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.

Noma- still the worlds best?

Ok, we all know about Noma, right? Rene Redzepi, foraging, Worlds best restaurant, two Michelin stars, local produce and so on.

 I am a lucky so and so, and recently I made my third trip there, and was treated to my best meal there yet. I say best meal THERE, because although it is an amazing, one off kind of a restaurant, and rightly voted the worlds best (twice), I have had better restaurant experiences, but not many!

The food is certainly unique, I have never eaten live shrimp masked in a warm butter emulsion before. Similarly, until I reached Noma I had never been offered a mussel in a shell and told to eat the whole thing, shell and all. It is also the only place, to this day, where I have been served distilled tree sap as a beverage for with my meal instead of tap or bottled water.

All of these factors, and a whole lot more, contribute to a fantastic experience, as obviously there is so much more to a restaurant than the food. At Noma, more than most other restaurants, the whole team buy into the philosophy and food on offer. Each member of the team has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the dishes and provenance of ingredients, and that makes a real difference. How many times have you asked a waiter about an element of the food, only to have them say " I'll just check with chef"? This feeling that it is a team effort really sets it apart, and is a huge inspiration for me as a chef, to make sure that I train anyone working with me to know all there is to know about the menu. 

Having said all of that, and to reiterate my feeling that it is a fantastic restaurant, with the 2012 'worlds best restaurant' awards coming up on monday (30th april) the question has to be asked- is it still the worlds best?

To help make my mind up, and hopefully yours too, here are a sample of some of the dishes I was treated to this time, along with a little insight to how they are created, and what makes them magical.

As ever, the first offering is on your table before you are sat, although you wouldn't be aware of it. In the small vase on the table, amongst the foraged herbs and shoots, are a couple of flatbread branches, similar to a crispbread, shaped like a twig and deep fried, then sprinkled with juniper and pine powder, which resemble a moss covered fallen branch in the woods. This is explained to you as the waiter, or very often one of the chefs, bring some soured cream for you to dip into

 Pork scratching, with blackberry leather and smoked sea salt. the rind of the pork is salted, rinsed and steamed under vacuum, then dehydrated for several hours before being deep fried. This process makes the scratching very light, aerated and crisp. The leather is made by puréeing blackberries and spreading it out and dehydrating. the natural pectin makes it set into a chewy leather. A slightly unusual flavour pairing at first, but as you eat it everything comes together and works very well.

 Savoury cheese cookies arrive in the sort of tin box my nan used to use, and in fact Rene told us that the tin which contained our cookies was given to him to use in the restaurant by his mother-in-law, and it is the only piece of equipment used for service in the restaurant which doesn't come from Denmark.
The cookies themselves are made with a Danish hard cheese, and are short, crumbly and intensely cheesy, and topped with a mix of herbs including lovage and parsley.

 The live shrimps. I wont dwell on them too much, in case any of you are squeamish, however, the kilner jar filled with ice is brought to the table with a couple of very lively shrimp, and a small pot of warm butter emulsion, like a a mayonnaise made with beurre noisette. All I can say is, you will never get fresher than this! (for the record, I love it!)

 tiny potato cakes sandwiching a chicken liver parfait/mousse, sprinkled with a powder made from dehydrated trompette mushrooms. Sublime textures and flavours, very rich and an intricate assembly.

 One of the classics- crisp chicken skin, smoked cheese and lumpfish roe filling, and a ryebread crostini on top. Great salinity from the roe and chicken skin, and great textural contrast.

 Steamed oyster, cooked in the shell and then sliced,  the juices are made into a white wine sauce, and all served in the shell with air onions and salted green (unripe) plums. We were informed the onion and plum elements were quite intense and that the best way of eating the dish was to mix all the elements together so each mouthful has a little of everything.

 This was one of the highlights of the meal, Danish brown crab, steamed very slowly to keep it moist, and served with its own pickled roe, egg yolk cured in tea, nasturtium leaves and a broth made from sul, a variety of seaweed. the crab was very sweet, the roe and yolk very salty, and the broth had a strong earthy umami flavour, and the leaves were very peppery. Again, perfect balance, and great flavours.

 Straight out of the development kitchen, the perfectly formed pea dish. raw and cooked pea halves on top of a fermented pea mousse, a slightly jellied herbal tea broth surrounds them, and the petals from peach flowers and apple blossom are very precisely scattered on top. Although we were told our feedback was appreciated as it was a newbie, they knew, as they always do with new additions, that it was spot on. the different levels of flavour offered up by the pea elements were jaw dropping, and the match with the herbal tea and fruit flower leaves was incredible. so much flavour from such a simple ingredient.

 I can only imagine having to make sixty of these twice a day, every day! curvy crostini topped with salted cod roe and herbs, and a duck crisp on top- made from the skin formed on a cooled down duck stock and dehydrated. Go on- try it...

 Another classic, the hay smoked pickled quail eggs. The eggs are soft boiled, so the yolk is still runny, and then they are pickled in apple balsamic vinegar. Brought to your table in a large egg shaped container on a little smouldering hay, allowing a little more theatre to your table, as you open the lid and get a waft of the vinegary smoke.

 Shaved frozen cod liver (think of a rich, fishy foie gras), frozen kelp and caramelised milk crisp. Intense, different and tasty.

 Carrot and sorrel. This is a classic example of a Noma dish which looks like its been thrown together in a few minutes, but actually takes great technique, precision and a lot of time. The carrots get the waterbath treatment for forty minutes, and then are chargrilled over a very low heat for six hours, being turned every twenty minutes. The carrots are served on a thin film of charred hay powder, and a sorrel emulsion is served seperately, with the explanation to roll the carrot in the emulsion, then in the hay ash again. The tastiest carrot I have ever had, by some stretch.

 More vegetables, and this chunk of cooked cauliflower is grilled over pine, served with horseradich cream and a broth of seperated yoghurt whey, and pine oil. Once again unusual, but very tasty.

 Grilled langoustine, parsley and oyster emulsion, sprinkled with seaweed powder and served on a huge stone, from the same beach where the langoustines are sourced. Simple, elegant and great flavour. the huge seafood is dunked in the emulsion and eaten with the fingers.

Seven pickled vegetables, each pickled in its own vinegar and flavourings. Served with bone marrow and a jus made from pork rib bones. Perhaps unsurprisingly, each vegetable does have its own flavour and the combination of the pork jus and the marrow is incredible. A definite winner.

 Roast turbot, brought to our table for us to see mid cooking. then a few moments later, served with its own roe, celeriac and a broth of mushrooms and berries. A great dish, and very seasonal with the turbot in roe.(this only happens for one month in the year.

Sweetened rhubarb juice, raw rhubarb, fresh cheese, red sorrel (oxalis) and brown cheese, which is made from the caramelised whey, and has a sweet flavour and shortbread like texture. Again, simple, clean and very well balanced.

Grilled pear, raw pear, wild herbs, frozen aerated pine parfait, and a sauce of caramelised pear and aquavit. fantastic technique, and clean presentation. freshness from the herbs and the raw pear stop this being an overly sweet dessert. 

After dinner, and the obligatory tour of behind the scenes, we had some coffee and a few sweet treats including this toffee made from smoked bone marrow, and presented in the marrow bones and wrapped in brown paper. a great way to finish the evening.

All in all, there is much to praise and very little to criticise. We weren't the only people in the restaurant that evening, but at times it felt like we were, such is the warmth and talent of the staff. 

Over the course of the meal, we had around 28 offerings (its hard to call them courses, when often you are served several at a time, and they vary in size from single bite to a generous fish course kind of size) and we must have had at least 12 different members of staff serve us at different times, from commis waiters to Rene Redzepi himself and his head chef Matt Orlando, and each and every time one of them approached us, we had their undivided attention.

So, Noma. Are you the Worlds best restaurant? I dont know, but I have to say, if there is a better one, I want to go there now!

Henrietta Graham

Last year for my birthday, I booked a table at Noma in Copenhagen. Due to a few changes of plan some of the original members of my party pulled out and I threw an open invite out on twitter for any interested followers to join me. One of those to take me up on the chance to eat at 'the worlds best restaurant' was a lovely lady called Henrietta Graham. We had followed each other on twitter for a while, with little previous interaction, and I must confess that I was unaware of her abundant talent until we chatted over our incredible dinner.

HENRIETTA GRAHAM

It transpires that Hen is a hugely talented artist of many years experience, who just happens to have a passion for painting chefs in their kitchens. This passion has led to the inception of a planned book celebrating some of the finest chefs in the country, with images of chefs such as Michel Roux jnr, Raymond Blanc, Andrew Fairlie, Sat Bains, Paul Ainsworth, Pierre Koffmann and the notoriously private Brett Graham to name just a handful. The stature of some of the chefs involved highlights just how respected and connected Hen has become, with many of them only agreeing after seeing the work she has created so far.

Since our meal at Noma, I have been fortunate enough to become good friends with Hen and her husband Tim (who is also a fantastic artist), and have been to her studio in Cornwall and seen some of the paintings of chefs which will be going into the book, and to my admittedly untrained eye, they are all spectacular, really capturing the essence and character of the person, as well as the physical and visual representations of them.

Take the photo below, of Hen putting finishing touches to a large painting of Sat in his kitchen, working on the pass with some of his team. There is no posed shot of a vain chef looking pristine in his whites, but an accurate depiction of an involved culinary architect focusing his attention on his staff, and making sure they carry out his dishes as they should be.

As a person, Sat is a character, and also very driven to achieve and I feel this is portrayed in the painting of him. There is more than a hint of him in as much as the technique is well executed, with an eye on the avant garde use of texture and ingredient/colour.

As I say, I'm no artist and my knowledge in this field is limited, but the chefs chosen to be in this book, and the text about them ( which is being co-written by Elizabeth Auerbach ) makes this project very exciting, and I can't wait for it to be finished and published. Henrietta is only just half way through the paintings, so it will be at least two years until its on bookshelves, but it is certainly a title to look out for.

follow Henrietta on twitter here

Dishes and Memories of 2011

Ok, we are a few days into 2012 now, but I've been going through photos taken last year on my adventures, and thought I would put some of them together on here to piece together my movements for you. There will be a lot of foodporn, and plenty of dishes from a man called Rene.

I made two pilgrimages to Noma, Rene Redzepi's world famous 'best restaurant in the world' (according to the San Pellegrino/ Restaurant magazine list-the trophy is shown above) and both were stunning occasions. The first was a last minute thing, a friend called me to ask if I wanted to fill a space on his table there as someone else had dropped out. You dont turn down that sort of invitation, so I tagged along.

Noma is so much more than the food, its an ethos and a way of thinking, which the whole team, front of house and back, subscribe to. The food is boundary pushing stuff, what used to be called avant garde, and has been emulated to varying degrees by chefs all over the world. Above is a 'dish' we were served on my second visit there (my birthday dinner-worse ways to spend it!) of live shrimp, which we were invited to eat in a single bite after dipping the wriggly blighter in a brown butter emulsion-like a warm mayonnaise. it was both incredibly fresh and startlingly full of flavour.

One of my stand out meals from the U.K. last year was the Ledbury, Brett Graham's Notting Hill two Michelin starred restaurant. the above is one of the highlights from that lunch- salad of spring vegetables, morel curd, warm hen's egg. Stunning use of the freshest vegetables, tasty free range egg and an intense morel curd.

One of the up and coming chefs who I was lucky enough to meet and eat the food of, was Matt Gillan, the chef of The Pass at South Lodge Hotel. When I visited, I was treated to some new dishes He and his team had been experimenting with. Lots of flavour packed dishes, none more so than this crab orzo dish with charred corn and truffle 'glass'. the crab orzo (rice shaped pasta) was served warm, like an uncoated arancini, and the taste was stunning. Read about the rest of the meal here.

In April, this unlikely looking kitchen brigade was the team I was presented with by Raglan Primary School, to mentor in their cookery competition for their 'food festival'. They were a rowdy bunch, but they had some good ideas, and plenty of passion.

Their final dish was a salad of mackerel with dried tomatoes, Parmesan crisps and balsamic vinegar dressing.

(for the record, they won!)

The following month, I did a brief tour of the south west, part of which included the Caterer magazine's 'chef eats out' event at Nathan Outlaw's two Michelin starred restaurant in St Enedoc, Cornwall. Nathan's food is very clean, deceptively simple looking, and very tasty. The above is 'lemon sole, oyster, horseradish and cucumber'. deep fried oyster, which was huge, with a lightly steamed sole fillet, with a delicate horseradish cream, and salted cucumber. Nathan has a book coming out this year, and if this dish is any indicator, it will be some book.

Glynn Purnell is only 34, but seems to have been at the forefront of British food for a long time. His eponymous restaurant in Birmingham has held a Michelin star for several years, and I ate there twice this year. Of both visits, I think the truffle stuffed red mullet with truffle gnocchi and grilled lettuce was a highlight. Sweet girolles finished the ensemble.

Of the London restaurants which I visited, Apsleys at the Lanesborough hotel (run by Heinz Beck) was probably one of the glitziest in decor. It also yielded my favourite pasta dish of the year, the truffle and Parmesan agnolotti above. A liquid truffle sauce wrapped in delicate golden pasta parcels, lavished with shaved truffle, and twenty four month aged Parmesan. Very potent, but very more-ish.

On the same day I went to Apsleys, I also made my first call into Roganic, Simon Rogan's first entry into london (his other restaurants are in Cartmel, Cumbria. The food at Roganic is mainly vegetable led, with plenty of innovative methods and presentations to enhance them. The seawater cured mackerel, broccolli and warm elderflower honey showcases that style. A lovely dish.

I had to slip in my menu from Noma, signed by the man himself, Rene Redzepi.

Another restaurant we visited in Copenhagen, was 'the Paul', run by an Englishman, Paul Cunningham. Using the Scandinavian philosophy, and vast Danish Larder, Paul was awarded a Michelin star for his quirky restaurant. the pigeon, white asparagus and cocoa nib jus was startlingly good, very moist bird, full of flavour, and a great course of a great meal.

One of several (over50) courses from my trips to Noma which also stood out was this plate of raw shrimp, dehydrated sea urchin, coastal herbs and herb oil. The ingredients were not only amazingly fresh and vibrant, but all sourced from the same beach, including the pebbles which were frozen to the plate to help create the seaside feel. Brilliant.

Relae is another of Copenhagen's eateries, run by an ex-Noma sous chef and waiter team. It is in a slightly seedier part of town, in a subterranean shabby chic room. This was raw and cooked white asparagus, asparagus juice and oyster emulsion. Once again, the Danish ingredients were top notch, and treated with respect. A much more relaxed affair than Noma, but just as accomplished on the food front. Dont just take my word for it, we met David Chang of momofuku restaurant group there, and he said when he visits Copenhagen, which is often, he always goes to Relae.

The last of the dishes from Noma to make this list is the mussel snack, or canapé. It looks simple enough, but the steamed mussel sits on a stew of leeks, and an edible shell made of squid ink. a real 'wow' moment near the start of the exciting Noma experience.

The Final restaurant we visited in Denmark was Geranium, run by Rasmus Kofoed, who won gold in last years Bocuse D'or competition, after finishing in second and third places in previous years-his three trophies are at the top of this post. Much of the food at geranium was more refined than Noma's in many ways, and there is the same level of thought and research gone into the dishes. A prime example of this was the tastes and textures of milk. sorbet, caramel, ice cream, mousse and powder were all prepared with great technique and effort, to create a milk dessert which showcased different elements of the ingredients complex flavour. the powder was even sprinkled on at our table, from a cardboard milk carton. great theatre, and a great dish.

A simpler, but just as satisfyingly tasty meal was served to me at Marcus Bean's pub, the New Inn, Baschurch in shropshire. Local ingredients are once again the key, and all all of this salad of asparagus, radish, herbs and quail eggs come from the local area. Totally fresh, and cooked with care and precision, I loved Marcus's food.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know of my respect and admiration for Grant Achatz of restarant Alinea in Chicago. This year, He released a book about his life so far, called 'a life, on the line'. Its a stunning insight into what made him push to get to his current position, as the leader of gastronomy in the U.S.A., and one of the best chefs in the world. As a regular user of a chefs website called The Staff Canteen, I entered, and won a competition on there to win a signed copy of that book. It is now a prized possession, tucked safely away with my signed menu from when I ate there in 2010.

The last two great meals I had in 2011 came on the same day in December, when I re-visited Roganic, and dropped in at a newly opened restaurant in the Westbury hotel, run by Alyn Williams, previously head chef at Marcus Wareing. Both meals were stunning, the highlight of my meal at Alyn's is pictured above left, in the rather blurry phone shot. Its a foie gras parfait, with frozen yoghurt, sand carrot, and liquorice, and I can only describe it as sensational. the textures and flavour worked in unison to blow me away. The rest of the meal was equally brilliant, and Alyn Williams at the Westbury has a bright future.

The picture next to it is poached and grilled king oyster mushroom, with pickled beetroot, from Roganic. Ben Spalding had really raised his game in the six months between my visits, and this dish was certainly among the best. A great way to end the year for me.

So, that's it for my 2011.

I had more meals than these, obviously, and just because the other places I dined at aren't featured here, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy them!

I hope you will all come back regularly to see what adventures 2012 holds for me.

As James Knappett said at the all-stars event, "food is love, keep eating!"

All the best, and a Belated happy new year!