'restaurants'

Mielcke & Hurtigkarl

March 3, 2015

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Recently, I did a guide to the most beautiful design restaurants in town for Copenhagen Food and included Mielcke & Hurtigkarl, a heavy weight in the Copenhagen restaurant scene. When they asked if I wanted to come by one evening and taste the menu, I was excited to say the least. Praising reviews of this place are everywhere online as well as beautiful photos of the restaurant’s interiors that the chefs had some talented Danish designers and artists help decorate. And so, on a freezing cold Friday night in February, we went to Frederiksberg Have, one of the prettiest gardens in town and the location of the restaurant and were blown away by the amazing food, great service and beautiful surroundings at Mielcke & Hurtigkarl.

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The menu created by the two chefs Jakob Mielcke and Jan Hurtigkarl draw inspiration from all over the world but still manages to keep it simple, clean and local using herbs from the garden just outside the door. At Mielcke & Hurtigkarl you choose from two options; The Full Experience (around 140 USD) or An Experience (around 120 USD). We were treated with the full experience and the wine menu and this dinner was the most spectacular and delicious one I have had in a very long time. From scallops to miso to deer to cheese and croissant with truffle and macaroons made with herbs from the garden to finish off; everything stood out and made a lasting impression.

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One thing about eating out is the food which in this case was Michelin-worthy (why the guide has not yet provided Mielcke & Hurtigkarl with a Michelin star is a bit of joke according to Danish food critics) and just as important is the service and ambiance of the place. At Mielcke & Hurtigkarl you get the whole package, and it was so refreshing to be taken care of by professional waiters and sommeliers, who helped make this fine dining experience very pleasant and welcoming. Even on a cold winters evening, this place is magical and I can only imagine how a lunch or dinner here during Spring or Summer in the romantic garden is like. Definitely a night to remember!

Mielcke & Hurtigkarl
Frederiksberg Runddel 1
200 Frederiksberg

The Fat Radish

October 19, 2014

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Yesterday, I had the best pancakes of my life. I had to share them with three persons, but luckily, these three are the ones who know me best in this world, so I got to eat the majority of them without anyone feeling cheated. Phew! They were Lemon Ricotta pancakes served with blueberry jam at The Fat Radish, and they were soft, not too doughy and so tasty.

As the name implies, fresh and seasonal vegetables are a big part of the farm-to-table menu at this place, but there’s something for everyone here. I have only visited The Fat Radish for brunch and the ‘all greens omelette’ with ricotta cheese is delicious. So are the crostini with smoked salmon and the potato cake with poached eggs!

You will find the restaurant on Orchard Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown – or is it called Lower East Side? I am not sure, but either way, this neighborhood is one of my favorite places to be in Lower Manhattan. Quieter and less crowded than some of the other areas (I’m thinking SoHo and Greenwich Village), but still so diverse and so much to do, see and eat.

The Fat Radish
17 Orchard Street

Okonomi

October 9, 2014

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After nearly three months in this amazing city with too many Shake Shack burgers, too many Five Leaves pancakes and too many cocktails, I am almost fed up (almost!). This is why a dinner at this fairly new Japanese restaurant a few weeks back did me very good, so good that after a delicious serving of ramen one night, we had to come back a few days after to get a taste of the Japanese breakfast.

With this place, chefs Tara Norvell and Yuji Haraguchi aim to give New Yorkers a taste of a more healthy kitchen. In the morning, the place is named Okonomi and serves a traditional Ichiju Sansai set meal for breakfast, and in the evening it shifts to Yuji Ramen serving ramen. The breakfast (pictured) consists of five small servings, a bowl of miso soup and a bowl of rice with an optional egg. I would have imagined eating fish and rice in the morning feeling weird (I cherish my oatmeal and fruit highly) but it was surprisingly normal and tasted great. The room is tiny – seats about 8 people at a time – and you feel like you’ve just entered a private living room somewhere in Japan. The menu which changes daily is handwritten and whenever someone leaves the place, many ‘thank yous’ are given to the kitchen. Both times I’ve been by, almost all of the other guests looked Japanese, which adds even more to the authenticity of the place.  

When I went by a couple of days after our feast to take some photos of the place, I had a chat with Tara and she explained how one of the ideas behind this place is to minimize food waste. They use the whole fish, the bones go into a broth and the menu changes daily after what’s available. Before opening up the place earlier this year, Tara was a chef at Bushwick’s pizza-hipster-haven Roberta’s and Yuji was running a successful ramen pop-up noodle bar inside Wholefoods whilst supplying a bunch of the city’s restaurants with seafood. Their love for Japanese food and their excellent sense of style (they redid the entire room themselves!) shine through, and the location on Ainslie Street in Williamsburg is perfect with a bunch of nice cafés and other good restaurants near by. And just look at the place. Japan is next on my list (I wish!).

Okonomi / Yuji Ramen
150 Ainslie St.

Glasserie

September 29, 2014

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To be honest, I went to Glasserie because of the pretty walls. Then I had dinner, and now I think it might be one of my favorite restaurants in NYC so far. Those chefs with Mediterranean backgrounds sure know what they’re doing!

You will find Glasserie in the northernmost part of Greenpoint in Brooklyn, just a creek and a bridge from Queens. Every New Yorker I’ve talked to about this place has looked at me with surprise that I would go all the way out to Greenpoint, where subways are few and streets somewhat quiet, but Greenpoint is actually one of my favorite areas of Brooklyn. Mostly because of the good cafés and restaurants, but also because of the quietness.

Glasserie serves Mediterranean food drawing inspiration from both the Middle East and southern Europe, and most of the meals are designed for sharing. We were four people for dinner, and we ordered three starters, three main course plus two desserts. We were lucky enough to be treated with some extra dishes that the chef wanted us to try (thank you!) and left the table more than satisfied. We probably should have stopped at some point, but everything was so good, it was impossible! The menu changes quite often, and we had some delicious servings of Yellowfin Crudo with watermelon; squash kataif pastry, goat cheese and okra; lamb rib with fresh corn polenta and manchego just to name a few. My stomach is rumbling writing this post, that dinner was amazingly good! Every flavour of the ingredients, all fresh from farms, was something else and it tasted like no kind of Mediterranean food I’ve ever had before. At Glasserie, their goal is to cook with intuition and they always consider how much technique and seasoning the products need to be elevated to manipulate the products the least. I think that’s a pretty good ambition to have working with food!

Given the quality of the food, prices at Glasserie are extremely reasonable, the servers were beyond friendly and there was almost a small party going on there on a Tuesday night (that’s NYC for ya!). Booking a table is a good idea, and if you find yourself hungry for a tasteful dinner in Brooklyn, I’d definitely recommend this place. There are so many places I have yet to discover in NYC, but I will need to go back here before we leave, that’s for sure. And not just because of those pretty walls!

Glasserie
95 Commercial St.

Colonia Verde

September 3, 2014

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This beautiful place has now become one of our New York favorites. It might be because of the charming backyard, the tasty food, the perfect location in Fort Greene just a nice walk from our place or the always friendly staff. Either way, we keep coming back and if you ever find yourself in this big city, you should swing by too.

Colonia Verde is a Latin American restaurant great for brunch and even better for the weekly Sunday pig roast. A succulent pig has been roasting inside a Caja China all day and starting from 3pm it’s served with tortillas, rice, guacamole and dippings. To set the mood, they start you off with duck fat popcorn and to end the Sunday feast properly, Latin American style s’mores with chocolate and biscuits from South of the border satisfy the sweet tooth.

The menu changes weekly based on what they’ll find at the market (naturally – any self-respecting NYC restaurant will depend on their local farmer’s market for fresh produce!) and the couple of times we have been by for brunch, we’ve enjoyed dulce de leche pancakes (so good!), shrimp tacos, warm brussel sprouts Ceasar salad with a poached egg and so much more. It’s a true neighborhood restaurant, and I feel like gathering all of my friends in that backyard on a Sunday to enjoy a slow cooked meal and cocktails.

Colonia Verde
219 Dekalb Avenue, Ft. Greene

Restaurant Höst

April 23, 2014

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It is no secret that I am quite a big fan of this place, and anyone who is following along on Instagram will have seen a bunch of photos from Restaurant Höst. But just look at it – can you blame me? The restaurant in Central Copenhagen recently won the award for the best designed restaurant in the world, so I guess I am not the only one smitten with it’s interior design.

Restaurant Höst is a part of the modern Nordic wave here in Copenhagen and with a menu offering three courses at the price of 295 DKK (about 55$) most people can find it in their budget to go here. Unfortunately, I have only had dinner here in low light, which made all the food shots not worth sharing. But the dishes are deliciously composed of local ingredients sometimes mixed in a surprising and bold way and served on beautiful specially designed ceramics from Danish Menu. These days, Höst’s menu sounds like this: Hake 42°, pearl- sago, raw kohlrabi, lemon verbena and salad-cream from mussels as starter; free-range pork neck, yellow peas, asparagus, broccoli, pea-sprouts, smoked cheese, foamy dark lager and browned butter-sauce as main course and rhubarb ice, cold buttermilk soup with vanilla and brown sugar and cake with bog myrtle schnapps as dessert. Although the menu says three courses, they always serve to extra small side courses which makes you feel even better about the price!

I would definitely recommend anyone visiting Copenhagen coming here to get a taste of the Nordic cuisine in a very charming and low-key environment. Remember to book a table a couple of days in advance. Höst is part of a Copenhagen restaurant chain called Cofoco and they’ve got some great places around town – all menus are budget friendly. Check them all out here. Bon appétit!

Restaurant Höst
Nørre Farimagsgade 41, 1364 Kbh. K