Hjemvendt - Homeward Bound

I awoke at 5pm and, as usual, copied across the photos from the camara before editing them and our phone photos (Drew won’t use the posh camara in restaurants, he says it is too intrusive, though I’m sure the restaurants wouldn’t mind.) Editing complete I uploaded them all on to Flickr.

Drew woke just before 7pm, so I began the usual coffee making routine. We had noted that the hotel did breakfast when we booked it, but had wanted to explore other venues, so today was the first day we decided to stay at the hotel for breakfast. 

We went down at 9am and were very impressed. The breakfast is in four areas 

(a) juices and coffee/tea; 

(b) cold meats, cheeses, salmon and bread; 

(c) hot items: bacon and eggs, scrambled and boiled; and 

(d) salads/yogurts etc.

We each had three plates of various items with Drew topping it off with to Danish Pastries – oddly, being in Denmark, the first of the holiday!

We came back up to the room and packed before going down to reception and checking out at 11am. We then went on to the Metro M4 change at Konges Netorv to the M2 and to the Airport arriving at 11.34am.

Self-check in for our bags preferred us using our booking number rather than our boarding pass or passports, which it said it would, but with that limitation it worked very well.

Because the airport was so quiet at this time, we had cleared security by 11.50am. 

We had a coffee at Joe and the Juice airside and at 1.15pm headed down to the gate, 

which we cleared by 1.40pm. All ready for our 2pm Flight which was scheduled to be 10 minutes late as the incoming plane only arrived at 1.45pm a short walk to the plane and we were sat down by 2pm and take off at 2.25pm. 

We arrived back in Bristol at 3.02pm local time. The 95-minute flight was shorter than expected due, according to the co-pilot (the plane one not the blog one) to good tail winds. Thanks to epassports we were at the luggage belt by 3.20pm.

And the luggage arrived at 3.30. We had booked the 5.15 bus to take account of any hold ups, so had an Americano and a Latte at Ritazza in the Airport. 

The bus left on time with the driver warning there would be a delay as there are major roads works around the Clifton Bridge. With that and the usual delays around Newport we arrived at the Bus Station in Sophia Gardens at 7.15pm. 

We walked across Bute Park and we caught the 136 at 7.26pm to the Village Hotel and walked the last mile home – the end of a really enjoyable short break.

Given our experience I'd strongly recommend Copenhagen for a visit. Why not give it a try?

Amass - Where food meets sustainability and both win!

Tonight’s meal was another one we were really looking forward to, while we had not managed to get a booking in Noma, a real challenge, we had experienced the whimsy of Alloutte and the core Nordic approach of Barr, so tonight’s exploration is at the intriguingly named Amass.

Amass is one of those restaurants which have developed in Copenhagen out of the influence of Noma, just as Barr had taken Noma’s building, so Amass has been created by one of Noma’s former chefs – Matt Orlando. Orlando was Head Chef at Noma from 2010 to 2013, having worked there previously as Sous Chef from 2005 to 2007 in between he worked in Thomas Keller’s three-starred Michelin restaurant, Per Se. Matt left Noma in 2013 to found Amass.

Water Bus

But first our journey to the restaurant. Amass is situated in one of the warehouse districts of Copenhagen on the island called Refshaleøen across the channel from the main areas we have visited. 

From the hotel it was the M4 metro all the way from one end of the line to the other this was the first time we’d been further than Østerport on this line and it is clear from the Orientkaj Station that this part of the land is on newly reclaimed industrial land. 

At Orientkaj Station we have to change to a boat bus to the Rafshaleøen stop. The boat bus is a very gentle experience, Drew really enjoyed the shots it allowed him to take. The speed of movement is slow, but it got us there.

Dinner at Amass – 10 courses plus

When we arrived in Rafshaleøen were intrigued to find Amass was in a warehouse, see the photos at the top of this post. The industrial theme on the outside  led to an industrial inside too.

The place was really open and the tables were a great distance from each other.

Amass was established as a restaurant with a clear philosophy to prove that gastronomy and hospitality can go hand in hand with sustainability, not something always at the front of Michelin starred places. By 2016 Amass was organically certified in 2016, ensuring that 90% to 100% of the food and beverages served at Amass are organic and free of pesticides. More than that, the Amass ethos is to reduce waste in all its forms taking the by-products of kitchen produce and representing it by creating unique and exciting flavours. So, combing a drastically reduced the restaurant’s carbon footprint and achieving. This theme informed the whole meal.

The menu offers one tasting menu, so the only option was between the tasting menu with either drink or juice pairing and the Full Package which also include an aperitif and coffee. We opted for this option with juice.

The aperitif was delicious, a pulp of raspberry, sage and apple topped up with sparking water. The raspberry and sage were both grown in the restaurant garden and the apple in an orchard a few miles out of the city. This theme of ‘localism’ continued to be proudly explained through the food and drinks of the meal.

The meal started with yesterday's left-over bread now puffed up to resemble prawn crackers, I told you not much gets thrown away here, and this is just some of the evidence. The added flavour of sour cream and leek powder made these crackers delicious. They were served with Thyme and Tarragon and other garden herb infused napkins, yes, the smells were amazing and the napkins cooling and refreshing, a wonderful start to our culinary adventure this evening.

Next came a Danish Shiso leaf around an intense mushroom and herb tempeh. Tempeh seems to be one of those fashionable foods at present, for those who don’t know it, it is made by cooking and fermenting lentils and soybeans, in this case they were, we were assured, locally grown lentils and soybeans. The Shiso and Tempeh are both inspired by Japan, but this was enhanced by the Korean flavour of Gochujang with its chilli heat. Gochujang is grown as a healthy fungus through the fermentation process, so has links to kimchi and sauerkraut, but is spicier than both. The whole taster piece had an amazing texture, enhanced by the excellent crockery, which is specially made for this place. 

Our next drink, to go with the ‘bread’ course is a light flavoured drink made from tomato skins and rosemary soaked overnight in a bell pepper vinegar, tangy rather than sharp, it provided a good contrast to the richness of the ‘bread’. 

I used the word ‘bread’ as this is not what I would normally call bread, as there is no wheat involved – which is great for those who have a gluten intolerance. In fact, it is grilled potato bread cooked on the charcoal grill and finished in the oven with Shiso butter (often known as Shea butter in the UK) and softened corn pulp – a very different texture from wheat bread plump and hearty, the butter has an infusion of shiso leaves and ginger and brings out a minty basily flavour which is an enjoyable combination.

Next came the chef’s homage to tomatoes. A dish with four different types of tomatoes (fresh and freeze dried), basil and dried green strawberry with tomato water, infused with scallop roe curd, the tingling on the lips makes this a must taste dish, simple ingredients, but loved and cared for into superb food. The tomato element of the drink worked perfectly with it.  

The next course was accompanied by a drink made from green tea and summer herbs (I could taste tarragon and lemon balm, but know there were others), this had been matured for 24 hours before serving. A fascinating colour and a delightful refreshing taste.  

This was served with Mackerel seared on a charcoal grill with foraged seasonal mushrooms including oyster, shitake and chanterelle with a mackerel emulsion and tiny pieces of gherkin. The crisp skin is simply amazing. I know all these flavours, but they way they are combined and celebrated here means my palette is challenged in new ways, and all of the new ways are good ones. 

So on to our next course and this was served with a drink made from pear skins, coffee and brown sugar base strained with lambic vinegar. I thought the colour of the last drink was amazing, but this one had even more layers of colour, red heading towards purple (but remember I’m colour-blind, so I may not get that quite right). Its taste was an acidic sharpness which, as planned, I suspect matched really well with the food. 

That food was a poached lobster with plums and a beetroot leaf on top glazed with lobster sauce - astoundingly the beetroot has the texture of a sushi wrap, which is more commonly banana leaves! A texture and taste sensation, this dish again made me stop while I was eating it, to wonder how such combinations could have been invented in the first place – clearly the chef is either a crazed artist, or a genius, or both!! Still, I didn’t stop to long as the flavours were too good to miss.

Next, served to support the lobster was a sweeter dish. This was corn kernels, with corn pole boiled for 48 hours and juice extracted with a brown sugar fermentation with slices of wild sep mushroom. Like a sweet corn soup, that name gives no credit to the depth of the flavours in this bowl. 

Our next course was accompanied by a blackberry with summer berries red and black currents and strawberries infusion. This had been infused for a long time on site in a berry vinegar and produced a deep, sharp drink, ideal for my palette.

The drink worked well with the meatiness of the fish with which it was served. The lightly fried hake in butter sauce had glazed cucumber on top, an herby sauce and soft garden herbcrust. This was like the Mediterranean meeting a country garden, with the fish (which I know as Merluza from many visits to Spain) benefitting from the rich herbiness around it. 

The second stage of this dish (or next dish depending on your personal perspective) was a bowl of noodles with fish broth and xo sauce. True to the principles of the restaurant the broth was made from every bit of fish bone and the head and tail and boiled down with the noodles, cabbage and other cured leaves. It has a peppery tang that I really enjoyed. 

Following the delicious fish course, the next drink arrived and was an Elderflower and pineappleweed juice. The pineappleweed had a sharp camomile taste, I think I might have preferred more elderflower and less pineappleweed, but that’s just my taste preference, camomile makes me think of childhood chickenpox when I was spread with camomile lotion regularly to avoid scratching, so the smell isn’t conducive to me feeling well, rather a reminder of being ill! 

With this drink came a large, Danish grown, cucumber pretending to be melon! It has been soused in vinegar, to soften it, so it has a melon texture without the food travel miles associated with melon. So it is, after this treatment sweet and is served with a creamy foam and topped with Bees Pollen. Melon and honey is now cucumber and pollen, not only tasting nice, but making the diner feel virtuous about their food miles too. 

Our final juice as a sparkling rhubarb, raspberry and pear skin, the core ingredients had been topped up with sparking water and the drink has a sweetness that is not unpleasant but is reminiscent of the rhubarb sweets (I think they used to be rhubarb and apple) that I had as a child.

This was served with an apple skin ice cream. This was made with dried apple pulp infused with sugar to draw out the flavour with puffed wheat and granola on top and a caramel to bind it together – clever and tasty. Not too sweet for me (so Drew didn’t get both) it was an enjoyable crescendo to the entire meal. 

The meal wasn’t quite finished as we had ordered coffee as part of our full menu and we both had Espresso, a dark rich coffee flavour. The coffee was served with Pumpkin seed chocolate with miso caramel on a bed of pumpkin seeds in place of Petite Fours – Drew might have liked them a little sweeter and more chocolaty, but he didn’t say know when asked if he wanted mine as well.

Looking back over the meal the whole thing was an amazing experience, tastes I’d never seen together and a great emphasis on the origin and full use of the ingredients. I felt like I was in at the beginning of a food revolution which is beginning to address climate change while make no compromise on flavour. 

Back to the Hotel

Our return journey was longer, but more prosaic than our water bus arrival. After 8pm the water bus reduces its travel, but a bus leaves from the front of the restaurant (the opposite side from which we arrived) every ten minutes. It was less than 100 meters from the entrance of the restaurant to the bus stop and, as you can see from the map below, the bus travelled across bridges along many of the islands in this area taking us through Christianshavn and on to stop at the entrance to the Central Train Station 17 stops later. We could then walk through the station concourse on to our hotel. 

We got to the hotel at 10:30pm ready for our last night in this lovely city.  

Copenhagen Food Consulting - Restaurant Cofoco

 

At the end of the last blog post we had just got back from Malmö, as neither of us had been to Sweden we weren’t sure when we left this morning if we would stop in Malmö for a meal or have something when we returned to Copenhagen this evening. As it turned out we opted to leave Malmo on the 3.40pm train and got back to the hotel at 4.36pm, plenty of time to wash, change and go out for dinner. So, where to eat?

Whereas I normally plan our eating in great detail, today, as we weren’t sure of location, we weren’t sure where to eat. 

I remembered an article I’d seen earlier in the holiday about an up and coming Danish company called the Copenhagen Food Consulting Company which had developed a distinctive Nordic cuisine in the small-plate tradition. I googled the company and it turned out that the first restaurant the company developed in 2004 was only .3 of a mile from our hotel – so we took a quick look at the menu and checked their availability for this evening. We were very lucky to find that they had a table for 8.30pm. The restaurant is called Cofoco based on the initial letters of the company name!

We strolled down to the Restaurant, which was set just below ground level on Abel Cathrines Gade, indeed we had walked past it twice before, though not really noticed it. The restaurant was very busy, but in the tradition of fællesspisning which is becoming common in Nordic culture, the seats were close together – not quite shared tables in full fællesspisning style, but a simple menu which allowed no options other than to have four, five or six courses. Of course, we opted for the six, or as it was described in the menu as ‘snacks and 5 course’. 

Drew at Restaurant CoFoCo

We began our six courses with a little taster of Toast with vesterhavs cheese and iberico ham.

We have tasted the Vesterhavs cheese on a few occasions since arriving in Copenhagen, often for breakfast, so know it has a very strong tangy flavour, that and the salty richness of iberico ham - a full on Pata Negra flavour - worked really well as a taster. The snack was served like a toastie, the bread carried the strong flavours and was perfect as an appetisier, making us hungry for more.

The next course was a Trout tartare with horseradish cream, cucumber, and garden sorrel - with puffed rice and white current

The lightly soused trout was spread over a base of horseradish which acted as a perfect foil for the piquant horseradish, the fish was dressed with sorrel adding a crisp texture and the white currents provided a sharp contrast as you came across each berry.

Before the next course came, we were offered Oat Bread with Butter

The oatey bread was richly textured with little bits of oat seed through the bread so it had crunch along with the delicious flavour, an interesting alternative to wheat bread.

Our next course was salted scallops with foamy mussel sauce, dill oil, and apples with some parsley sprout shoots 

The texture of the foam was more like a soup, the scallop was cooked through the foam rather than as a chunk, but the scallop flavour pervaded the whole dish. I was too polite (not like me I hear some say!) to lick the bowl, but I was very tempted and used my spoon to almost the same effect.

Next came the Grilled romaine lettuce with cream cheese, smoked “Vesterhavs” cheese, and herbs

Yes, good old Vesterhavs again, but here grated over the toasted lettuce leaves in the way you would sprinkle parmesan over pasta sauces. It was crisp and delicious, this is a recipe I'm certainly going to try and recreated when I get home, simple yet with an intensity of flavour that makes me smile to remember. The grilling of the leaves made them a little bitterer than I'd expected, but this enhanced the flavour on the tongue, rather than took away from it - lovely. 

Our 'main' course, if you can call it that, as it was another small plate was Confit of cockerel with grilled corn, pointed cabbage, and tarragon with bolt flowers.

The male chicken, which I'd heard was tougher than the female variety more commonly served in the UK, was soft tender and juicy. The tarragon sauce gave a hint of aniseed to the dish and the microherbs and microflowers each offered a tiny zing of their own. Another excellent mix of flavours. 

Our dessert was Elderflower yoghurt ice cream with vanilla cream, and compote on apples and Mirabelle plum.

Regular readers will know that I don't normally do desserts, but the idea of yoghurt ice cream and the sharpness of apples and plums meant that Drew was disappointed in his normal experience of two desserts. Indeed, as you can see above, I was so eager to try it that I had eaten quite a bit before remembering to take a photo!! It was, as expected, sharp rather than sweet, a perfect dessert for me.

We finished with a lovely Espresso each.

These were served with some Petite Fours

I did let Drew have all of these, as they would clearly be way too sweet for me. They were a French nougat and creme caramel and a sweet block called Toast på briochebrød – Toast on brioche bread! Drew loved them all.

We completed the meal at five to eleven and then walked back to the hotel the other way around the block from the one we had come and were in bed soon after 11pm after a busy day, and delightfully tasty evening.