{"id":17432,"date":"2017-12-22T15:10:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T15:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=17432"},"modified":"2018-01-23T12:08:42","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T12:08:42","slug":"copenhagen-eats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/copenhagen-eats\/","title":{"rendered":"Copenhagen Eats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Copenhagen<\/a><\/p>\n

A post full of Copenhagen Eats from our anniversary weekend away, before the festive onslaught really begins, and people get a bit sick of the sight of anything food (I am still kicking myself for not getting around to writing up our Japan food adventures – I have plenty of weird and wonderful photos from that…\u00a0 Never too late I guess?!)…<\/p>\n

As someone who has been known to book trips to locations entirely for the food alone, we obviously had a big list of places we had to visit during our whirlwind weekend, and a huge list of old favourite foods we had to eat from our time living in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

The UK is unusual in that despite a thriving restaurant scene, you can quite often get a table somewhere by just walking in.\u00a0 \u00a0In places like Bavaria however, that’s generally not the case – you usually need to book if you want to eat somewhere specific, and in Copenhagen that’s even more the case (ESPECIALLY when the season of Julefrokost (Christmas lunches) takes over, towards the end of November typically)…<\/p>\n

At the top of our must eat at again restaurant lists was a favourite of ours that is as popular now as it ever was.\u00a0 No, not NOMA –\u00a0 everyone thinks of that place when you mention Copenhagen don’t they (we loved our one meal there, but as we booked the trip relatively last minute, there would have been little chance of getting in.\u00a0 Although, if you do fancy going, I have plenty of friends who called and put their name on the waiting list that have been successful!)?\u00a0 \u00a0 As\u00a0Restaurant Sch\u00f8nnemann<\/a>\u00a0first opened its doors in 1877, it’s been around a lot longer!\u00a0 When we booked (back in early October) we were already in last table territory – this place must be the King of Christmas Lunch bookings – but I managed to get something for 12.30.\u00a0 \u00a0 Given that our plane was due to land at 10.00am, I was worried that if we were slightly delayed we wouldn’t make it.\u00a0 Thankfully, the\u00a0sm\u00f8rrebr\u00f8d\u00a0gods were smiling on us, and minutes after dropping our cases at our (pretty rubbish, won’t be gushing about The Square Copenhagen that’s for sure!) hotel, we found ourselves in a lovely packed restaurant surrounded by tables of cheery Danes celebrating Christmas over schnapps and delicious food.\u00a0 \u00a0Although slightly bleary eyed thanks to our 3.30am start, it would have been rude to turn down the glass of beautiful Christmas Schnapps (there are 140 to choose from here by the way!) to start our meal.<\/p>\n

\"schnapps<\/a><\/p>\n

At this time of year Danish Christmas Lunch is probably your best bet, but we opted for\u00a0Sch\u00f8nnemann’s\u00a0famous open sandwiches, as they are what we miss most.<\/p>\n

Herrings first! Curried, and topped with half a perfectly cooked boiled egg, followed by the most delicious steak tartare served with rugbr\u00f8d fried in butter, and a further plate of sm\u00f8rrebr\u00f8d topped with the sweetest Greenlandian prawns (we shared everything!).<\/p>\n

\"schonnemann\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It turns out that the Christmas schnapps is stronger than you might imagine, as I discovered when I got back from the loo to find the normally super diligent Mr R (having not read the receipt!) had accidentally paid for a table of 9.\u00a0 \u00a0Thankfully the mortified waiter realised before we did, and sorted it out straight away, but it still makes me laugh\u00a0 (and meant we had plenty of Danish cash that we had initially tried to avoid taking out, to spend in some of our favourite shops!!)…<\/p>\n

We skipped pudding here as we couldn’t eat another thing, plus there were plenty of sweet Danish Christmas specialities we wanted to cram in over the weekend including Aebleskiver<\/a> which we found that night at Tivoli<\/a> served with decent\u00a0gl\u00f8gg (so much sweeter than gluhwein) that helped serve as a festive type of Central Heating on a bitterly cold night…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The only thing we didn’t manage to eat this trip was Ris A La Mande<\/a>, the Danish festive rice pudding made with plenty of cream, and topped with cherry sauce.\u00a0 \u00a0A little like the tokens in our Christmas pudd, whoever finds the lucky almond in their bowl gets to make that all important wish…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
ris a la mande – my version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"wienerbrod<\/a><\/p>\n

Breakfast bright and early the next morning had to be in the form of Wienerbr\u00f8d.\u00a0 Obviously…\u00a0 \u00a0 A big slice of an old favourite (in my opinion the best Danish comes in the form of one long pastry that you indicate how many people you would like it cut for) along with a chocolate and poppy seed confection and something we often try and base our Danish Pastries on in the UK (except this one wasn’t a sad and soggy affair)!<\/p>\n

According to my sources, the best places to buy Wienerbr\u00f8d are Laekerbaer in Osterbro and Emmery’s (we used to go to the one in Hellerup A LOT.\u00a0 I will never forget the day I was so engrossed in chatting to my friend that I didn’t notice that my then 2 year old was in the window, about to take a massive bite out of a hanging Christmas Gingerbread decoration!!!).\u00a0 \u00a0I still love Lakagehuset too, and you can find countless branches across the city…<\/p>\n

\"geist<\/a><\/p>\n

As Sunday was our actual anniversary, to celebrate 14 years of married life,\u00a0 we had a table booked at Geist, just up the road from Nyhavn’s iconic coloured buildings, tucked away in a leafy green courtyard.<\/p>\n

\"geist<\/a><\/p>\n

Geist<\/a> is the slightly different ex baby of the enfant terrible of Danish Cooking Bo Bech.\u00a0 \u00a0 This article from Food and Wine Gazette<\/a> describes why he felt he had to let it go…\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It’s still obviously much loved by him, and his influence is everywhere…\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0As we had booked an early table, Geist was quite devoid of folk at first, unless, as the name suggests (Ghost!) we were surrounded by spectral company…<\/p>\n

\"geist<\/a>
Chestnut bread topped gravadlax<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"raw<\/a>
raw lobster with hibiscus and yuzu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The menu is full of really different sounding dishes such as the Raw Norway Lobster with Hisbiscus and Yuzu above, or Leeks with Smoked Eels and Nasturtium…\u00a0 It’s suggested that you chose two to three dishes to make up a meal, and between us we enjoyed the raw lobster (which was almost ghost like in that it was quite hard to actually see, was delicious!), the black kale with fried egg and dill, Gravlax with chestnut bread, and the most bizarre looking but exquisitely dressed mountain of leaves topped with a raw oyster.\u00a0 We had one main each (we aren’t that greedy!), and I opted for the chicken wings topped with scallops and a lobster sauce, and Mr R had Turbot with the most beautiful fennel ravioli (that I pinched a couple of!)…<\/p>\n

\"turbot<\/a>
Turbot topped with fennel ravioli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The wine suggestions were beautiful if not a little eye watering (this is Copenhagen, anywhere seems reasonable after living here!), and desserts of caramelised bread with vanilla ice cream, and burned milk ice cream with a beautiful crumble like accompaniment rounded everything off really nicely (and made me not want to eat again for the rest of this year and possibly the next!)…<\/p>\n

\"evening<\/a><\/p>\n

A walk around Nyhavn and beyond to the water’s edge helped with the digestion process, so much so that on the way to the plane a few hours later, we had enough space for my favourite Lakagehuset treat \u00a0Christianshavnert\u00e6rte – a cake with a hazelnut base and a strawberry cream topping.\u00a0 \u00a0Funny how Mr R didn’t fancy anything when we went in, but suddenly appeared back at the table with this with TWO forks… Oh well, it was our anniversary and all that… Here’s to the next 14 years of cake sharing!<\/p>\n

\"christianshavnerkage<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"MummyTravels\"<\/a><\/div>\n

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