Gastronomics Anonymous

Good evening friends, it has been an awful long time since my last post.  Life in Copenhagen suddenly seems to have become very busy over the last few weeks, what with more visitors, R starting school and navigating some of the finer points of how to get a nursery place for T.  More on the latter in the next blog.


Today however is all about congratulating A&T and S&K (named in alphabetical order to show no favouritism) for being our first 'friend' visitors.  We also have A&T and S&K to thank for being a selection criteria for our place here.  When we were looking at places, we knew that 'the gang' had already booked their flights out, so consequently, we knew we had to try and find an suitable space which would not require sleeping bags on floors, or camping in gardens and other such indignities at everyone's advancing ages when everyone now expects levels of comfort approaching boutique hotel standards.


The activities of the week during the gang's stay focussed on avoiding the Golden Jubilee celebrations, taking in a bit of culture and doing a lot of gastro tourism.  


The highlight of the week must of course be dinner at Noma, the recognised 'best restaurant in the world.'  Getting there was in itself no small effort, as our excellent babysitter, having previously been booked well in advance and reminded several times, that if she wasn't able to do any other night of the week, 'Noma night' was the critical one.  Unfortunately she got a better paid job.  Fortunately, she had a friend who could step in at late notice, despite train cancellations to let us get to Noma just by the skin of our teeth for our reservation.

But the efforts were well worth it.  The food was absolutely out of this world with ingredients, textures and flavours that were quite mind boggling and things that you or I would never have thought about putting together on a plate following some very intricate culinary stuff.  Accompanied by the recommended flight of wines, it made for an amazingly indulgent evening.  

Would I recommend going again, I hear you ask.  Absolutely.  What I loved about Noma was the informal nature of the place and the genuine enthusiasm from the international chefs who clearly took great pride in their cooking.  There was no pretence and snootiness and in fact they assumed (in a nice way) you wouldn't know what had been put on the plate so it was all explained in a manner that really made you want to eat it.

So what did we eat - about 11 or 12 courses of food I think as the details started getting a bit hazy towards the end of the night.  Some of the things that really stood out for me, although it was hard to pick favourites were; Pork rind with blackcurrant leather, pickled quails egg on smoking hay (see picture below), raw razor clam with mussel nice and frozen horse radish, beef tartar with wood sorrel and dried juniper with a final dish of caramelised pear and pine parfait. The wines were a tour around some of the more unusual regions and specialities.  All together a fine meal and a fantastic experience of 2 starred Michelin dining...hopefully the first of more.

If I had to try and be critical of the restaurant, the pace of the food being presented was sometimes a little relentless.  But, it all worked and we all had a wonderful time.  I am sure we will return.  Although my recommendation is that it is a great place for social dining with friends and less for a romantic meal a deux.  

The rest of the week was taken up sampling things at the other end of the scale and everything in between.  On a trip to Helsingør to visit Hamlet's castle, we ended up in a real local's place - the Borgerkroen at Strandgade 75, where all that was on the menu was smorrebrød, which is jolly tasty and deceptively filling.  Not to mention of course the local pils.

At the middle of the scale, we managed to convene a session of the 'Friday Night Curry Club' although this time on a Monday night.  We tried out the Bindia Indian restaurant on the Trianglen.  Definitely not a flocked wall paper and chicken tikka massala joint this one.  Much more contemporary in look and feel - and to be honest something that instantly sets my alarm bells ringing.  However, on this occasion my fears were unwarranted as we were treated to an excellent selection of modern Indian cooking which left the taste buds tingling not to mention being grateful for the walk home to ease the digestion after the extremely generous portions.  The other middle of the scale visit was to Scarpetta in Nørrebro where Italian food is served in starter size portions, which after 7 courses of the taster menu was plenty. For a Copenhagen restaurant, the prices for food and wine are very reasonable, coupled with very informal service and of course excellent food.  Actually trying to think if we've had a bad meal out here yet.

We also took the opportunity to do some non food related things as well (we really did!) and actually get out and about to see some of the sights and sounds of Zeeland.  Helsingør castle was excellent and well worth a visit, Grandad T would have loved the maritime museum display.  Fredricksborg castle was grander still although the planned picnic in the picturesque grounds was prevented by torrential rain.  Which continues to be a theme here in Copenhagen.  

For the kids (and the children), the highlight was a trip to Bakken which is about an old fashioned a fairground you can go to complete with creaky roller coaster rides, dodge 'ems and a log flume from which there is no chance of emerging with any piece of clothing dry.  Something which I discovered after darling daughter R persuaded me to her on it....I don't know where she gets her charm and persuasive powers from....

Till next time, which will be quicker than this one...

Like a galleon darling...

So, massive strides in the last few days in becoming more of a Copenhagenite.


For those of you who read the trials of my last blog around getting a mobile phone, you'll be pleased to know that I am now a proud and relieved owner of a new mobile phone.  I chanced my arm one more time with 3 (other providers are available) at a different store and despite some early scepticism, which included examining my passport for some kind of Danish immigration stamp (I had to point out I was an EU citizen, full rights of entry / residence etc), we had success!


Another big development has been the purchase of our Christiania bike which I am starting to throughly enjoy and look forward to using a lot.  Must be said, that the initial omens were not looking good.  Taking the bike for a test spin on a windy and wet day, in what must be the only hilly region of Copenhagen, there were only 2 near crashes and 1 near rollover.  However, R sitting in the cargo box was very reassuring and supportive despite describing my initial biking attempts as "wobbly" and our CoI further encouraging me with comments like "you look like a galleon darling"...  This however was the least of my troubles.


Little did I realise that actually driving a 'Christiania' on the road with no weight i.e. children / cargo in the box actually makes the bike fiendishly difficult to manage, steer and generally keep on the straight and narrow.  So a 10KM cycle to get the bike home, in the blustery wind and rain along the coast made for an interesting experience.  Particularly the road by Charlottenlund Palace where the road undulates, zig zags and the camber on the cycleway does its best to drive you into the adjacent hedgerows.


However, a Sunday afternoon excursion the following day, complete with both children and no near misses suddenly makes the city feel a lot smaller and accessible, not to mention confidence in my abilities to drive one of these things at an acceptable level.  All we need now is an industrial sized bike lock.  Despite Denmark being a very low crime and pleasant country, apparently thefts of Christiania bikes are very common, with even gangs in vans driving round the city looking for them and then just lifting into the back.

The other big step forward this week was a night out for our CoI and me, all by ourselves with no small children.  We seem to have struck pot luck by discovering an extremely local option for babysitting.  Very child friendly and brilliantly flexible.  In fact when we left on Friday night, R was trailing around after her new best girl friend for the evening.  T was oblivious to it and probably best ignored what looked like a girlie evening starting to take shape.

Our evening out helped further our gastronomic adventures in the neighbourhood as we discovered Gustav's Bistro on Classensgade.  A small wine shop with a lovely bistro attached run with a sense of humour.  The food is influenced by French cuisine but with plenty of local Danish twists and ingredients.  And the cassoulet we shared as our main course deserves a special mention.  Another locale making it on to the 'must take friends to' list.

So fuelled by good food and an excellent bottle of Bourgeuil, we started making further plans for nights out exploring the abundance of eateries Copenhagen seems to have to take advantage of our newly discovered babysitting option.  Not to mention preparing for our flurry of visitors that will start within a few days.

Till next time.  Hopefully it'll have rained less in between blogs...

Reality bites and it rains a lot...

So, it feels like the honeymoon period is over.  

Our CoI is fully back into the routine of work with a vengeance.  I am fully understanding the meaning of being a stay at home dad with 2 small children.  One of whom has decided that teething involves all sorts of histrionics and drama.  The other one fortunately is somewhat less dramatic and it is possible to have a rationale conversation with her.  Or at least as rationale as it gets with a 4 and half (very important the half) year old child.

On the upside, it means we are doing lots of things that involve exploring the neighbourhood to keep ourselves busy and out of trouble.

The highlights of discovery since the last blog have been the Fælledparken and the Østerbro Svømmehal.  The former is a large expanse of park, with multiple sports pitches, walking and running tracks and most importantly a fabulous children's playground where the kids can occupy themselves for hours.  Now that the weather is also improving this is becoming a regular excursion.  The latter is an imposing structure modelled along the lines of ancient Roman baths complete with statues of faux gods.  It has a great kids' swimming pool, which is perfect for me and 5m and 10m diving platforms which is perfect for the kids.  This is starting to look like a banker for rainy days.  Of which there are many it seems.

Now that things are starting to become normal again, the time for gastronomic exploration has been limited.  Although, I did try the Maharaja Indian restaurant a few blocks away the other night for a 'treat for self', which whilst a little on the pricey side did a very passable lamb korai with good naan.  So for you members of the FNCC, a perfectly good venue to reconvene when you make it out here.  Kingfisher and a decent wine list also available.

Things we have learnt since the last blog:

1.  Denmark has a supremely well integrated set of government departments - with one number we now exist and every department can help us at the drop of a hat.
2.  The most 'modern' radio station I have discovered, seems stuck somewhere between the mid 80s and mid 90s, with the odd foray into the 2000s or beyond.
3.  Security guards in Copenhagen are as unhelpfully obtuse as in London.
4.  Opening a bank account with our CoI was a wonderful experience involving pleasant one on one meetings in plush offices.  As opposed to the spotty trainee in an open plan station on the high street.
5.  Danes are sticklers for the rules, right down to the feedback on how I should shower when I took the kids swimming (slightly unnerving).
6.  Surprisingly, recycling seems a lot less structured than back home, or at least we were used to in London.  Plastics, tetra paks, food waste all goes into the landfill bin.  And, I have yet to find out where to recycle tins.
7.  The beer is good - current favourite is the Tuborg Grøn pilsner.
8.  The daily weather forecast usually includes; cloudy with some rain, cloudy with a little rain, sunny spells with some rain etc.