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Gastromé uses a Danish/French way of approaching the cuisine, and a Nordic way of choosing the ingredients.

STORY PRATHAP NAIR



The Neo-Nordic cuisine in Aarhus is famous for locally sourced ingredients and creative dishes, and the trend is spreading to Hong Kong

98 DECEMBER 2017 Dinners at Restaurant Hærværk can be mysterious, though never disappointing. After all, it’s quite difficult to disappoint with a seven-course menu that often features a smorgasbord of flavours with dishes like crispy halibut skin with fresh vegetables, poached egg cabbage Blanquette, horse bacon and waffles with chanterelles. With a daily menu – unpublished and handed to the diners directly because of the constantly changing dishes based on the availability of local ingredients – a modish cured meat display staring at the diner through glass panes, cosy interiors and bistro type seating, Restaurant Hærværk is one of neo-Nordic gastronomy’s new successes. It’s easy to mistake this for a hipster dining establishment somewhere in Copenhagen, but this is Aarhus, the second largest city of Denmark, once known only as a university town with a vibrant student population that fuelled its economy. But things are changing, and they are changing fast. Close on the heels of Aarhus celebrating its newly acquired European Capital for Culture status in

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2017 – a year-long event marked with numerous festivities – the city is the cuisine. Just as the manifesto was being drawn also quickly dusting off its university town image. Food is playing a up, the Copenhagen-based Noma opened, adapting huge part. the same philosophy and quickly achieved With a total of four one-star Michelin restaurants and more than 10 international success, making the name behind the recommendations in the Via Michelin guidebook in a town as big as 91 inventive restaurant, René Redzepi, the centre of square kilometres (in contrast, Hong Kong is 30 times bigger), the global attention. More than a decade later, its spotlight on neo-Nordic cuisine is shining bright on Aarhus’s athletic popularity refuses to wane and it has inspired chefs Danish shoulders. And chefs like Rune Sørensen at Hærværk are at from New York to Adelaide to open restaurants the forefront. specialising in the cuisine across the globe. Interest in neo-Nordic cuisine started way back in 2004 when food Now as Aarhus is slowly evolving into a sought- BELOW entrepreneur Claus Meyer joined hands with chefs from the region to after destination on its own, young chefs and food A quail dish served with yellow arrive at a food philosophy that would ultimately define modern Nordic entrepreneurs are joining forces to raise Aarhus’s beets and moss cuisine. During the course of the discussions, a 10-point “Nordic culinary credentials, bringing it international fame. with burned herbs Kitchen” manifesto was created to put emphasis on “purity, season, In some ways Aarhus is geographically well and potatoes from Gastromé. ethics, health, sustainability and quality” as the founding principles of positioned in the Danish Jutland, better than even PHOTOS: THOMAS BJØRN, DAVID BERING, KASPER HORNBAEK, STOY MUNKHOLM, BERING

100 DECEMBER 2017 Copenhagen, and around the city are numerous farmers growing their own produce, making it simpler for the chefs to source fresh vegetables, NEO-NORDIC CUISINE GIVES YOU YOUR OWN meat and eggs or even to forage. For instance, the spontaneity of foraging allows IDENTITY, YOUR OWN COOKING STYLE RUNE SØRENSEN the chefs to discover new ingredients and introduce surprises into the menu. “Some vegetables like pointy cabbage, if not uprooted entirely, can own identity, your own cooking style. You make your own rules. So ABOVE One of the innovative dishes blossom again. All of a sudden you will find a new there is room for experimentation and being inventive because nobody at Substans, whose pared herb, like we found chives. It’s usually a summer will question you.” down menu features just herb, but a small second harvest gave us more With René Mammen at Substans, whose pared down menu three options. produce. And we often find the Danish Cress, whose features just three options, because “that way you don’t have to waste leaves can be as big as a plate,” Sørensen says. good conversation time ... discussing something as trivial as menu In other ways, it bodes well with the rebellious choices”, the need to maintain exclusivity was so high that he once inventiveness some of these chefs foster. refused to be categorised as neo-Nordic by his own admission. For Sørensen, there is no right or wrong in neo- “Much has been talked about the Nordic food philosophy, and we Nordic cuisine. “Neo-Nordic cuisine gives you your kept saying for so many years that we are not a neo-Nordic

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Neo-Nordic food restaurant,” he says. “But come to think of it, we qualify for the neo- is presented in an Nordic label because we use organic produce and source locally as elegant way at Restaurant much as possible.” The single Michelin star awarded to him is perhaps Hærværk. proof. Søren Jakobsen, who is at the helm of affairs of another Michelin- starred restaurant Gastromé, has a different approach. “We have a Danish/French way of approaching the cuisine, and a Nordic way of choosing commodities, mixed with best extras from the rest of the world,” he says. As a result, you will find tuna sashimi, with tuna caught in Danish waters, alongside local herring roe and lemon mayo, topped with poppadom on his menu. Another pioneer in the Aarhus gastronomy scene, Danish- Lebanese chef Wassim Hallal’s cuisine at his Frederikshøj restaurant is often described as French postmodern. All their ingenuousness has not, however, made them shy away from the traditional dishes. One of Substans’ irreplaceable dishes on the menu is a Danish malt pie, bursting with authentic flavours, which PHOTOS: ASBJORN CHRISTENSEN, THOMAS BJØRN, DAVID BERING, KASPER HORNBAEK, STOY MUNKHOLM,DAVID BERING

102 DECEMBER 2017 LEFT Junior chefs watch as a master chef at Gastromé carefully prepares a dish.

A MODERN TWIST

Before neo-Nordic cuisine warmed the cockles of gastronomes’ hearts, the two shining stars of Danish food were frikadelle THE SPONTANEITY OF FORAGING ALLOWS THE and ryebread. Ryebread is the deep-fried CHEFS TO DISCOVER NEW INGREDIENTS base of smørrebrød, a Danish open sandwich. When in Aarhus, try the award-winning smørrebrød at the Kähler Spisesalon, whose smørrebrød with herring just won the 2017 contains blue shell mussels, cucumber, kohlrabi my clientele is 100 per cent Chinese.” The cuisine’s edition of Årets Sild (The Best Herring of the and smoked cheese. “It’s full of Danish flavours and popularity is also not lost on food entrepreneurs in Year), put together by the head chef Jannie Våtevik. (at Kähler Spisesalon, M.P. Bruuns the guests are immediately placed in the thick of Hong Kong. Gade 33, 8000 Aarhus C, Tel: +45 86 12 20 53, things of what is to come next,” he says. The two Michelin-star winning chef Björn [email protected]) When it comes to flavours, Mammen doesn’t Frantzén recently opened the doors to his shirk from the unmissable urge to introduce Asian eponymous restaurant in Hong Kong to
The “Rethink the taste of Denmark” menu at the newly opened Restaurant AU provides a flavours in his menu, especially introducing them in considerable attention and rave guest reviews. modern twist to traditional Danish cuisine. meat-based dishes to marinate or grill, because he Back in Aarhus, over and above inventive chefs You will find delightful combinations like says they enhance the flavour of meat. Under those passionate about their craft and easy access to oyster with lemon sole and seaweed or circumstances, he turns to his own team’s prowess. local produce, one of the reasons why neo-Nordic schnitzel served with traditional Danish “We make our own miso whenever we need it. restaurants are gaining popularity is the city’s cabbage rolls. (at Vestergade 51, 8000 Aarhus C, Tel: +45 60 25 64 20, We ferment some chickpeas and some plum and we school of gastronomy. [email protected]) have our miso ready.” “The gastronomic school is providing the Now, it might seem, the Nordic cuisine wave is industry with good chefs. They are guiding the
Traditional Danish frikadelle – deep fried slowly lapping up at the shores of Hong Kong too. students in that direction, to be creative and to use pork meatballs – often eaten with the same browned butter that is used to fry the Chef Jaakko Sorsa who opened his Hong Kong local and seasonal products,” says Augustinov meatballs, are available at one of the stalls at based Nordic restaurant FINDS 13 years ago Sebastian, a student of the Aarhus school of the Aarhus food market that opened last year. agrees. His constantly evolving menu now features gastronomy. It serves a wide array of cuisine ranging from fresh lingonberries (the first time in Hong Kong, he Above all though, there is one crucial reason. “I modern Danish cuisine to food from North says) and dried mushrooms, shipped directly from a think it’s the honesty. It’s honest cuisine. Everything African kitchens. (at Ny Banegaardsgade 46, 8000 Aarhus C, private picker in Finland. is transparent, and you can get the entire storyline [email protected]) He acknowledges the fact that Nordic cuisine is about the origins of your food when you are eating,” catching on in Hong Kong. “Some nights I’ve noticed Sørensen says. Amen to that.

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