New Nordic cuisine. These three words have been appearing with greater and greater frequency on restaurant menus, in the reviews of food critics and on the lips of diners around the world.
And it all started right here, in Denmark, when Nordic chefs attending a food symposium in Copenhagen drew up a manifesto, of what new Nordic cuisine should be.
They landed on: seasonal, sustainable, local. And for the past 10 years restaurants and chefs have been taking this to heart; serving up the country’s bountiful produce in increasingly creative ways, and in traditional Danish dishes with a twist.
Copenhagen is even home to what many consider to be the world’s number one restaurant, noma. Here chef Rene Redzepi puts the spotlight firmly on the country’s high quality raw ingredients. Nothing not reared, farmed or produced on Danish soil makes the cut and dishes here include sweet shrimps wrapped in ramson leaves, cabbage and roses, and monkfish liver.
Of course not everyone can stretch to Michelin prices, and in Denmark you don’t have to. Across the country you’ll find local restaurants serving up fresh, seasonal cuisine inspired by that same manifesto.
Denmark’s small hotels are among the best places to get a taste of Danish food. These inns have a tradition of providing not just a bed for the night but a good meal too, and today they are really upping their standards, with even the simplest of dishes featuring homegrown, home-pickled and home-smoked ingredients.
In East Jutland book a stay at Hotel Danica in Horsens for beef served with homemade béarnaise sauce, or head into the lake highlands to Norre Vissing Kro for North Sea fish and smoked duck. In West Jutland, choose Nymindegab Kro perched on the dunes above the North Sea and you’ll be served the nine-course surprise menu, likely to feature plenty of local seafood.
In Funen’s far west, Hindsgavl Slot is top pick for its home-smoked salmon, served with a cream of smoked cheese and roasted cucumber, while in Sealand Hotel Kirstine serves up a seasonal menu of the month with everything on it prepared from scratch.
Denmark is also home to numerous castles and many of these are today top hotels with first-class restaurants. Take a gourmet escape to Dragsholm Slot on the fringes of the fertile vegetable garden that is Lammefjorden in northwest Sealand and you’ll find the likes of Danish veal served with artichoke and local cheeses served with pickled vegetables. Alternatively, go west and tuck in to the new Nordic menu at cosy inn Henne Kirkeby Kro, cooked up by expat British chef Paul Cunningham. The 4000 square metre kitchen garden here yields a seasonally changing array of vegetable accompaniments to dishes such as oysters from Limfjord and shrimp from the island of Romo.
If new Nordic cuisine isn’t quite your thing, Denmark also has plenty of more traditional dishes to offer. Danes love their meat and one of the main things you should look out for is frikadeller, a meatball commonly served with boiled potatoes and red cabbage. In Copenhagen even the coolest bars serve crispy floeskesvaer (pork crackling) as a salty snack to accompany your Danish beer, which probably comes from one of the country’s increasing number of microbreweries rather than from the city’s vast Carlsberg brewery. Away from the city, you’ll find fresh berries and other local produce in stalls along quiet country roads – most of them will be unattended, so leave your payment in a “trusty box” after taking whatever takes your fancy.
Seafood is popular too, with herring (sild) the staple. You’ll most often see it served smoked and in coastal areas head to the local rogeri (smokehouse) for the best produce and prices – old Nordic it may be, but still local, seasonal, and tasty to boot.
Opodo has flights to Denmark from £30. Visit opodo.co.uk for more information and to book.
