North Road- semi Scandinavian cuisine?

North road, London, has received a lot of praise and accolades during its two year life span, including being awarded a coveted star from Michelin. Their website informs you that head chef Christoffer Hruskova has travelled and worked in Sydney, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco before settling in London, and opening North road Restaurant.

Anyone planning on opening a restaurant across the road from the icon which is St John, must have pretty big opinions of themselves, and a lot of confidence in their ability to perform. Mr Hruskova certainly has confidence and ambition, but for me this whole experience was somewhat of a let down.

My first indication that this may not have been the place for me was the way I was shepherded to what the waiter told me was 'the best table in the restaurant'.

It wasn't.It was the window table, and it was next to the only other occupied table in the place at 7.30 on a Friday night.Although my neighbours were pleasant enough, even they were bemused by the realisation that we were the only ones in there. They too had been promised 'the best table', as they had told the staff that it was their wedding anniversary. Odd.

Then came the food. I chose North road on the reviews I had read which had compared it with the Danish food Behemoth that is Noma. Having had several great experiences under the guidance of Rene Redzepi's team and at several other fantastic Copenhagen eateries, it seemed like a must do.

I hope I am not doing North road an injustice by comparing it with Noma, but when you emulate something like Noma, and even try and reproduce some of its classic dishes, you have to be pretty damn good at it in my opinion, and frankly, this wasn't.

The bread. The bread was nice, looked and smelled great, tasted good. It was however, the smallest bread I have ever seen. the photo above gives guidance to that, the butter ball you see is a standard melon baller size. The rolls were only just bigger than that.Fine, I understand I was having a tasting menu ( 7 courses plus 'snacks') but they were ridiculously small, and I was not offered any more, despite the butter staying on my table during the whole meal.

While the snacks were nice, the pickled and smoked quail egg ( (C)noma) was very vinegary and not at all smoky, the smoked potato was incredibly smoky and came with a creme fraiche filling. The other was introduced as fish skin pork crackling. it was nice and crispy, but neither fishy or porky.

The first course proper was superb, and really had me thinking i was in for a treat. A delicate scallop tartare with oatmeal crostini and wild garlic, it was delicate, fresh and perfectly seasoned. This was my only really good dish.

Razor clams in a dill cream and sea herb oil was bland, and very under seasoned, although the clams were perfectly cooked.

butter poached lobster was technically fine, but the flavours didn't work at all, and whatever the powder that was sprinkled on it was, it did nothing but remind me of eating sand at the beach as a kid.

White and green asparagus, egg yolk and wild garlic was not great and not exciting, a poor imitation of a dish we have all seen a million times.

sweetbreads in a pork skin crust (airbag) with wild cress salad and watercress puree was bland, virtually free from any seasoning other than the pork skin crust and badly cooked. two nuggets of sweetbread, one badly overcooked and the other was on the wrong side of just cooked.
My main course was lamb, with sweetbreads, purple sprouting broccoli and an egg yolk sauce. Once again, the cooking was fine, the lamb was nice and pink and tender, but it was so boring, no depth of flavour from the meat or the accompaniments. It screamed out for some garlic, herbs or acidic element to enliven it. Its cries fell on deaf ears.

my pre-dessert was a fun thing, a 'pebble' of coconut ice cream, coated in an edible clay called Kaolin, and made to look just like stone.

For dessert, I was presented with a yoghurt parfait with pine 'snow' and a douglas fir and yoghurt meringue. all the elements were fine, but it was also very very sweet, and the lasting mouth feel was like candy floss.A tame end to an overall average meal.

Except it wasn't the end. After the very sugary dessert came some petit fours -even though I didn't have coffee- of a sugary shortbread, sea salt caramel and candy floss. I tasted them all, and exactly as I expected, way too sweet an ending.

The final nail in the north road coffin for me was when I discovered that I had been charged for coffee and petit fours, despite not having the coffee and not asking for the petit fours. When I pointed this out, my waiter merely said "but you ate them sir...". I paid for my petit fours, and when asked as I left if I enjoyed my 'experience', I had no option but to tell the waiter that no, I had not.

As a post script to this page, it turns out that chef Hrusskova had actually parted company with north road at the time of my 'experience' there, a fact which only came to light recently. I hope it explains how a restaurant can go so far out of its way to be poor, and that Crisstoffer is soon cooking again so I can visit and he can prove to me that his philosophy works.

Fiskebaren, (as recommended by some bloke called Rene)

 'When in Rome' as the much mis-quoted saying goes, 'Do as the Romans do'. With this in mind, when I had a few days in Copenhagen with nothing much to occupy my time, I asked the most obvious person I could think of for advice on a good place to eat in Denmark's capital- Rene Redzepi. From the few places he mentioned, this was the one he glowed about when talking of it. It seems Rene and his staff pop in regularly, and the team at Fiskebaren contains the obligatory-for-Copenhagen few members of ex-Noma staff.

 Leaving it my traditionally cool amount of lateness, I called Fiskebaren at 2pm to try and book for that evening- a Saturday. I know, I know, who books a Saturday dinner table on Saturday afternoon? The very polite response from the charming young lady on the phone was that they were fully booked, but that there are no bookings on the bar, so I was told to just turn up and wait, or be there at six when they open as there are usually less people around and thus less of a wait. Bingo.

So, following the second scariest taxi ride of my life, with someone who had clearly been in Copenhagen less time than myself (The scariest was in Milan, but thats for another day...) I turned up in the meat packing district of Copenhagen a little after six and easily found 'Kodbyens Fiskebaren', to give it its full title.

 Even though it was only a little after opening, the bar was already full, showing its popularity- bear in mind that this was a chilly saturday in april. The bar is split into two sides though, the one side is kind of like a waiting room, where you can still sit and have a drink, or even a couple of the cold dishes from the menu, and the other side is more like part of the main restaurant, where you can order from the full menu.

Whilst waiting on the 'cold' side of the bar, I ordered a couple of the small, tapas style dishes- The scallops and the lumpfish roe dishes. 

Scallops
The scallop dish (with celeriac, cauliflower, seaweed and consommé), was dotted with an earthy lobster oil, which worked really well with the rich puréed cauliflower and salty samphire. As you can see, the scallops were raw, and thinly sliced, keeping the whole dish light and fresh, and the delicate consommé had a herbal taste which kept with the land and sea combo. 

Lumpfish roe

 Of the cold dishes I tried, this was my favourite. Billed as 'lumpfish roe, smoked cheese, cucumber, crisp potato shell', the simplicity of the description could have led the mind anywhere, but as I sat anticipating its arrival, I imagined something very similar to the dish that arrived- a huge pile of the salty roe, balls of cucumber centres, fried potato skins and a slick of smooth, smoky cream cheese. making a graceful addition to the plate was a long potato crisp, dusted with smoked salt. Again, brilliant balance of flavour, and a wonderful range of textures. the soft roe like a beginner's caviare, scooped up in one of the potato skin pieces and smeared with the smoky cream cheese is my idea of  heaven. If the rest of the menu wasn't so tempting, I would have sat and ordered this again and again.

Lumpfish roe

Oysters

 Making the move around to the 'proper' side of the bar, I was once again presented with the menu and wine list, and again ordered two dishes at once. Like a classic tapas bar, you can order as much or as little as you want, in whatever stages suit you. When items are ready, they are brought to you, so you have something in front of you while you wait for the rest, or if you don't wish to hurry, order one at a time- a great way to eat in my opinion.

Oyster condiment

 Having ordered a hot and a cold dish at the same time, the cold oysters showed up first, one of each type they serve- Danish fjord oyster, and three from brittany- perle noir, fines and speciales de gillardeau. I was surprised at the distinct difference in flavour, texture and minerality of the four types, having previously only having had one type in one serving before. The condiment which came with the oysters was a perfect balance of sweetness, acidity and fresh herbal flavour and was a mix of celery vinegar, diced apple and dill oil.

Plaice

 Just as I slurped my last oyster, a beautiful dish of plaice, white wine, almonds and eggs arrived. baked on the bone, then filleted, the fish was at the point of being cooked which all chefs love, moist, yet firm, and full of taste. the accompaniments worked well, and the salsify rolled in fried citrus rye bread crumbs was fantastic. When I look back at the rest of the menu, I'm almost surprised I ordered the dish, but looking back at the photos, I'm glad I did. The warm sweet almonds and the soft yolk mixed into the rich beurre blanc, and created a very special sauce. A lovely, surprising dish.

Plaice

Fish and chips
Okay, I know its not the obvious choice while dining in a Scandinavian fish restaurant, but having seen scores of people around me order it, I had to, and it certainly wasn't a disappointment. Lightly smoked pollack coated in crisp breadcrumbs, fried Gotlandic potatoes were actually some of the finest chips I have sampled, and the fried capers and fresh remoulade sauce were perfect accessories.  All served up in a Danish newspaper, the way all fish and chips should be!

Fish and chips

Fish and chips

Fish and chips

Mutzo apples

 Feeling pretty full by now, with a couple of glasses of wine and the above food doing its work, I risked a dessert. There are only three sweet options at the end of the meal, or a cheeseboard. The one I chose was on the menu as 'Mutzo apples in textures, aquavit, dill.' What arrived was a very modern looking assembly of apple ice cream, dill granité, warm brown sugar meringue, crunchy apple crisp, raw apple, fresh dill, apple biscuit crumb and a caramelised apple purée. The perfect end to a meal like this, and technically spot on. 

              Mutzo apples

                  Mutzo apples

As I ate my meal at Fiskebaren, I was sat next to an American lady, who was charming company, and she tried a lot of the dishes which I didn't, and I have to say that they all looked fantastic too, steamed mussels, trout tartare, razor clams and a dish of cod roe I almost fought her for. 

Fiskebaren may not get as much attention as Noma, but it is certainly worth a look in while in the City. At a fraction of the price, it is worth thr trip there in its own right.