Date Night #3 Madklubben Bistro De Luxe

It is cold here.  When people ask me where I am from and I respond Canada, they look at me and say, “Oh, so you’re used to the cold!” or “It’s really cold in Canada.”  To be honest with you, global warming has messed up Canadian weather. I remember when I was young, I used to have snow days.  School would be canceled because there was so much snow on the ground.

Toronto is lucky to have a couple major snow falls. Just last week, my friends and family were informing me that it was above 10 degrees in January.  That is pretty warm for winter if you ask me.  Now, over here in Copenhagen, it says minus 1 on my weather iPhone app, but I know it’s lying.  Even when the app says minus three, it is still lying to me.

Walk outside on the sidewalk in Copenhagen at around 4pm and it feels like -15.  I sense the temperature is approaching the point where your nose starts to freeze off.  For example, when I do my daily 20 minute walk to and from the yoga studio, by the time I get indoors, my fingers are numb and frozen.  I wear a full length coat down to my ankles, multiple layers, a scarf, a hat and big Sorrel boots (not the most attractive, but protective against the elements).  Dressing like that means it is not minus 1 outside.

Despite the cold weather, date night does not suffer.  In fact, it means exploring restaurants closer to home where you don’t have to walk or travel that far!  Last Friday we went to a spot called Madklubben Bistro De Luxe.  I love that restaurant name. It’s a mouthful of awesomeness.

Madklubben Bistro De Luxe is one of six restaurants which is part of a group.  The menu changes quite often.  This restaurant is adorable.  From the street, you descend down a few steps (with candles lit down the steps) into the restaurant.

(Appetizer: Smoked salmon with smoked cheese, greens and crunchy hazelnuts)

The restaurant is deceivingly large.  From the entrance, you have a dining space to your left, a long hallway of tables in front of you that extends back into a second room and then a smaller room behind the bar on the right.  On Friday night at 8:30pm, guess what? Madklubben Bistro De Luxe was packed with hungry diners sitting at candle lit tables and slicing (devouring) through the board of fresh rye bread and butter served at the start.

What we tried:

(Main: Fried duck breast with pickled fennel and artichokes)

(Main: Cauliflower three ways with a side of cabbage with walnuts and prunes)

Menu shot!

(Just entering the restaurant- a look at the walk up bar)

Appetizer: Charcuterie plate of meat- not sure exactly what each item was but my husband really enjoyed it.

With two courses each we were stuffed.  We wanted to sample a dessert but sadly, there was no more room, so we lived vicariously through our neighbours who were polishing off a bottle of red wine and dipping into their last course.

We will have to return one night for a dessert, seeing how it is only down the street from our apartment.  As we left the restaurant, I did think the pace of dinner was a bit rushed. We were in and out in an hour, but then again, does dinner always need to be a two or three hour affair?  We came, we ordered, we ate, and we were satisfied by their efficiency.  I would go back.

The other bonus, Madklubben Bistro De Luxe is not ridiculously priced (in CND or USD).  It is a bit friendlier on the exchange rate/wallet in comparison to many of the 375-500DKK prix fixe meals in the city (roughly translates to $65-$85 per person).

Madklubben Bistro De Luxe- Store Kongensgade 66, 1264 Copenhagen +45 33 32 32 34

Reservations recommended!

Date Night this week will in fact be a double date night + 1.  I will be visiting two restaurants this weekend as I have a guest in town. I will be dining at Host and Kjobenhavn. More on both next week.

Host is currently the design darling-

See who is talking about Host:

1. Apartment Therapy: The Nordic Table

2. Contemporary Standard: Host Restaurant in Copenhagen

3. Scandinavian Deko: Norm + Menu + Cofoco = Host

4. Remodelista: The Viking Table Re-imagined

5. Dezeen: Host By Norm Architects and Menu

I (heart) Cool Convenience Store Design

I love e-Types’ concept and visual identify for C, a Copenhagen based convenience store.  e-Types, is a Copenhagen design firm.

The combination of the black and white with the heart is so eye catching for something as generic and boring as a convenience store.

I was just in Frederiksberg on the weekend and I missed checking this place out!

Oh well, next time.

Photo Sources: 1-3, 4

My Home (apt) Decor

Isn’t moving fun?  I think so.   I’ve become somewhat of a moving pro. Since 2010, I’ve set up and moved into three different apartments in three different countries.

Moving is the best time to purge unwanted, or underused objects.  If you’re a pack-rat like me, or as I like to call it, a sentimental person who likes to cherish objects, moving represents a time to reorganize, consider new uses for existing objects and do a bit of updating with new objects.  This is, in fact, the exact same message I gave my brother who moved into a new apartment in Chicago this past weekend.

I am almost done setting up my new flat in Copenhagen.  I still have the dining room to take care of, which is currently in shambles.  We are dinning by candle light until we get the last component for our pendant light.

Here is a look at some of our fun purchases this past month:

01 We bought two red Nud classic collection pendant lights for our front hall. We decided to use a cylindrical edison bulb instead of the round ones.

02 Two Mr. P lamps to go on our bedside tables.  Yes, I know a bit crude but these lamps make us laugh every night before we go to bed.

03 One Raskog Ikea kitchen cart which we turned into a bar cart.

04 A Normann Copenhagen hang lamp which is currently sitting on the floor until we buy a hook to put it in the ceiling.

05 A Lucky Boy Sunday pillow at my husband’s request.  I have this great Anthropologie pillow that I bought a couple years ago in Toronto.  It has lots of texture and wool which my husband says it’s too itchy and flat out detests.  He wanted to replace the itchy pillow with something softer, so he chose this baby alpaca pillow. My anthro pillow has been re-purposed to another room.

06 A Normann Copenhagen tablo table in warm grey.  We did not have a side table and have currently been using poor Balloona.

All will be tidy and in its place by the end of the week, as we are preparing to receive our first Copenhagen visitors: my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Date Night #2 Sticks ‘n’ Sushi

For Date Night #2, my husband and I decided to come out of our year and a half sushi hibernation in Prague and jump back on the bandwagon.  We went to Sticks ‘n’ Sushi.

On one of our week night walks, we noticed a busy looking sushi restaurant, so we memorized the name, and made a reservation when we got home for the following Friday. We went to dinner without reading a review or the menu.  This was a blind sushi tasting.  In most European cities, this is the same as a dining death sentence- unless you are prepared to pay for some high-end sushi!  I am sorry to say but non-high end sushi restaurants are hit and miss.

You could say we approached our date night at Sticks ‘n’ Sushi with much anticipation, curiosity and perspiration.

Wipe sweat off brow- this place was mind-blowingly good.  It came up in conversation with our waiter that we had just moved to Copenhagen two weeks ago and had not eaten sushi in almost two years.

He asked us if we had been to any other sushi restaurants in Copenhagen.  We said, he was our first.  “Good” he replied. “We are the best in the city, so you came to the right spot.”  And this is coming from a sushi chain (shudder shudder).

Photo Sources 1, 2-3 (mine), 4, 5, 6, 7

We ordered edamame that came topped with salt and a wedge of lemon and slices of raw salmon that was topped with mushrooms, shredded beets, onions and a mustard sauce. For sushi we ordered three rolls.  Each roll came creatively topped with unidentifiable glazes, sesame seeds, or crunchy bits.  Melt in your mouth fish.  The rolls had the texture, the flavour and the freshness all in one.  After a pot of freshly brewed loose leaf jasmine tea (bonus), we were tempted into trying their trio of sorbet (yuzu, hazelnut and vanilla), which also came topped with sculptural stuff (chocolate, crunchy butterscotch bits and a thin cotton candy-watermelon tasting sugar).

We left stuffed, satisfied and wanting to put sushi in our monthly rotation of date nights.  We won’t though because that will take away from visiting other restaurants.  I am still curious about other sushi restaurants in Copenhagen, so Sticks ‘n’ Sushi will not rein supreme until I test out a couple other spots.

The last thing I found interesting about this spot, was that not only was this restaurant packed, it was also lining up bag after take-away bag of sushi the entire time we were there.  People kept walking in and out to pick up their take-away sushi.

Address:   Øster Farimagsgade 16, 2100 København Ø. Telefon +45 35 38 34 63

Il Pirata (Belfast)

Il Pirata in Belfast, Ireland is a small rustic Italian restaurant that was designed by Oscar & Oscar.

I love the wood floors, white subway tiles, iconic bar stools, and exposed industrial looking pendant lights hanging from the ceiling.

Simple, yet cosy don’t you think?

While I have not made it up to Belfast myself, I wanted to share an excellent restaurant review for Il Pirata from the Restaurant Pimp and another one from Joe Warwick at the Guardian, in case your travels take you up this way.