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Copenhagen and Michelin Stars-part 2

I know the last post was really negative.  That being said, there was a very good restaurant that we ate at- Kong Hans Kalder.  The top restaurant in Copenhagen (and the world), NOMA takes a year to get reservations at and, sadly, they aren't open now.  This is because they are cooking for the Olympics in London and won't be open again until September.

Kong Hans Kalder is located in a 13th Century cellar (hence Kalder).  It is white washed walls with soft lighting.  The tables had white table clothes and simple settings.  We started with a bar snack, since we opted to just go straight to the table.  It was pork rinds and fried Jerusalem artichokes, mixed nuts and a mayo dip.  I tried the dip, but it wasn't the best.  But the rest was.  It was also served alongside freshly boiled quail eggs and pickled quail eggs (the brown ones).  Both were done well and slightly sweet.  This was followed by the amuse bouche- fresh radishes served with smoked shrimp on top of a cream cheese and Jerusalem artichoke puree with fresh dill.  The shrimp were presented with a glass bowl on top, where you could see the smoke just billowing around.  They lifted the glass off at the same time for both, and you (at least I was) transported to a back yard smokehouse- a smell like home.  It was very tasty.  

For our starters, we both got seafood.  I got lobster with tomatoes and topped with crumbled, dried black olives.  Lynn got the fresh oysters.  The presentation was meant to mimic the sea in the morning.

The oysters, Lynn assured me, were fantastic.  They even gave her two extra ones.  The lobster, even though it was from Canada, was fantastic.  It was done just right, and I didn't have to mess with the shell.  The tomato sauce that went with it was superb.

For our main courses, I got the beef with greens and mushrooms (that were deceptively large- top photo).  It was so good.  There was a good amount of beef on the plate and it was cooked to perfection.  Lynn got the guinea fowl.  She said that it was very tasty.  We didn't quite manage to clear our plates, but we did save room for our desserts.

I opted for the chocolate and black currant dessert (top).  Most of it was good.  There were some bits where the black currant was more dimeatap then currant.  However, it was a good chocolate fix.  Lynn got the vanilla cream.  It was topped with chopped nuts and fresh herbs and served with some ice cream.  Lynn said the cream was good, but that the herbs just didn't do anything (who wants salad with their dessert?).

Overall, it was a much better meal than the one at Relae.  The service was professional and prompt.  The food was excellent, and nobody wanted me to eat sous vide chicken wings.

Copenhagen and Michelin stars-part 1

We are getting so close to not living out of our car, I can almost taste it!  We have been going for a few weeks straight, and as much as I like dinning out, doing so every day can get a bit old.  Thankfully, we only have a few more days to go before we are in Krakow for the month of July.

A few things about food in Denmark.  It is still as expensive as it was in Sweden and there are a few more Michelin starred restaurants in Copenhagen (14) then there are in Stockholm (12).  Our first meal is one that we would rather forget for the most part.  Lynn and I called while we were driving from Kalmar to Copenhagen and made reservations at Relae, a newly-starred Michelin restaurant.  We had made reservations at Kong Hans Kalder for the next night, which also has its own Michelin star.  So, tired and hungry, we made it to Relae.  It is located in an up and coming area of Copenhagen, about a 10 minute drive from where we were staying.  Just as a side note, I am glad that I didn't waste space on my memory card for pictures of their food.

We arrived and were seated at the bar, which was the only space they had for that night.  The bar wasn't your traditional bar, but a window into the kitchen, which was all open.  We were able to look in and see the students preparing.  And no, I am not demeaning them.  They were students who had gotten apprenticeships at the restaurant.  It was nice to see that they were from all over the world (really).  Anyway, we sat down and ordered some water, two glasses of champagne and their appetizer, which was a bundle of fresh herbs with pistachios.  It was very good and, of course, fresh tasting.  Now, I have to gripe about something.  If I order sparkling water, I get that you are going to charge me.  But, when I order tap water and you charge me $6 per bottle, then there is a problem.  I know it was tap water, because I saw them pouring it from the tap into my bottle.  Yeah, $6 per little trip to the tap for some water.  We had two bottles that night.

There are only two choices for your meal at Relae- the standard menu with four courses and then the vegetable menu with four courses (two of which were the same).  There was also the wine tasting menu that went along with it for an extra $75 a person.  Each menu was also $75 a person.  When we asked if they had a wine list that was separate, he went to great, overbearing lengths to point out that the wines on the wine tasting menu were perfectly paired for the meal, and that the wines on the wine list would be the same as on the menu and it would be cheaper if we each got the wine menu.  We still asked for the list.  And he was wrong.  They had a much larger selection and better prices for some bottles then if we got ONE of the wine menus.  We settled on a French white, which later turned out to be vin ordinaire (read: table wine in France).  It was good though, much like some table wines in wine producing countries are.  Our waiter comes back over with our bottle then decides he wants to tell us all about the vintner.  Most times, I would be OK with that.  Not when I am hungry and exhausted.  I don't care that he used to be a photographer for Vogue.  Maybe tomorrow I would, but not tonight.  There was just a certain arrogance that prevailed there.

Have I mentioned that there were really only two waiters?  No?  Well, there were.  The rest of the service was provided by the student-chefs in the kitchen.

We ordered the regular menu.  Our first course can only be described as sushi, gone wrong, as envisioned by a Copenhagen chef.  It was raw hake with old leeks, horseradish and bergamont.  As I have stated before, I am not the biggest seafood fan.  And now I am eating raw hake with old leeks, whatever those are.  The only redeeming moment was when I got the one tiny bite with bergamont in it.  That brought it all together and made it work.  But it was only one tiny bite out of a dish with several bites that were disgusting.

Then came one of the two decent courses- asparagus with crispy buckwheat, pumpkin seeds and mint served with a lemon beure blanc.  Lynn and I both agreed that it was a very good course.

So, we were hoping that the "main course" so to speak, would pick it up.  Maybe the fish was just a fluke.  Nope.  Sous vide chicken wings with gizzards, liver and milk poached asparagus with a fish sauce.  Yeah.  I still don't get it either.  First off, sous vide just pisses me off for the most part.  Putting food into a bag, sucking out the air and then sticking it in an immersion circulator that keeps the water at a constant, low temperature in order to cook it is a waste of time for me.  I haven't ever eaten anything that I liked that was cooked sous vide.  Even in art culinare, when I was told that my beef was too tough after it had been cooked like that.  Anyway, back to Relae.  The gizzards and liver were not chopped evenly at all.  I'm pretty sure that's the first thing they teach you in culinary school- how to chop things evenly.  The chicken wings were cooked sous vide.  They WERE cooked through, but tasted and looked raw.  It doesn't take a lot to screw up a chicken wing, but somehow they managed.  They didn't get some of the skin off of mine when they removed it from the bone, and that was not a texture I wanted to deal with.  And the fish sauce?  What the heck?  I think that was the only good part of the dish, and even then, it just didn't work.

We finished off the meal with the only other dish from the menu that we liked, elder flower sorbet, rhubarb crumble and yogurt.  That was very good.  Just as a side note, elder flower is used a lot in making spirits.  It has a nice floral flavor that works well with white chocolate (in my opinion, as seen by the gelato pairings that I have made here in Denmark).

Then it was time for the check.  It took us several minutes (OK, 10 minutes) to get one of the two waiters' attention.  The whole bill for the two of us came to $300.  $300 for two menus, a bottle of French table wine, two bundles of herbs with nuts in them and two bottles of tap water.  That also included the fact that our dishes were explained to us by the kitchen students who had to come out and explain what we were eating.  No wonder the meal took 3 hours.

Hot diggity dog!

This is just going to be a quick blog post about the most amazing hot dog that I have ever had in Copenhagen (and maybe the world).

It was a grilled hot dog on a freshly toasted bun.  It was topped with English-style mustard (spicy), ketchup and remoulade (somehow, great on a hot dog).  Then there were the fried onions and the pickle slices.

It was so good that I wanted a second (and maybe a third- I was starving).  I could have done without the mustard, or at least had US style mustard.  But, beggars can't be choosers.

And since hot dogs remind me of home and July 4- Happy Independence Day, America!  I'll be drinking for you in Krakow.  And eating, of course.

Gotland (and the city of Visby)

We arrived pretty late into Visby, but of course the sun was just setting.  It was 11:15 at night.  Thankfully, they get the concept of having good curtains to block the light out.  We got all checked in and settled for the night.  For the next few days, we did sight-seeing and of course eating and drinking.  We had Spanish tapas one night, made by an actual chef from Spain and served with a fantastic Spanish red.  For lunch another day, we had fresh shrimp and herring (OK, I had the fresh shrimp and Lynn had the herring) at a small fish restaurant right off the main square in Visby.  One night we even hit a pub run by a British guy.  Lynn didn't believe me at first when I said he was from Britain.  I was proved right a few minutes later when I asked where he was from.

So, I did get a pint of Guinness.  That was later followed by the locally made (as in, right down the street made) Sleepy Bulldog Pale Ale and the Summer Pale Ale.  Both were fantastic.  We were serenaded by the local band singing American songs that we sang along with.

The following day, we headed from Visby up to Faro Island for the day.  Faro is just a 7-minute ferry ride from the main island.  We ate at Farosunds Fastning, which is just outside of Farosunds.  Farosunds is where you catch the ferry to go across to Faro.  It is a hotel/restaurant that is owned by Pontus Frithiof.  The food was very good.  It was the first day for them to be open for their season, so we were glad of that.

How can you say no to the view?  We opted to sit outside since it was such a perfect day outside.  The colorful pigs were an added bonus.  I opted for the summer salad with turkey confit and a mustard dressing. Lynn had the glazed pork loin on a piece of toast that was topped with horseradish.  She said it reminded her  of BBQ pork.

The salad was excellent.  The turkey was tender and flavorful and the dressing was fantastic.  I am not a huge dressing person, in fact I tend not to get any for the most part.  Yes, I do eat dry salads.  They were a bit heavy handed on the dressing, but thankfully, the salad wasn't tossed in it, they only dotted it around the sides.  It was a perfect meal for a beautiful day that was bordering on being to warm.  Add a nice glass of South African Rose, and it was a perfect meal.

Sadly, that was one of our last meals here in Sweden.  Next up, Denmark!

Nynashamn (on the way to Visby)

We set off for the port at Nynashamn (which is a copy and paste job every time you want to write it).  We were going to catch the 8pm ferry to the island of Gotland, 3 hours off the coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea.  Lynn had just arrived from NYC.  She had gone over there to have her farewell party from her 35-year career on Wall Street.  She was hungry, as was I.  We didn't know what to expect on the ferry ride over and we had some time to kill before we got on board.  We ended up eating at Freja, a restaurant on the water that was built in an old boat that had seating on the inside as well as on deck.

We ended up inside and placed our orders at the bar.  I opted for a local Swedish beer.  The Mariestads was the one I chose that night.  The Smaland was from another night where the food wasn't that memorable, but the beer was.  Both beers had a good flavor to them and didn't taste like lightly-flavored water (I admit that I am a total beer snob).

The middle picture is our dinner from Freja.  We both got the same thing- fish on a plank served with a white wine sauce and mashed potatoes.  Just as a side note, when crayfish come into season, the Swedes go nuts for them.  I mean nuts.  The one that I had was fantastic- a nice, sweet flavor and tender too.  The sauce had Swedish shrimp in them.  They are just tiny and get overcooked in a nano-second.  The ones that we had were a bit tough.  The fish was fantastic and the mashed potatoes had little crispy bits.  It was a nice meal, and we were able to kick back and enjoy the ferry ride.

Stockholm

Alright, let me just start off by saying that this is going to be a long post.  There are some fantastic restaurants in Stockholm, so I want to be sure to get all of them in.  Just as a heads up, food and drink here is expensive.  Even simple lunches can cost two people $50-$75.  But please don't let that stop you.  Stockholm has some great food and restaurants.  Just know that you are going to spend a lot.


The first night we were in Stockholm, we ate at JT.  JT is in Gamala Stan, which is the old town in Stockholm.  We started with some cocktails, which were good, but not great.  For our main courses, Lynn and I both got reindeer with a game sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and ligonberries.  My mom opted for arctic char.

There was a bit of false advertising here.  I was expecting reindeer strips, but it was more of a chopped meat.  However, that being said, it was fantastic.  Reindeer tastes like (at least to me) beef or buffalo.  Very good.  The whole dish was like Christmas dinner with the ligonberries, greenbeans, game sauce and mashed potatoes.  Game sauce, well I don't really know what it was.  However, I did detect thyme and sage.  And lots of butter.  The arctic char was very good.  It was done perfectly (according to my mom) and since she ate all of it, I assume that it was tasty.  There was wine involved with the meal, but it wasn't that note worthy.  All of the wine that we drank during our time in Sweden and Denmark was from South Africa or Italy.

Our next meal was at Pontus by the Sea.  Pontus Frithiof is a well known Swedish chef who has several restaurants all over Sweden.  One of them is by the sea (get it?).  It's actually on the bay in Gamala Stan.  Since it was such a beautiful day, we were seated outside.  In fact, everyone was outside.  Since winters are so harsh, when people are able, they sit outside.  Every table had enough blankets for those that wanted them- you know, in case you got a chill.  Keep in mind, the high was maybe 75 and by the time dinner came around, it was 65.  And you were seated in the shade and the sun kept disappearing behind the odd cloud.  I would say buildings, but the sun never set until 11:30 at night.  So, at 7:00pm, the sun was still high.  I opted for the veal burger.  I just wasn't in a seafood mood.  My mom opted for the cod and Lynn opted for the chilled seafood platter.

The wine was from South Africa.  It was a nice, crisp white wine that was very tasty and paired well with seafood.  It was a 2011 Roodeberg.  The veal burger was good.  It was moist and flavorful.  However, there was a LOT of brown butter on the plate for both the peas and the potatoes.  The flavor of the butter overwhelmed the veal.  Of course, it was served with ligonberries.  The cod (the top food picture) was baked in salt and served with fresh shrimp, egg cream, fresh horseradish and potatoes.  The egg cream basically contained eggs and mayo pureed together with some smokey flavor (read- bacon and eggs).  My mom liked it.  Just as a side note, they serve a lot of seafood with freshly grated horseradish.  It seems deceiving at first.  You think it may be a pile of Parmesan cheese.  But no, it's horseradish.  It doesn't have that strong, pungent flavor that jarred stuff does in the US, but the scent and flavor are still there for the most part.  I am not a fan.  The seafood platter, while beautiful looking wasn't the best.  The lobster, which was from Canada, was good.  The oysters were from France and were very good.  However, the crab was Ireland and was way to labor intensive and there wasn't enough crab to tell if it was good.  The shrimp all had to be peeled, were small and tough from the few that Lynn ate.  The shrimp were the only things on the plate from Sweden.

Now, it may seem like the meal wasn't that great.  However, it was the ambiance that added to the meal.

Just being able to people watch and look out on the water was fantastic.  The service was attentive and very friendly.

Our final huge meal in Stockholm was at F12, a Michelin starred restaurant. It was AMAZING.  And yes, I mean every one of those capital letters.  Just as a starter, this is what inspired our chef.

It's always a nice thing to know what pushes someone to do something with their food.  That way, when you get the menu and your food, you aren't thinking, WTF?

To start, Lynn got the duck liver served with Swedish melon, ginger beer and macadamia nuts.  I opted for the milk poached cauliflower with rapeseed oil and sorrel.

The duck liver (top photo) was very tasty.  The Swedish melon added a nice flavor to it all and of course the duck liver was fantastic.  The cauliflower was not my favorite thing.  The sauce on it was very overpowering and took away from it.

For our main courses, I opted for the blackened turbot and wild asparagus with curry and wood-sorrel.  Lynn opted for the poached arctic char and fresh wasabi with leek and lemon.

The turbot (top photo) was fantastic.  It wasn't blackened like we are used to in the States- tons of cajun seasoning.  This was done with a cast iron skillet and done to perfection.  The curry sauce was fantastic and didn't overpower the fish as one might think.  I am not a fan of wild asparagus.  I find the flavor to be to onion like.  And I am not a huge onion fan.  Thankfully, there was fresh asparagus on top and the wild was hidden under my fish.  The char, per Lynn, was fantastic.  The came and grated fresh wasabi right there on at the table so you could control the amount that you got. 

It was all served with freshly made bread.

Beautiful, right?  We finished off the meal with white peach and wild strawberry souffle served with almonds and caramel sauce.  They then brought us little macaroons made with shortbread and a vanilla cream.  So good.

The interior of the restaurant is done in whites and beige with huge splashes of lime green- in the curtains and seat covers.  It is a large space but at the same time, small and intimate.  It was fantastic.  

However, that wasn't our last meal in Stockholm.  We still had time for lunch the next day at the Spirit Museum.  Now, you might not think that a museum restaurant is that good.  But, it was.  I opted for the asparagus salad with ham and cheese served with Bearnaise sauce.  I know it seems like an odd combination, but it really did work well together.  We ate outside, so we were able to people watch and look out on the water.

All right, I am finally done with Stockholm.  Sorry if I made you all really hungry and ready for it to be 5pm somewhere.