Oubæk – fast food or the running waitress

Oubæk on 13 February 2007

food:

Salted foie gras with salad
Boeuf Béarnaise
Crème Brûllèe

wine:
Domaine Ostertag Gewürztraminer 2003
Mauro Veglio Barolo [- I don’t know which year]

For a very long time I have wished to dine at Rasmus Oubæk’s restaurant and unfortunately, I never had the chance to do it, when it was the fancy and Michelin star rated gourmet place. Rasmus is still harvesting good recommendations everywhere – and now also here at the good food blog. This reminds me that he was previously at the TyvenKokkenHansKoneogHendesElsker, a place I’ve never been to but one day hope to.

Being a highly recommended restaurant both as the expensive eat it was, and the more moderate price levelled thing that it is now. I had to order the classics: Foie gras (I’m hopeless!), boeuf béarnaise and a crème brûllée for dessert – but shared with my friend-diner.

The portion of duck liver was generous, and with nice firm pieces of terrine. I don’t like it, when the consistence is soft or slightly melting. I loved the taste, but I couldn’t sense the salt at all. The salad was placed in the middle of the plate partly covering the foie gras. It was beautiful dish. The vinaigrette dressing on the salad had a little too much of olive oil. I found it a bit too greasy, and it glistened my lips too much.

To accompany the foie gras I chose a glass of Gewürztraminer. It had a nice flowery odeur and sweetness too. However, it lacked a little bit from after-taste. It quickly died out and also missed a bit of dryness to balance the thick-ness and the perfumed taste of it. The medium boeuf cooked close to rare was just perfect to my taste and very tender. The French fries were great and both crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We got the same salad as the starter, and again there was too much oil in the vinaigrette, which was killing some of the crispy-ness of the leaves, a pity because they were a neat mixture of many colours and kinds including the frisée type with a slightly bitter taste.

Mauro Veglio is close to my heart. Not in person though, I mean his wines. A few years ago I slept a couple of nights very close to his vineyard in the La Morra area of the Barolo district, and I had dinner two subsequent evenings at the place Osteria Veglio with the most marvellous view over his green grape trees from the terrace. A fantastic and fabulous place.

Anyhow, this particular wine to accompany the beef was a little tight-nosed at the beginning, but it opened up the lovely Nebbiolo smell after a few minutes. Sorry, but I was so surprised by this coincident that I completely forgot to take note of the year and the name of the wine that was poured into my glass. The taste was good, full-bodied, and had a nice after-taste. Velour. I liked the tannin too. It matched the boeuf well, but was a bit over-kill for the fries. An even more powerful red wine would have suited the meat too; I don’t know which one – a Bandol perhaps?

Usually, I prefer a dessert that comprises something with lemon or apples or rhubarb or berries, because I adore the taste of sweetness and sour at the same time. I adore the combination of the two on my tongue. I really like crème brûlée, a favourite again, but it has a tendency of becoming stuffy, because of the lack of sour. But not at Oubæk’s! They just serve a bit of orange sorbet ice-cream on the side with the crème. And that really worked. Nice little new thing – to me at least.

Then the coffee, the only coffee: Espresso and milky variations of that theme. They don’t offer Danish coffee or any other kinds a prt from espresso based ones. I had espresso as I always prefer, and it was fine, strong and warm. Lovely.

The speed of the service was rather high, because of the fact of double-booking the tables every night. That gave us two hours for completing the whole thing, which is fine for me and my friend, but not really for a romantic date. The waitress was sweet, had a good sense of humour, and she was very busy. So busy that she to my surprise came running to another table with a plate of hot soup at some point. Because of her personality and good sense of humour the situation seemed very comical, and I just couldn’t help myself laughing a bit, quietly, to myself. A bit grotesque, but rather amusing and funny and a nice spice to the lovely experience.

Anyways, I really like Rasmus Oubæk!