Taste Food, wine and the hot gourmet destinations. ✈ 124 DENMARK / FOOD INNOVATION ✈ 128 REstaURants / CELEBRATIONS ✈ 137 WINE / NEW ZEALAND WHITES ✈ 139 FOOD / CELEBRITY DINNER TheN The restaurant that René Redzepi built put Denmark firmly on the global foodie map and these days, Copenhagen is a byword for O dining surprises. Porridge cafe, anyone? M WORDS MaX VEENHUYZEN EAUTIFUL CHAIRS, Carlsberg beer, Hans Christian (Sydney) – have former Noma cooks at the helm. Like its S Pellegrino Andersen... once upon a time, these were Denmark’s great- World’s Best predecessor El Bulli, dining at Noma requires a certain est gifts to the world. And while the Danes still do a roaring financial commitment; food alone will set you back DKK1500 ($249), Btrade in these distinctly Danish commodities, the country although that includes a 20-course menu. now includes eating and drinking among its attractions, not least The restaurant seats only 40 and opens Tuesday to Saturday, because reigning S Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant Noma meaning most of the 100,000 online booking requests received each (93 Strandgade, 3296 3297, noma.dk) calls Copenhagen home. month go unfilled (although, unlike El Bulli, Noma serves lunch and A Driven by an almost forensic obsession with local produce, Noma’s dinner). This is a restaurant that dedicated eaters plan holidays charismatic head chef René Redzepi has taken the restaurant’s around, their diligence rewarded with wave after wave of fiercely philosophy of culinary time and place to the world. Foraged Danish dishes that may or may not include edible bark, live shrimps Kadeau: berries with wild carrot flowers, honey and beach rose milk; ingredients, chefs serving dishes, vegetables planted in edible “soil” and centuries-old oysters. veal tongue, havgus cheese, pickled effect – three global food trends traceable to Noma. Fortunately for locals and visitors alike, dining in Copenhagen is onions, aromatic onion broth and Locally, it’s no coincidence that some of Australia’s most exciting more than just Noma. Redzepi might be heading the emerging new- dried onion flowers (opposite) photography: marie louise munkegaard restaurants – Esquire (Brisbane), Garagistes (Hobart) and Sixpenny Nordic food movement, but he’s got a solid pool of hometown 124 QANTAS FEBRUARY 2013 FEBRUARy 2013 QANTAS 125 DENMARK tastE LIQUID ASSETS Mikkeller 8 Viktoriagade. 3331 0415. mikkeller.dk the public face of the cult craft-beer brewer, mikkeller’s hQ is dedicated to the enjoyment of good beer. half the 20 beers on tap are mikkeller, and the rest are similarly bold, whimsically named international brews. Ruby 10 Nybrogade. 3393 1203. rby.dk one of the leaders in Copenhagen’s cocktail scene, Relæ: new season onions ruby is non-negotiable for and grilled onion purée booze nerds. in addition to sound renditions of the classics, market-fresh fruits are front and centre on seasonal menus. talent in support: restaurants just as suited to fleshing out a Noma-centric itinerary as they are to compensat- Coffee Collective ing diners who miss out. 10 Jægersborggade. Making one of the larger splashes is Radio (12 Julius 6015 1525. coffeecollective.dk Thomsens Gade, 2510 2733, restaurantradio.dk), a place if it’s about coffee, these guys that, as with most of Copenhagen’s best eateries, is are across it. direct-trade beans imbued with Noma DNA. In this instance, the Redzepi are roasted in-house and given connection comes via founder Claus Meyer and one of utmost care from start to finish. Radio’s head chefs, Jesper Kirketerp (both former Ved Stranden 10 Noma stalwarts). Provenance and producers drive Radio’s menu, and smoked almonds, or simply dropping by to grab some takeaway lamb broth suggest this was time well-spent. Coupled with the Head chefs Jesper 10 Ved Stranden. although knowing this is entirely peripheral to having a good time. food and wine. At any rate, don’t be in a rush to flee Jægersborggade. personable service delivered under Søren Ledet and the eighth- Kirketerp and Rasmus Kliim select vegetables 3542 4040. vedstranden10.dk Outstanding value – by anyone’s reckoning, five courses for DKK400 The street is a goldmine for visiting gourmands, its riches including storey vistas of Copenhagen, Geranium is a must-do. for Radio (left); Radio ten by street number, a perfect ($66) is a steal – gets things off to a good start, and pan-fried baby wine bar Terroiristen (52 Jægersborggade, 3690 6040, terroiristen. Likewise, the genteel Aarø & Co (2 Dronningens Tværgade, 3311 restaurant, Copenhagen 10 for fun, so long as wine drunk squid, thinly sliced asparagus and tiny elderflowers maintain the dk) and Grød (50 Jægersborggade, www.groed.com), the city’s – and NNEMANN 1145, restaurantaoc.dk) and Nimb Louise (5 Bernstorffsgade, 8870 Ø in swish surrounds is your idea of h high. Served with sunflower oil, the house-baked bread made with probably the world’s – first porridge cafe. C 0020, www.nimblouise.dk) – formerly known as Nimb Herman s a good time. Best of all, guests ancient Nordic grains is a thing of beauty. Originally a fixture of the summer holiday island of Bornholm, during head chef Thomas Herman’s tenure – also fit the polished- can snap up bottles of their Christian Puglisi is another member of the extended Noma Kadeau (135 Vesterbrogade, 3325 2223, kadeau.dk) was warmly diner bill. However, as any experienced eater will tell you, one can ANDERS : favourite drops for at-home family doing great things. Mini-bouquets of edible herbs dressed welcomed to the capital, not least because eaters no longer had to only stomach so many tasting menus. Foodwise, less can so often drinking pleasure. with nutty pistachio sauce; an inspired take on surf and turf (hint: catch a plane or ferry for a table. At its new Copenhagen home on RADIO be more, and outside the city’s ubiquitous smørrebrød (open sand- ; expect raw lamb); good-natured service from Kim Rossen and his the manmade island of Christianshavn, it’s still all about Bornholm wich) and hot dogs, Copenhagen does casual very well. K-Bar smiley fellows – expect this and more from a Relæ (41 Jægersborg- produce and food traditions: juicy cockerel, lobster with green straw- At Kødbyens Fiskebar (100 Flæsketorvet, 3215 5656, fiskebaren. 20 Ved Stranden. RGENSEN gade, 3696 6609, restaurant-relae.dk) experience. Again, it’s at a price berries, and dishes served on rocks, hay and other island trappings. Ö dk), seafood is king. From plates of freshly flipped oysters to cider- 3391 9222. k-bar.dk that puts paid to the notion that dining in Copenhagen is a rich man’s Another restaurant that has changed addresses over the years is steamed mussels (washed down with a wine selection smarter than named after owner kirsten game, with four courses for DKK375 ($62). Geranium (4 Per Henrik Lings Allé, 6996 0020, geranium.dk), the your average fish cafe), Kødbyens is a solid sea-plus for pescatorians. holm, this late-night hangout Across the road at Relæ spin-off Manfreds & Vin (40 Jægersborg- sparse, airy dining room at Parken Stadium, home of the national Opened in late 2011, Torvehallerne (21 Frederiksborggade, 7010 celebrates her two greatest gade, 3696 6593, manfreds.dk/en), you’ll get even more for your soccer team. It’s an apt workplace for the highly driven Rasmus 6070, torvehallernekbh.dk) manages to condense the energy and For airfares call passions – Champagne and kroner, particularly when opting for the daily chef’s menu. Slow- Koefed, a chef who dedicated a decade of his life to the Bocuse d’Or, go-forward momentum of the Danish food scene into a buzzy market Qantas on 13 13 13 cocktails. the fizz selection is or visit qantas.com more than sound and excellent cooked egg, heirloom carrots and made-to-order tartare are typical the prestigious international cooking competition he won in 2011. and eating space just steps from Nørreport Station. For Denmark holiday photography: per anders j of what diners may enjoy at this cosy, vegetable-centric wine bar. Dishes such as astonishingly lifelike curls of cheese-filled “bark” Chasing a kitchen that opens late? (8 Kongens Nytorv, 3313 drinks are mixed with care using Æ Geist packages call Qantas Then again, a trip to Manfreds might be as low-key as a glass of Jura and wild herbs and vegetables bathed in a deeply flavoured smoked rel 3713, restaurantgeist.dk) is a seven-nights-a-week salve. c Holidays on 13 14 15. herbs grown in the bar. 126 QANTAS FEBRUARY 2013 FEBRUARy 2013 QANTAS 127.