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S1:E5 | Copenhagen

Walking it Off

By Nathan Tsai

March 31^st, 2017

March for lunch

We were up sluggishly.

The previous day of travel and even longer dinner drained us of the will to move.

We eventually realized that we were hungry after demolishing the last of the Digestive biscuits and chocolate from our previous hiking excursions.

We also thought it would be interesting to walk throughout the city instead of relying on bikes, cars, or public transportation. Since Copenhagen was an eminently bike-able city, we figured that walking should be just as good. We weren't wrong; at the end of the day, we had walked more than 13km and we enjoyed every bit of it.

On the way to lunch, we passed by a copy of Cain's Lion and Lioness near Jarmers Plads (left) and walked through Ørsteadsparken (right).

AamanNs Deli & Takeaway

Øster Farimagsgade 10, 2100 København Ø

Of the many things that the Danes are famous for, the smørrebrød (not to be confused with the Swedish smörgåsbord) is one of the their tastiest inventions. Smørrebrød—literally butter (smør) and (og) bread (brød)—is one of the staples of Danish cuisine. Rough and heavy rye bread is sliced, and buttered to form the base on which the chef piles on other ingredients. Today, the term references not only the base of buttered bread, but the piles of toppings (Pålæg) that cover the top of this delicious bread.

Aamanns is a fairly recent restaurant (2006) that seeks to apply the tenets of "New Nordic Cuisine" to the traditional open faced sandwich. By all means, they have certainly succeeded with store openings in the international airport in Copenhagen and abroad in New York City.

Pan Fried Fish (left):

This was one seriously stacked piece of toast.

From the base up there was: a fried fillet of white fish, pickled red onions, a remoulade made from pickled green tomatoes, herbs and lemon, and a collection of various herbs and flowers on top.

I feel like I'm repeating myself whenever I talk about fish in Scandinavia, but...this fish was beautifully cooked. The outside was crispy and crunchy and the inside was flaky and moist. I can't ask any more from a piece of fried fish.

I'm a huge fan of pickling things and pickled onions are great. They were sweet and tart, and crisp.

The remoulade was a great twist on this interpretation of "fish and chips". Instead of a tartar sauce, the chef created a similar sauce using pickled tomatoes instead of relish and a bevy of herbs instead of just capers and dill. It was creamy, a bit rough, and was a beautiful contrast to the much lighter fish.

I still don't understand the fascination with garnishing plates with a small garden's worth of greens, but hey, what do I know? I got some of my daily requirements for vitamins and other than that, the greens didn't contribute.

Overall, a great dish. Awesome take on the traditional fish and chips.

Cured Veal (right):

From the base up there was: cured veal, béarnaise cream, fried mushroom chips, sautéd mushrooms, and some micro greens.

The cured veal was very similar to the Italian bresaola but it was a bit more pungent in flavor and a little dryer. Was a little salty and the texture was definitely a bit too hard for me.

The cream was very rich. It tasted like a standard béarnaise sauce, but more concentrated—almost like a butter version of béarnaise. The combination with the cured veal was ok, the flavors were a bit intense though.

The fried mushroom chips were great, lots of umami and a delightful crunch.

The sautéd mushroom and micro greens weren't that important, they seemed more like window dressing, noticeable but not impactful in any real sense.

Definitely less good than the fish dish, but still something I'd be happy with eating every day for lunch.

An aside: Babies

I only bring this up because this is one of a few pictures I have of a baby (this was taken in Aamanns), but there are so many babies in Copenhagen.

It's a little bonkers. Everywhere we walked there would be mothers pushing strollers with babies inside. Entire cars of public transport were filled with four or five baby-toting mothers with their baby-related accoutrements.

It seems like there's a huge baby boom going on right now in Denmark. It seems like it was inspired by companies and the government as a response to historically low growth rates. It seems to have worked.

Over 10,000 babies were born in Copenhagen last year (a 25% increase from 2008) and that number seems to be continuously growing.

I don't have much else to contribute to this, but I just wanted to share the observation because it was surprising.

Kongens Have and the Rosenborg Castle

Nyhavn and ICE cream!

Vaffelbageren is hands down my favorite ice cream place in Copenhagen. Those who've traveled with me know that I eat ice cream everywhere.

This is one of the only ice cream places I've ever been to in the whole world where you can actually smell the waffle cones being toasted and the sweetness and flavor of the ice cream wafting out as you walk by on the street.

It was so good, I didn't even take a picture of it before I finished my ice cream.

Suffice to say, it was creamy, flavorful, a bit sweet, and just great.

The harbor and the Opera house

Maersk Marketing

The A.P. Moller–Maersk Group is the largest container ship and shipping coordinator in the world. Though they're based in Denmark, they have offices in over 150 other countries.

While the company isn't very interesting (to me at least), they have these holographic-like displays outside their main offices near the harbor and they play these marketing videos on them 24/7.

I thought the videos looked pretty neat.

The Monument for Denmark’s International Effort

St. Alban's Church

Formel b

Vesterbrogade 182, 1800 Frederiksberg C

We hit a bunch of my favorite food places in Copenhagen today.

Of the bunch, formel B is by far my favorite.

It's French-inspired "New Nordic Cuisine". Their presentation is elegant, their service is professional, their prices are reasonable, but most importantly: their food tastes wonderful.

Before we even received the menu, right after we sat down, we were blitzed with the indomitable "snacks".

From the bottom in and rotating clockwise:

Dehydrated Carrots:

Like the apple last night, these carrots were dehydrated, then rehydrated with carrot juice, then dehydrated again to "intensify" the "carrotness" of the carrot. It's essentially carrot jerky that tastes like carrot juice.

It looks green because it's been coated with a mixture of herbs and seaweed.

It was about average in flavor, but it was inventive and a bit surprising.

Truffle Chip with Fried Pork Rind:

This was great actually.

Maybe I have a penchant for the fried things but chicharrones taste good and truffles taste good so why not mix the two together?

It tasted exactly as one would expect, both rich in flavor and salty but just a small bite so as to not overwhelm.

Fried Fish:

More fried small things. I like.

Again, nothing innovative or surprising, but just a great combination of fried fish and some cream.

Salted Codfish with Ramson/Lime Emulsion, Grilled Haricort Vert and Seaweed:

The salted codfish sat in the middle of the veggies like a treasure waiting to be uncovered. It was prepared like ceviche where the salted codfish was allowed to denature and cure in an emulsion of lime and ramson (wild garlic). It tasted like a Danish version of ceviche. The fish had some chewy texture, it was fresh and sweet and light. The sauce was just a little tart and a little garlic-y but also a bit salty and sweet.

The vegetables were prepared wonderfully. The green beans were roasted to a nice crunchy outside and moist interior. The jicama was sweet and crunchy. And the seaweed provided an echo of the sea in a dish so well grounded in the vegetables and fruits of the land.

Marvelous dish.

Lobster a la Nage with Carrot Purée and Local Danish Vegetables:

This dish was the equivalent of the sweetbread dish of yesterday. It was executed just as well.

The lobster was poached in a "Nage" which funnily enough is not a French term, but it is an American naming of a culinary technique. A nage is a light seafood broth flavored with white wine and herbs which is used to poach other seafood. The idea is that this broth is both light enough to not overly impact the delicate flavor of the seafood it's poaching, but strong enough to be used as a sauce for the dish after reduction.

Like everything they do at formel B, it was perfect. The lobster was perfectly cooked. The flesh was springy in the mouth while melting after a few chews and the flavor was full and sweet.

The vegetables—while not cooked a billion ways—was all fresh and grounded the dish in their earthy and leafy flavors. The carrot purée rounded off the slightly harder seafood flavors with softer and a slightly creamy aftertaste.