Dinner at Alloutte

As I mentioned in my last post, this evening was all about a meal at Alloutte, one of the restaurants that I booked 90 days ago, as soon as its reservations opened - even then it was quite a challenge as the restaurant only opens on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Still, it was all worth the effort.

The Kitchen - Alloutte

On the way to Alloutte

Alouette is to be found in an industrial area of the Islands Brygge, the most recently developed part of the City, across the main canal from where we are staying in Vesterbro.

We left the hotel at 4.30pm and a metro ride and a 25 minute walk got us to the restaurant at 5.25pm.

We walked towards the place indicated on Google Maps and were accosted by two people dressed in black. They asked: "What are you looking for" and we explained Alloutte - one of them then asked us to follow her.

Alouette shares a courtyard with some music studios/venues and the workshop of Københavns Møbelsnedkeri. It is a very industrial area.

Indeed, it turned out as we discussed things with the wait staff that Københavns Møbelsnedkeri designed and built most of the restaurant from scratch, this includes the floors, the kitchen and the tables.

As we walked along the young lady asked Drew what we were doing in the city, when he explained he was here for the half-marathon she responded with a look of derision saying: "Oh, for Fuck sake, you're shitting me!!" A very colloquial expression for someone who is speaking in her second language. Though to be fair I've noticed watching lots of Danish TV with subtitles that Danes tend to swear in English, I'm not sure if we have a wider range of expletives than in their language but it is always a surprise when the 'f-word' is heard in the middle of a long tirade in Danish. We would never have found the door to the restaurant, see above, without this help.

We were walked through a well graffitied space, leading to an equally decorated lift.

Though once we get out of the lift and walk through the metal door - a much more pleasant ambience greets us.

The whole place is really nicely laid out in calming colours and the furniture is well designed.

They have three menus here at Alloutte - the Omnivore, the Pescatarian and the Vegetarian. We had opted for the Omnivore (I know its Friday, an abstinence from meat day, but this is a special treat, so I'll have to make it up at a later date.) We also choose to go with their non-alcoholic drinks pairing, and we were so glad we did.

The meal started with a sparkling drink called Passing Clouds from Muri - this was largely chilled carrot water, raspberry and smoked rhubarb, an intense rich flavour with a sharp acidity making it a delight. 

We then had three pre-starters which, by the time I'd noted what they were on my phone (to help my memory) and we got to eat I forgot to photograph - sorry. 

First was Fjord Squid & Zenia’s Japanese Quince - This locally sourced squid (the restaurant links to its suppliers, so out of curtesy I'll do the same in this post) was gently cooked over coals with a hint of chilli and, another locally sourced ingredient, Japanese quince. It was soft, sharp and delicious. Gone in a second, it did what appitisers are suppossed to do, make you want to eat more.

Sourced from: https://www.fjordfoods.dk/om-fjord/fjord-engros/ and https://www.instagram.com/zeniasamlersen/

The second was Seerupgaard’s Dried Summer Flowers, a small tartlet made not from traditional pastry but kombucha whey (! - yep, I know - what??) drained until dry and made into a pastry, with a dried yogurt with the juice all drained inside and small pieces of lamb covered with marigold, chive and blueberry flowers. A little tingle on the tongue, the crisp tart was a flavour I'd not even imagined before, the lamb earthy and the flowers were heavenly, a perfectly balanced combination. Sourced from: https://seerupgaard.dk/

The third little treat was called Dario’s Truffles - this was a Shoe bun with homemade sunflower seed butter topped with a Japanese seaweed jelly, truffles and home-grown (on the roof) Australian nasturtiums. Even writing those ingredients make it sound mad - eating them had that feel two, like a savoury profiteroles with just the right enough of bounce in the bun to deliver the complex delight of the flavours. Drew said: "I could do that lot again" and I agreed completly. Sourced from: https://www.instagram.com/darios.truffles/

 

It is worth noting, in case I don't mention it later that the chefs do 80% of the food delivery and explanation. While another staff member, with an impressively twirled moustache, introduced us to most of the drinks and other staff members, including later in the evening, the lady who had brought us up in the lift, looked after other things like cutlery, which was delivered course by course and clearing the table.

The chef next brought us Pain Au Lait with Apple Bacon Butter - this milk bread is served with a butter apple caramel and smoked bacon butter. She described the process and timings of making the butter, but I was so focussed on the unlikely flavours that I've not captured that detail. I did however remember to photograph it.

The butter was salty, smoky with a sharp, almost brambly, apple flavour. It was creamed rather than a hard block, making it all too easy to spead of the soft, slightly nutty, bread.

 

I was on my third glass of sparking carrot juice by now, so it was nice to be introduced to our next drink. A lemonade, gooseberry and elderflower cordial designed to be sharp and like a drier white wine to complement the first course - Gartneri Toftegård & Kysøko Summer Fruits. 

This amazing dish has four types of tomato (two fresh, two dried) and a habanada chili specially developed to have the sweetness of an habanero but none of the heat. Served with gooseberries and a gooseberry and tomato sauce spilt with blackberries and with a miso emulsion underneath this dish was a magnitude of wonders. Sharp, tangy yet gentle on the palate. Drew, uncharacteristically, laughed out loud when he tasted the hanadada, it was so strange to taste something that looked, smelt and tasted like an habanero but had none of the chilli heat. It has to be said that we are lovers of chilli, but in this dish, with the subtle variations of the flavours of the different tomatoes it would have been overpowering, so this balanced flavour was perfect.

Sourced from: – https://www.gartneri-toftegaard.dk/ and http://www.kysoko.dk/kysoko/index.php

 

Our next drink was a pear dashi - Danish pears with a seaweed tang, providing an umami taste to the sweet pear. While there were lots of lovely drinks, I think this one was my favourite. 

 

The pear dashi was designed to complement the Seerupgaard & Rossini Hokkaido & Black Label Caviar. This is a pumpkin taken and burnt in the embers for some hours, then the blackness is peeled and the pumpkin pulped with Danish caviar. 

As well as looking pretty, the dish has a lovely sauce which the chef pours over it, the source is an oyster, blue mussel and smoked cheese flavour. It is hard to know where to start in describing this dish. The pumpkin has an amazing flavour, the waft of smokiness still around it, but in no way overpowering, the salty, local caviar, brings out the rich pumpkiny taste. The sauce hits all the notes of my favourite seafood tastes with another smoky element provided by the melted cheese. It brought all my Oliver Twist out of me, I could all so easily have asked for more (if we weren't getting more of other nice stuff, of course). 

Sourced from:  https://seerupgaard.dk/ and https://rossinicaviar.com/

The next drink was a dark, purply colour. I'd guessed correctly that only beetroot could be that dark, it turned out that this was a beetroot, raspberry and hibiscus drink. Though the beetroot gave most of the dark, dark colour, it was the hibiscus that gave the biggest hit of flavour. I like hibiscus as its tart sharpness is right in my taste preference range with the earthy beetroot and tangy raspberry it combined to be rich and piquant. Given all that it should be no surprise that it was the perfect accompaniment for the next course.

 

The next dish was Hegnsholt Savoury Custard - Chawanmushi: an umami packed Japanese savoury egg custard covered with tiny pieces of crisp chicken skin, almost like a crust on the custard, this was covered by a chicken stock and cheese foam. Like the drink, the dish was tangy and piquant, the word flavorous comes to mind and the crispy skin is enough to move me to ecstasy. Yet again Drew commented that we could easily do this one again.    

Sourced from – https://www.hegnsholt.net/

We then moved to our penultimate drink. This was blue grapes and lapsang souchong tea. It was amusing that the young lady explained to us what lapsang souchong is, as it is a tea I've enjoyed since I was in my late teens. I always have some at home. 

However, we did need her to explain blue grapes, as in our experience grapes are black, red or green. It turns out that this grape juice is turned blue by juicing the grapes, then sitting the grape pulp in the juice so that the tannins and colour escape into the juice. This high tannin level works wonderfully with the tea, which is also rich in tannins. A perfect, smoky, combination.

The next course, the meat course is Hindsholm & Kiselgården - Pork Loin & Young Leeks. This isn't any pork, rather it is home reared, naturally developed pork, with the pigs left to forage for themselves, never see concrete and not have any antibiotics pumped into them. This slower mode of development leads to longer growth periods which also mean tastier meat. In this case the pork is butchered, a garlic rub applied on the skin, a light glaze of honey on top of this and it is gently roasted. This is served on a bed of organic leeks, the bones of the pig are then cooked down in chicken stock with lemon thyme and used to create a wonderful, delicious sauce.

The meat was amazingly tender, the skin rendered perfectly, the leeks were tangy and had been smoked over the coals, absolutely delicious, but it was the sauce which was the star of the show. Indeed, my attempts, having finished the meat and leeks, to use my fork like a spoon to mop up the juices was noticed by our attentive friend with the moustache, so he arrived, unbidden with two more pieces of bread for us both and put some more of the sauce on the plate for us. I know I'm a simple person, but the childhood treat of mopping up my bread in gravy, still thrills me, and when the bread and gravy are this amazing, I was transported back to all my best memories.   

Sourced from: https://www.hindsholmgrisen.dk/ and https://kiselgaarden.dk/

 

Our final drink was, as I suspected it would be when they brought out dessert size glasses, very, very sweet. It was Apple and Earl Grey, here the sweet apples were complemented by the bergamot in the Earl Grey, perfect for a sweet lover, but so sweet for me that Drew had both glasses. 

 

The dessert course was Kysøko & Seerupgaard Apples & Bees. This used raw discovery apples on a bed of miso, apple pulp and muscovado sugar butter, this was combined with Bees pollen and lemon thyme with a white chocolate layer. I can only describe it as Lactic tanginess, it was thankfully a lot less sweet than the drink. Even I, a non-sweet eater, enjoyed this dessert.

Sourced from: http://www.kysoko.dk/kysoko/index.php and https://seerupgaard.dk/

We finished with an espresso each, these came with petite fours which were Rokkedysse Strawberries & Zenia’s Woodruff – Strawberry and woodruff gel with a woodruff topping in a miso custard. Sourced from:- https://rokkedysse.dk/english/ and https://www.instagram.com/zeniasamlersen/

and Daisuke’s Filled Chocolate - Triple chocolate shell, caramel miso - Pumpkin seed nougatine and a white chocolate ganache. Sourced from: https://www.instagram.com/daisuke.murata.37/

We paid the bill which was much less than expected as I'd forgotten I had had to pay a 20% deposit on booking. Our moustached friend provided us with a well folded menu, which was more origami than simple folding. I asked him, as a joke, whether he had done this himself. He replied - I used to, but it took too much time. He then went on to say in the language which seems to be the style here: "Now we have a lady who comes in a couple of times a week, folds three hundred napkins, does the menus and then fucks off home!" and were shown back out to the street by our friend who impressed her colleagues by telling them of Drew's running plans, much to his embarrassment.   

 

Having spent two hours and fifteen minutes eating our meal. It was 40 minutes getting back to the hotel. Where we sat and discussed the pleasures of the meal until we went to bed at 10pm.

With the addition travel this evening it means Friday was 8.95 miles and a smidge over 20,000 steps.

[Co-pilot's disclaimer: Some, dear readers, might have found the colourful and fruity language used in the restaurant out of place/slightly offensive. It is our/my opinion that it was absolutely perfect for the occasion and they managed to hit the completely right spot between being friendly and oppressive service - the service was indeed perfect. It fitted in with the exact image I/we had of the country from the TV programmes we have watched.]