Tag Archive for 'noma'

I have to show you the photos from my latest noma lunch, because René did it again! The menu I got on April 30 completely overwhelmed me. This is why I’ll never be tired of dining at noma; the variations at all times and the urge to serve and please every new or often frequenting diner in the very best way. I got a whole new set menu of incredible dishes plus three classic ones, because it was my friend diner’s first visit to noma. Look and enjoy. Please.

Bread crunch with herb cream, herb emulsion and vinegar dust

Lumpfish roes with cream and pressed by
rye bread and chicken skin

Organic radishes with a cream comprising turbot roes
and topped with grated dried turbot roes

Fresh cow’s milk cheese with birch shoots, celery (I believe), fresh leaves and sauce of grass and birch bark

This creation was very refined a delicate but at the same time it offered a rich milk taste that was balanced with the herbs’ and the leaves’ acidity and a bit of salt from the croutons. An excellent and new take-off.

The famous signature dish of the ox tartar

I’ve had this dish a few times now but this serving was incredibly good, better than previous visits. I think it’s related to the fact that the herbs were at their first and the fact that the meat seemed a little more fatty.

7-year-old king crab from Norway, leeks, crispy rye bread, garden sorrel

Superb creation and even better than the king crab leeks rolled in ashes I got in October last year. By the way, how do they know how old the crab is anyway?

The year’s first lovely green and white asparagus grilled and with smoked marrow, beautiful rucola flowers, juice of asparagus and chick weed.

Razor clams, celeriac, cauliflower stems, two types of Icelandic seaweed, parsley puree, razor clam and oyster sauce.

Imagine you are walking along the beach a chilly day of spring. Think of the salt nip in the air and the smell of seaweed. Sense the first warm sunbeam sweetly on your cheek. This is what the dish was like. Heavenly clear and pure with remarkable distinction. The sense of the sea.

Turbot, ramson leaves and stems, celeriac cooked in hay, cowslip and watercress emulsion

The lamb shank for the main course was presented to us before plating. The lamb was cooked at 64 C for 24 hours.

Lamb shank, Indian cress, yellow beets two ways, herb sauce

First time I have lamb there. This was a beautiful and delicious dish, but it seemed to miss out something, which I think could a bit of sour or acidity in some way.

The Classic: Buttermilk gel, reduced sugar beet juice,
raisins in akvavit, tuile of sugar beets

Gel of beet and rhubarb underneath,
beet sorbet, yogurt snow and green woodruff

This is what marks out noma from any restaurant experience I have had in my life. Utmost innovation and perfection. Look at these beautiful green flowery leaves and notice how precisely the stems have been removed to complete the image. Not too much and not too less.

It’s difficult for me to put my experience of this into words because it became an emotional experience of enjoying the sweet/sour balanced dessert. I was impressed by the excellency of this whole new the dish.

According to the website, Noma’s intention is to create and to prepare a distinctly advanced kind of cuisine, while nonetheless conjoining the patently Nordic approach with a manner of purity and simplicity in the approach. Congratulations – you have reached your goal! I can’t wait to experience what will follow.

Thank you.

I took the day off from work to do something for myself. Eating out at an exclusive restaurant is my refuge, my hideaway, especially when my busy life is sucking out my energy. Fine dining is for me like stepping into another world for a short time. Even more so when I’m out on my own and not with someone I know. Well, I’ve visited noma quite a lot lately, so I don’t feel like a complete stranger there anymore. I don’t need to ask where the loos are.

However, the intention of this lunch was not to let myself be lulled into yet another epicurean ego trip. The purpose was to meet up with Zarah - and to enjoy a very good meal. noma seemed the obvious choice. Wouldn’t you say so?

When I arrived at precisely 12:15 on 31.01.2008, Zarah was already sitting at our table and waved to me from the other end of the restaurant. This was the first time Zarah and I met each other and hello-hugged. We laughed at the whole set-up and then put our big cameras on the table. This verygoodfoodthoughts sitting was definitely to be documented.

Frederik, our host of the day, poured champagne into high slim glasses and after a spilt second of consideration we agreed to go for the set of courses cooked especially for the two of us and with accompanying wines selected by him.

Crisps of root crops, egg cream
Jacques Lassaigne, NV Champagne
Brut Blanc de Blanc de Montgueux

Batter balls stuffed with pork
and rolled in vinegar dust

The Jacques Lassaigne champagne was new to me, and I remember thinking that I liked better the Agrapart one, which I’ve got a few times. I didn’t note down why though.

A refreshing change of the snacks soon arrived comprising very nice and very paper thin root crisps of what I could identify as parsnip, scorzonera and Jerusalem artichokes. The yellow yolk cream for dipping the crisps was somehow anonymous to me and not as good as the various dips I’ve had before like for example the smoked cream cheese, the green boiled pig fat or the cep mayonnaise. We were also blessed with the pickled and smoked quails egg, and when Zarah took the lid off, smoke fizzled up, tickled my nose and revealed the two yellow delicacies.

For the first time I got batter balls, a traditional sweet and often eaten at Christmas in Denmark. Zarah actually has a very nice recipe on her blog and a hands-on description for how to make them. Anyway, noma’s were a salty interpretation with pork breast inside and white dust of vinegar on the outside. I liked them and the idea, but must admit that I prefer the traditional sweet ones. Too much pasty for the amount of pork.

Beetroot raisins, pearl sago
Horseradish snow

This was interesting. The small pieces of beet root were soft like when you cook them in the oven for a long time but moist at the same time. At noma horseradish is one of the basic spices that’s often combining the food products like the extensive and lovely use of herbs, and in this picture the horseradish’s job was to provide grit and to stabilise the sweet taste of the vegetable. Good.

Tartar and wood sorrel
Creamed tarragon and juniper
2006 Becker-Landgraf, Riesling Trocken, Rheinhessen

Although, there is already a photo of this dish on by blog, I have only had a tiny taster of it, when I celebrated my birthday at noma. Although the dish wasn’t mine, it was so lovely that I had to show it here. It’s amongst my favourite dishes.

I never imagined, though, my finger nails would be this green after eating this wonderful dish having it all to myself this time. You don’t get fork and knife but clutch the meat by holding the wood sorrel leaves and then lick up the green cream with the tartar. We were instructed to do it this way and got nice wet and warm cloths to clean our fingers when we were done. The quality of this ox tartar, the wood sorrel and the delectable creamed tarragon and juniper is just beyond the highest level, I tell you, this is more than candy to me and as good as …

The colour of the Becker-Landgraf Riesling was very bright and almost transparent. The nose offered crispiness, flowers and sweet fruit. The bitterness and acidity was elegantly balancing the after-taste and the smell from the creamed tarragon and juniper melted with the Riesling scent in a stunning way. Fantastic.

Burnt Scorzonera and milkskin
Rape seed oil and truffle from Gotland
2006 Denis Jeandeau, Pouilly-Fuissé, Burgundy

I had a dish very like this one, when I lunched with my grandmother last autumn, but this time the leek was replaced by a piece of scorzonera, which added more bite and character to it. The fresh truffles had also been swapped with a lavish truffle paste. We had passed the Swedish truffle season. The scent of these truffles were striking and just as powerful as fresh truffles. Wow. If my eyes had been closed, when the plate was placed in front of me, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. I admire and venerate Rene and his team for their outstanding technique and notion. Excellent.

The Pouilly-Fuissé was dark golden in colour and smelled of pure Chardonnay and the taste was nice. It missed, however, the sophistication I love so much about white Burgundies and sometimes am lucky to find in them.

I do like halibut very much and this was a fine piece, mild in taste with a delicate garniture of green herbs tops and celery with a slight bite to it. I was told the white foam was oysters, but the flavour was weak. I don’t think I would have guessed, if I didn’t know. Good. (Maybe even very good. I have only a fuzzy image of this in my memory).

Zarah has a lot of experience from the restaurant business and I learned from her that the crust turbot was extraordinary. Again, this was the finest fish quality and served with the season’s first fresh ramson onion, mind you.

How do they do this? I mean, to take note what white Burgundies I chose from last time I went to noma, what I selected and then what I had missed out on? This Château de Puligny Montrachet was one of them and now it was accompanying my turbot. Yes, I was in heaven. The scent was dark and powerful with a touch of sour. I found wood too and the nose was a bit closed at the beginning. After a while, it opened and was more recognisable. It evolved smell of turpentine and medicine cupboard, which may sound strange but nevertheless was a hit for me. The taste was dominated by citrous and oak. Very nice indeed.

Bouillion of birch wine and mushrooms
Chickweed and egg yolk
2000 Pierre-Bourré, Justice, Gevrey-Chambertin, Bourgogne

Another repetitive course but one of my favourites, so I didn’t complain. I still the remember the rich flavour of the soup and how well the poached yolk is matched also with the mushrooms. This time Læsø onions (I believe) were sprinkled and made the whole dish more pronounced and more sharp. Stunning.

Yum-yum-yum. These guys really knew how to please me. The colour of the wine had an edge of orange and brown tones and what gorgeous scents of cowshed, smoke, lots of fruit and character. I love it so much, when the wine has a powerful and expressive nose. The taste was great too, balanced and lasting.

I must say that it’s incredible how tender Rene and chefs are able to cook the meat so it’s full of flavour and moist at the same time. The reindeer was very intense in taste with a light game taste to it. The accompanying round and decorative vegetables were a fine match. Very good.

Frederik teased me because I focused on the G-C rather than the Barolo, which was absolutely nice as well, erect and with this characteristic after-taste heavy on tannins. The Gevrey-Chambertin was only more seductive.

The first dessert was, another theme of a traditional Danish dish with variations. It reminded me of an apple charlotte but with pear instead. I love, love apple charlotte. There were hazelnuts at the bottom of the plate, then a layer of yoghurt and on the top thin white slices of pear surrounded and by the meed sauce which had a bit of pear taste to it too. This was a lovely dish, gentle and creamy in taste, not so sweet but with a slight subacidity to balance it. Very good.

We were offered two different Rieslings with the first of two desserts, and there was no doubt that the Georg Breuer was the one I liked most, because it offered a more nuanced palate than just the sweetness of the Knebel one.

‘Yolk’ potato and cumin ice cream
Dried berries and akvavit
2000 Chateau Derezla, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos
Tokaji

Okay, I think is one of the noma desserts I least like. No matter how sweet and caramel-ish you prepared them, potatoes will always be potatoes and not particularly dessert-like. I very much enjoyed the cumin (which I’m very keen on) ice cream, the caramel and the crisp and sweet string on the top. The Tokaji was excellent with the caramel and the cumin flavours which both had a bitter-sweet feeling to it.

I was really stuffed. I think we both were at this point. We therefore (almost) rolled back to the lounge area for a cup of tea and a coffee a flødebolle and one more glass of the lovely Gevrey-Chambertin for spending the rest of the afternoon chatting girl-ishly about… you know. Girls’ talk.

When it was dark and rainy outside, after almost six hours in the wonderful noma cave we frivolous moved the curtain aside and stepped into the staff’s briefing on tasks and tables for the evenings guests who would soon arrive.

Saying goodbye and thank you for a marvellous experience, it was great to see Rene’s enthusiasm, when he asked if we had taken note of one of the dishes comprising the fresh ramson onions already a month earlier than last year. Of course we had. We had also taken note of the recurring round theme that also characterised this lunch.

A great, great afternoon. Thanks to you, Zarah! And to everyone at noma!

I love the autumn. The colourful trees in bright yellow and powerful red coats, the blue water peeping out between the naked branches at the far end of my garden, the brown leaf on the lawn of my cottage. The autumn is my favourite season, the scents so earthy of moist decay, the red squirrel collecting acorns for its winter storeroom at the feet of the old oak in middle of the garden, the mild damp smell of nuts and mushrooms. Cold mornings, regretting not wearing my gloves cycling to work; to be greeted by the most stunning sun rises colouring the sky decorated with clouds. That is something. After my splendid evening at noma in early August, I was floating. But after a fortnight, withdrawals set in. I was feeling love-sick and had to do something about it. I was ill and I needed medication.

For years I’ve been hearing about these wonderful and famous restaurants always abroad and too far away to really explore them. Then, all of a sudden there is a star in my own back garden. Lucky me. Thank you Yin, for reminding me!

To experience noma’s magical cuisine made of the products I see when I go for a walk on the beach on the North coast of Zealand or in the woods – that’s so inspiring. The fact the Danish herbs can take part in such a stunning dining adventure is amazing, and in a way it makes me proud.

Anyway, although I tried to stay away from noma’s website, on 18th of August I couldn’t resist any longer and booked my table for a lunch about two months later. Really wanted to go sooner but couldn’t fit it into my busy schedule.

Noma in the Autumn. I have experienced noma in the spring and summer, and I now wanted to see what the fruits of the fall would bring me.

Tuesday, 9th of October was the day, my day. On my way to the restaurant I couldn’t help myself smiling. I felt like a little child at Christmas’ eve so full of sparkling expectations and impatience. Then seeing the high flagpoles of noma’s neighbouring North Atlantic House made me so glad. Noticing the tiny noma door sign further away made my heart jump once and speed up a bit. I was so excited that I could barely open the door to restaurant, partly because it’s very heavy, but also because I knew that at the very instant of entering, the much appreciated and happily looking forward to it would end immediately.

The Snack

With a glass of the good N.V. Agrapart champagne of grapes from nine different parcels and the usual snack of herbs dip, skin and groats crisps, I was ready to go.

Smoked and pickled quail’s egg

Like at my August visit, I got the delicious pickled and smoked quail’s egg, but this day it arrived in a dotted eggshell designed especially for noma, and it fitting nicely the warm colours and nature-sentiment of the place. For some reason the funny softness and moistness of the sticky egg combined with the smoke reminded me of the Italian Scamorza cheese. Again this little egg was very enjoyable and perfectly salted.

The Appetizer

The clear and fresh appetizer of Löjrom with milk skin, iced horseradish, herbs, rye bread crisps spiced up with apple vinegar and oil from cold pressed rapes made a fantastic starter. When taking a bit of everything I got this divinity in my mouth, the cool and pronounced horseradish and the sweet milk and salty roes. I did not at all sense the skinniness of it. It was all pleasure and I felt good about being finally back at my favourite place in Copenhagen.

King crabs and ashed leeks

The wonderful King crabs. How can I describe this? Well, it was delicious in a gentle way. It was like a lover’s passionate touch on the cheek, the little gesture that tells you everything. This was everything. The tasty poached crab meat side by side with the leeks was a very good match, and the black ashes broke the total roseate, idyllic picture of it and added a bit of character. The smell of the toasted bread crumbs still warm and comprising salt suited nicely the sea fruits of crab and the mussel emulsion, which I think the white sauce was at the bottom. A lovely dish.

Mackerel and dried gooseberries, walnuts and anise

Warning! Turn down the sound on your machine before you watch the video. Unfortunately this clip is the only visual image I have of the dish, as I was so seduced by the dancing smoke swirling mysteriously over the fish that I forgot to photograph it.

Anyway, raw mackerel of highest quality with a fennel and dill soup spiced with walnuts, anise and nitrogen cooled gooseberries. I don’t think that I have ever gotten such delicious mackerel fish before, and the green soup was very fresh in taste. It was a very good course and a nice and surprising experience, but somehow it lacked something, and I’m not sure what – sweetness perhaps.

Mushroom and birch wine bouillon, egg yolk and chickweed

The look of this dish very much presented the tastiness of it. The mushrooms were of different textures, all very earthy and full in taste. The flavour of the birch wine bouillon somewhat resembled that of malt, but the soup had a lighter feeling to it. The egg yolk in the middle of the plate was softly poached, to keep it from messing up the nice look of the soup. The yolk added substance, the cracker added salt and the fresh herbs provided perspective. I’m a huge mushroom fan and this course was great – back on track.

The wine I had was a German 2005 Spätburgunder, I forgot the producer, sorry. The nose was fresh and fruity and had hints of kerosine and the taste was cool and a little bit closed at the beginning. After a while it offered warm pepper and a lot of fruit to the palate, I loved the clear Pinot Noir taste of it. The after-taste was shortish, but after some time in the glass more fruit evolved and the kerosine disappeared. Lau (head waiter I think) had suggested a fruity wine for the bouillon and I couldn’t agree more – this fruit bomb was a brilliant match and extended the whole experience. Bravo!

Ox-tails and verbena, apples and Jerusalem artichokes

I’ve had ox-tails many times before and especially as a kid. My mum would cook the tail cut in big and smaller pieces, and I ate it holding the bone between my thumb and index finger, sucking the tender meat and sometimes almost choking on the jelly-like ox fat. Although my mum is a great cook, this noma ox-tails were at least a hundred times better. White paper thin apple slices alternated by thick bites of Jerusalem artichokes, and next to them a boneless meat heap full of pure ox taste. The meat was covered by a delicate apples jelly, an intense and rich ox stock accompanied it and green verbena leaves were sprinkled about. The scent of the dish was heavenly, sweet and flowery. The verbena is a very particular herb, very perfumed and with such impression of flavours. It’s sweet like apples, and aromatic like garden balm with acidic notes.

The brilliance of the this main course also lied in the pairing of the Jerusalem artichokes and the ox meat with the apples and verbena herb. The sweetness was controlled by the sour. If anything was ever perfect, it has to be this dish, so cleverly imagined, a valley of paradisiac beauty. The highlight.

With a 2000 Henri Bonneau, Chateneuf du Pape it couldn’t be more delightful. The wine is entirely (?) composed by Grenache grapes, soft as silk, and fruity with a very delicious palate. It was full flavoured and had a very, very long after-taste. A great wine to go with the wonderful ox-tails.

Skyr sorbet, elderflower mousse, macaroons and wood sorrel

The next dish wasn’t either part of the menu, and what a sweet surprise it was. The beautiful and pink look of it was underlining the femininity of noma’s cuisine. The taste of it was so marvellous that I felt totally bashful. I still remember the lovely flavour of the sweet and perfumed elderflower mousse, which was balanced with the fruity citrus-flavoured skyr sorbet and the fresh sorrel. It was a perfect dessert to my taste and wondered if I could get my local ice-cream shop to fabricate such a fantastic sorbet.

Goat cheese and tarragon, blackberry segments

The main dessert looked kinda funny. It consisted of goat cheese ice-cream pointing directly at me, and rolled in frozen blackberry granules. Tarragon dust supported it as well as a blackberry juice. The flavours were perfectly balancing each other and really the strengths of the dish, a very interesting concept, but not really sweet. Mixing all the ingredients made the taste very good, although I don’t fancy goat cheese that much. I wondered whether some molecular prescription has instructed that tarragon eliminates the woollen goat milk’s annotations, because it truly hid the goat-ish taste of it. And I was happy that the white dust was so generously dozed. I imagine that to a goat cheese lover the dessert would have been heavenly.

The sweetness which wasn’t pronounced in this dessert was surely found in the wine. A 2005 Domaine Richard Leroy, Noëls de Montbenault, Coteaux du Layon Faye D’Anjou, France with a delightful golden colour and a sweet palate but with body too, making it very enjoyable. It added an extra dimension to the course – I mean frequently the wine is a food support, but here it had it’s own identity and that was remarkably nice and unique about it.

A cup of coffee

Flødebolle

You know that I have a sweet tooth, and I’m specially keen on flødeboller. Oh, how much I had hoped for it to re-join the coffee. It was absolutely delicious and with a very fresh-made mousse, which is the key to a good flødebolle. Note the stone under the pink beetroot amuse: It was very cold and prevented the chocolate from immediately starting to melt. In fact, it was just like it had spent all day long in the fridge just waiting for me. Yum yum!

I was lunching alone on this occasion, completely enjoying everything about it; watching the view of the room, and I admit, the other guests in the room to see how they were liking it. I just loved being there, and the peace of it entirely on my own, being back, tasting the wonderful food, feeling surprised and seduced once again.

I must mention again the picturesque beauty of each dish, which were presented before me. I always enjoy the food more when all my senses are being stimulated.

I had a wonderful time not least because of the hospitality of the staff, who totally spoilt me. Laurent speaks of serenity and the fact that it seemed like they were risking their life on each dish coming out of the kitchen. He is right! And I’d like to add that it’s the way that every single person working there is passionate about the place, cherish it, they care – otherwise they wouldn’t be there.

Going back to noma is for me like coming home, the service friendly but still adequately distinct, the atmosphere cosy but still elegant. I love the staff’s humour and wit.

Serenity, pureness and honesty. Big words I know. Well not too big for what noma is capable of.

Thank you, Rene.
And thank you, Lau.

I’m still in love! Very much.

Ps. Already booked again for next month. Couldn’t help it.