dish was balanced.

Was I disappointed? Not really. I mean, with so many noma visits in my dining history I’m not sure yet another musk ox tartar or a langoustine on a stone would make this visit memorable. I was surprised and that’s a very important factor. The fact that I didn’t appreciate the food much was secondary to me.

We still had two more restaurants to go and needed to hurry up. But when I called the cap he was having a break. OK. Two taxis therefore took us back to the city centre and to MR.

Thank you Lau, René and every one for a great experience!

Geranium Revival

Trine / Published on March 13, 2010 in Denmark and News. 2 Comments

Just to ensure you all know the good news about Geranium‘s reopening this summer.

The restaurant will be situated in a new location in the Østerbro area of CPH and part of the national stadium Parken. We are many who are thrilled about this and looking forward. Very good news!

CPH Crawl 3/6: The Paul

Trine / Published on March 9, 2010 in Denmark and Restaurant. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Next up was The Paul, named after head chef and owner Paul Cunningham. Tivoli is closed at this time of the year, and the restaurant is only open on special occasions and for private parties. Brown paper bags with candles inside lit op the snow and led us around the glass house to the back door as the main restaurant entrance was closed.

Chef’s table was set for us and we had the view to the kitchen where Paul Cunningham and one chef cooked our two-course menu.

Laurent filming…

Mr. Cunningham

Diebolt-Vallois Brut Rosé Champagne - lovely

Octopus, Læsø langoustine within, caviare reduction – rossini

The first dish was very intense and quite heavy to my taste. The delicate langoustine was stuffed inside the squid but the flavour of it was overdosed by the caviare reduction and the mushrooms. There was thin black cracker which was a bit too salty. It’s the black thing at the top of the photo.

2005 Duijn, Pinot Noir, Baden

Quail, coquus with pumpkin. Bresse fat, orange, ginger and browned butter.

The quail was nice, medium cooked and had a delicious taste with the spices on the top. Sorry to say, but I have no real recollection of the pumpkin and the yellow puree.

The ambiance was wonderful and it was like being invited to Paul’s private home, because no one else except us were there. Candle lights all around decorated the room in a lovely way.

Anyways, time to move on once more, noma was waiting, and Paul’s kind sommelier luckily got us a van that fit all six of us, and which was available to us also later in the evening.

Thank you so much, Paul, for letting us in!

CPH Crawl 2/6: Herman

Trine / Published on March 4, 2010 in Denmark and Restaurant. 4 Comments Tags: , .

Second stop on our tour around the best restaurants in Copenhagen was Herman at the Tivoli Gardens run by head chef Thomas Herman. Steve Plotnicki was  already waiting for us when we got there.

I very much like the dining room at Herman. It’s classy and stylish and the professional, yet human and warm atmosphere makes me feel good and delighted just to be there. We were immediately welcomed with a delicious oyster prominently served on a glass bowl.

2005 Nicolas Joly, Les Vieux Clos, Savennières, Loire

Bisque of cep mushrooms with scallops from Faroe Islands,

funnel chanterelle, ash, fresh cheese and sherry

A wonderful balance characterized the bisque, juicy scallops, earthiness from the mushrooms and acidity from the subtle Sherry.

The crawlers

2007 Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet, Les Perrières 1er Cru

North Sea turbot as lobscourse with winter truffles,

potatoes, butter from Nimb’s dairy and beetroot

The sweetness and the crispy textures from the cooked and raw pieces of beetroot were great with the delectable turbot, which was covered by a beetroot jelly. The black Melanosporum witt truffles were grated over the butter and offered an intense truffle flavour when it was spread on a piece of the excellent bread. Awesome.

Æbleskiver – batter balls

I completely felt seduced that night at Herman. Everything went completely smooth, both the dishes were stunning and the wines were so enjoyable. In fact, I was so delighted that I’m going back there for a full meal tonight!

Being the second restaurant on our tour and thus menu-wise at the entrees stage of the meal, I may have wished for lighter fish courses. On the other hand, these courses did match-up with Kiin Kiin’s street food, so in that sense it worked well. And really, the fact that the food was so good is the most important thing to me.

Too soon it was again time to leave and the sommelier Emil kindly escorted us across the dark and snow-covered garden to the next restaurant of our crawl: The Paul.

Thank you so much, guys!