Modern Danish cuisine is piquing the world’s interest,
popularizing a menu that’s heavily based in vegetables. Foraging ingredients is
seen as trendy, rather than strange that a person would want to pay top dollar
to eat peculiar weeds found by a lake. Simple organic is not enough: food is
now from biodynamic farms which uses a balanced ecosystem to produce
ingredients.
Two Michelin star Geranium serves up such fare – they pride
themselves for using locally grown ingredients from biodynamic farms. Behind
the helm is Chef Rasmus Kofoed who infamously won gold, silver and bronze from
the Bocuse d'Or international cooking competition. In fact, while visiting Geranium’s kitchen,
you will see the three awards proudly displayed on your table.
There’s two tasting menus available: the larger universe
(1,600 DKK) and the Geranium dishes (1,200 DKK), we ordered the smaller of the
two.
A series of appetizers start off the meal. Two crackers, the
crispy grains from Kornly, arrive first; the name seems to be cheeky nod to the
grain stored method used to make the Kornly cheese. I don’t want to downplay
the dish, but it reminded me of an upscale Goldfish cracker. Crunchy and
flavourful, these are some of the best cheese crackers I’ve ever tasted.
What looked like floating orbs followed – crispy shells made
from carrots and filled with soft sweet carrots inside. The shell itself had a
hint of tartness to contrast the naturally sweet carrot filling.
Along with the orbs was a dish of milk custard with
fermented carrot juice dotted with fish roe. Sitting at the bottom was a piece
of crab, which was delicious but didn’t add to the dish. All in all, a
refreshing interpretation of carrots.
As much as I tried to appreciate the raw asparagus dish, it
was quite slippery and started breaking apart when lifted. To avoid complete
destruction, I shoved it in my mouth and was greeted with a cooling sensation
followed by hints of sourness (likely from the asparagus vinegar) and a herby
lemon finish.
The following dish is what I like to think of as an opulent
chip - delicate crispy Jerusalem artichoke leaves served with a creamy dip.
Lighter than a potato, the root vegetable still offered an earthy taste but
with a slightly sweet finish.
The dried apple and flowers pouch was a stunning dish. The
apple consommé hydrates it slightly as the gelatin shell melts. After getting
through the wrapper there’s an intense apple and floral flavour. Chewy and
revitalizing this could work equally well as a dessert.
Although not as esthetically pleasing to look at the “charred
potato” was delicious – I desperately wanted more than one bite. The soft,
creamy, dense potato sat on a spoon of lightly smoked whipped sheep milk
butter. A great balanced smoky dish.
We were invited into the kitchen to experience the next
dish. Of course, the cup of grilled asparagus juice was delicious – foamy and
surprisingly creamy for an ingredient that’s so delicate. But, the highlight
was seeing everyone work!
Of course the kitchen was spotless – all gleaming white
countertops and shiny stainless steel appliances. There were tons of chefs,
most working in groups to put together the meticulously plated dishes.
Nonetheless, the environment was tranquil with communication between the chefs
given calmly, not at all like the drama that’s portrayed on Hell’s Kitchen.
Trying to stealthily snap pictures, one chef looked up,
smiled and even offered to take a picture for us. It was such a friendly
gesture that instantly put me at ease. In fact, Geranium’s greatest virtue, in
my opinion, is their service. Every person we encountered was genuinely
friendly… and we certainly met a lot of people given each signature dish was
served by the chef who made it.
Servers would strike up conversations with us and through
these I realized what a multi-cultural staff Geranium has cultivated: it seems
like there were people from all over the world (we even met someone from
Montreal)! Additionally, the act of inviting every diner into the kitchen for a
course is such a great idea – a daring and intimate gesture that made the meal
a memorable one.
Once back at the table the last appetizer was served; the seaweed
and razor clam was my favourite of the bunch. A crispy edible shell held pieces
of delicate, sweet, raw razor clams. A light, velvety, seaweed infused sauce
accompanied it.
Moving into the ‘Signature Dishes’, the plates started to
become more substantial. The green dill stones were presented amongst other
rocks, where the jelly wrappers held large pieces of meaty mackerel. The smooth
horseradish cream and cool pickled cucumber granite complimented the fish quite
nicely.
Nuggets of warm emmer and spelt bread followed. The
sourdough had a chewy exterior and airy springy centre. We slowly made our way
through all of them, two bites at a time.
Geranium’s rendition of French onion soup uses biodynamic
onions with chamomile and melted hay cheese. The sweet onions had a slight sour
finish to it, but it was the broth that stole the show: light but having a
cheese flavour that lingers on the tongue without being overwhelming. How can
something so pale looking have such an incredible scent?
Lastly, a stuffed chicken wing carved table side to share.
The dish was the heartiest of the bunch with succulent chicken mixed with cucumber
plant, pine sprouts and meadow hay beer. Call me old fashioned, but it was
great to finally have a hot meaty dish. Up until this point, the other courses
were mainly cold, some lukewarm at best. So, ending off with a piping hot piece
of chicken was heavenly.
Dessert started with braised pieces of rhubarb with freeze
dried creamy sheep yoghurt and rose hip. A delicate dish with delicious rich
yoghurt and light floral notes.
A selection of petit fours ended the meal - each presented
on separate dishes that all worked together.
On the metal sculpture were brittle pieces of lingonberry
bush with beetroot, having a sweet and sour taste that’s similar to cranberries
or red currant.
The soft onion caramels were wrapped in a strawberry fruit
roll-up; the onion adding a savoury element to the dessert.
The pumpkin seed oil cake was dense, sweet and nutty. Like
the other desserts, the deceptively simple looking dish was richly flavoured
and the sweetness set off with another taste – in this case an earthy savoury
note from the pumpkin seed oil.
We saved the chocolate for last - the green pine ash on top
making way to a dense dark smooth ganache.
Overall, although the menu was a tad vegetarian for the carnivore
in me, it opened my eyes to view the ingredients as the star – rather than
sides to be eaten after the beef. And after days of eating out, my stomach
likely benefited from these antioxidant rich dishes.
Geranium also offers wine or juice pairings: 1,300 DKK and
600 DKK, respectively for the Universe or 900 DKK and 300 DKK with the Geranium
dishes. We just ordered items by the glass – a Herslev Bryghus pilsner (80
DKK), a refreshing 2013 Alice et Olivier De Moor Bourgogne Chitry (150 DKK) and
a Benromach Speyside scotch (100 DKK). Also, if you want to avoid a credit card
surcharge fee, make sure you bring enough cash.
Before we left, our server waited for us at the reception
desk to say goodbye and thank you one last time. We left with little boxes of
black current licorice, which I had on our plane ride home the next day. They
are nothing like the strong anise flavoured licorice candies of North America,
instead nice and sweet, bringing back fond memories of the friendly meal from
the night before.
Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
How To Find Them
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Address: Per Hendrik Lings Alle 4
Address: Per Hendrik Lings Alle 4
Website: http://geranium.dk/
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
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