When at Noma and some other trendy spots in DK order wine from the list not the wine pairings. Natural wines are like some sort of new religion there! Beware!
Geranium gets lots of press for being great and not expensive, but I agree that it is not at all special. Just another place to eat.
The best new place I tried last summer was Skomagerkroen which was in the middle of nowhere west of Roskilde. Mostly seafood based dishes and very seasonal. One meat course was a superb dry aged steak that was almost black. Hope it is still as good next time I visit.
I started this thread so I guess I can drift it a little??? To Sarahâs point. Traveling to other countries to get something amazing that I canât get elsewhere⌠I seem to be having much better luck with this when I stay away from the 2** and 3*** restaurants. There seems to be some predictability on some of the large 3*** tasting menus no matter what country you are in. Yes, this is a generalization and there are certainly exceptions but if I look as some of the most pleasing, unique, local meals I have had in Europe over the last 5 years or so they are at the 1* level or below. Many times at lunch.
Make sure to pick up coffee at The Coffee Collective when youâre at Torvehallerne, by far the best coffee in Copenhagen. They have a couple of other locations as well.
I very much agree, and you put it well. In addition, I find many of the trappings of 3* places to be detractors, elements that have to be overcome, that keep me at a distance from the experience, instead of enhancements. Things like white gloves, putting my napkin in my lap with tongs, menus so huge they knock over my glass, courses that involve games (whose idea was that?), endless descriptions of courses including instructions on how to eat thingsâŚSome of these things can work, depending on how they are handled, but often they just seem like unnecessary add-ons to me. Lower level (by star count) can dispense with these things, or use only what makes sense, and that seems to allow a more connected experience for me - connected to the food, the location, the staff.
Some 3*** meals tend to be more of a performance. Alinea here in Chicago is a perfect example. I do enjoy some of these every now and again. (Havenât been to Alinea for years). These meals can sometimes make you feel very disconnected. Like you are watching a movie. In worse case scenarios when the staff doesnât seem to care it makes it worse. This happened to me at Azurmendi. A really terrible experience. I felt invisible.
Ha! We felt very much the same way at Azurmendi. The trappings, the room, the theatre, the level of staff warmth and finesse (I didnât feel invisible, just that they had no idea what they were doing) was very off-putting. My husband, who used to be a chef, also said, after the kitchen tour, that heâd never seen a colder or more soulless kitchen in his life. In looking back at my pictures, which is the only way I can remember the food, we realize what we ate actually tasted pretty good. But we donât recall that part.
My son has a nut allergy. It is not severe. This was all discussed multiple times before the meal in Spanish and English. Three times I sent back dishes with nuts in them.
Definitely align on this as well. 3*** can be delightful and even exceptional but rarely âsurprisingâ or âexceed expectationsâ⌠mostly b/c we probably go in with very high expectations to begin withâŚ
Inexcusable. You must have been furious. The only time Iâve ever seen my exceedingly good natured husband in a rage is when a restaurant served me a dish with something Iâm allergic to, telling us that ingredient wasnât used, then coming back after Iâd eaten it to say they were wrong. Fortunately, my allergy is not severe either, but still.
Oh definitely⌠I canât think of many (or ANY really) michelin star meals that Iâve had where it was both 1)free, and 2)bad.
Generally if someone else is paying, I have a reasonably good time.
Could not have cared less, of course, but now that I am done with the pet peeve, letâs move to the substance. I know a guy who has a SEVERE tree nut allergy. He was a trade association senior executive and traveled all over the world. He had a notebook which had an explanation of his allergy and the dangers of him eating nuts written in dozens of languages. He would go into the kitchen and if the chef did not speak English, he would pull out his little book and show it to the guy. It worked . . . most of the time. Some people either did not believe him or didnât care. He still carried a bunch of syringes with him when he went out to eat, which he had to do often.
Thanks for the grammar correction. Luckily my sonâs allergy is not severe. However, if a restaurant reaches out to you to discuss an allergy before you go there and you reconfirm when you arrive then I think they have at least some responsibility to manage it. If they canât they should say no.
Itâs getting close to a year since I was there. Itâs up in the Refshaleøen area, which is a bit funky and trendy. Itâs in an industrial-ish building, and quite stark on the inside, very sparse. Some tech and hip-hop music going, and graffiti-ish artwork. But itâs actually quite comfortable inside. Service was good, and the food was solid. Very much inline with what you would expect from a high-end restaurant with a tasting menu. Very fresh and local ingredients.
We did the wine pairing, and found that it worked. There were no outstanding wines, but they paired. I canât remember now if any were reds. [Edit: from my pics, there was at least 1 red and 1 rose]
There were a couple of tables with families that included teenage kids. Some of the kids seem to be enjoying the experience, and some seemed bored. No small kids.
They have a garden out back, that between a couple of courses, we were encouraged to go outside and wander around. Really enjoyed that stroll around sunset.
I really enjoyed Amass. Itâs been long enough now that itâs hard to give solid feedback, but the comment my wife and I kept making was that it was one of the most fun dinners we had been to.
(If you want me to post one of the individual pics, let me know - didnât want to blow-up the thread with a bunch of large pics)
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Luckily my sonâs allergy is not severe. However, if a restaurant reaches out to you to discuss an allergy before you go there and you reconfirm when you arrive then I think they have at least some responsibility to manage it. If they canât they should say no.
