Ituri Salon: Hair Salon Love

If you read a lot of design blogs you may have noticed that hair salons don’t often get mentioned on design blogs.  You see restaurants, you see houses, you see hotels, you see retail stores, but hair salons… get left out.

Here is my effort to give hair salons some love and appreciation.

This is the interior of Ituri Copenhagen.

I was there tonight and shot some pictures while I waited.

This salon does hair, makeup and nails for theatre and non-theatre folk.  

ANNNDDDD…….. you gotta love late night Wednesday hair appointments-I think they are the only salon in the city open until 9pm on a Wednesday. 

I like the diamond interior theme running throughout Ituri and also noticed they decked out their chairs with pillows and throws from Ferm Living,- which I later found out also blogged about them.

ITURI
Esplanaden 6-8
DK- 1263 Kobenhavn K

Very Fitting: Gummy Bear Chandelier

How was your weekend? Mine was relaxing.  I went to an excellent neighbourhood organic Italian Trattoria that I will post about later this week (Date Night #5), called Che Fe.  I also watched not one, but two (actually one and a half) movies: Beautician and the Beast (huge Fran Drescher fan here!!) and I started watching an really interesting documentary about the indie video game industry called Indie Game.

I was so intrigued by the documentary (not Beautician and the Beast) that I am trying to figure out how to parlay the indie game movie into a new assignment next semester for a distance learning class I am teaching called Marketing Planning.  The thoughts are still marinating in my head.  (So if you are my student and reading this- don’t jump to conclusions 🙂

Back to gummy bears- Why is a gummy bear chandelier fitting you ask?

A) I love gummy bears.

B) I ate a lot of these over the weekend while watching Beautician and the Beast.

C) I have found a superior gummy, which I will post about later.  Did you know that North American gummy bears and European gummy bears do not taste the same? Surprise surprise!  The gummies here seem to contain more fruit and less sugar and they are tasty.  I have a stash from Bears and Friends (a little bit of fruit gummy heaven) in Dresden that is housed in various jars around my flat.  I also tasted a few gummies last week from a Copenhagen candy store that were excellent and keeping with the Euro-gummy experience.

When I saw this gummy bear chandelier, I just had to share it with you.  Artist Kevin Champeny made the “candelier” from over 3000 hand cast acrylic Gummi Bears for Jellio.

Photo Source: 1-4

A Look at Sabio By The Sea

Here is an interesting restaurant interior.

Sabio By the Sea was designed by The Stripe Collective in Singapore.

I like busy ceiling.  The mix of antler lights, pendant lighting, rope and horse heads (instead of stag heads?!) seem to work together.  Plus the view that opens onto the marina isn’t too shabby as a background for tapas.

Photo Source: 1-4

Date Night #4 Host

The bells are ringing outside my flat- It’s 6pm time to pack it in and go home.  At least that is my translation of the 6pm bells.

It has been a busy week of marking for me.  If any of you have ever taught a class, I think you would agree with the challenges of grading a large number of papers.  It is very time consuming to get each paper the attention and feedback it deserves.  I will leave my commentary at that!

I had my first visitor last week, my mother-in-law.  I thought my sister-in-law may also show up but she called last night and is planning a visit in the spring.  That’s probably a better idea seeing how last weekend’s temperature with the wind chill was about minus 15 (although it only registered -2!!).  There is something about seeing the Little Mermaid statue in high wind and minus 15 weather that doesn’t bring the same pleasure as viewing it in warmer weather.  She was still beautiful posing among ice and rocks.

Date Night- as promised, a small recap of our weekly Friday night restaurant in Copenhagen.  The three of us venture to Host last Friday.  I wish I could show you food pictures of our three hour dinner (more on that later) but it was so cosy in their (READ dimly lit for cosy effect AKA DARK) that nothing would turn out without blasting an obnoxious flash.

Host is a new(ish) restaurant in Copenhagen and is part of the Cofoco Group (they have a bunch of other good restaurants in the city).

I was excited to see the interior (it’s been talked about a lot in the blogsphere/design press) and to taste the food of course.  The interior is just beautiful.  There is a lot of wood, there are trees, candles, industrial fixtures and big windows.  They have created the perfect dining environment.  For those who are considering a visit, I will warn you that the menu is small.  There are two options: A set menu of three dishes or an a la cart menu with four dishes (one appetizer, one main, one cheese, one dessert).  My husband and mother-in-law went for the set menu and I choose two items from the a la cart because I do not eat pork or shellfish.  If you are vegetarian and think you will go hungry, apparently you can make a special request to the kitchen. Otherwise, the veg options are zilch.

They had:  Scallops with artichokes – hay, blackcurrants and something involving clams.  Next up was the main that consisted of roasted pork belly with beetroot compote with mustard grain – toped with pickled dehydrated beetroot and smoked Danish cheese.  Dessert was a yogurt ice cream topped with peanuts with milk chocolate, warm white chocolate foam with raw licorice.

The set menu came with an amuse bouche which was veal tartar with a root vegetable on top and a palate cleanser half way through the meal- savoury oatmeal in a mushrooms broth with dried violet leaves.  I liked the oatmeal a lot actually.

I had the ox roasted in onions – pickled beech mushrooms – watercress – morel sauce which was absolutely delicious.  I also tested the a la cart dessert of yogurt ice cream with tart apple compote, apple vinegar meringue and chervil sprinkled on top. I did not know I was a fan of ox but however it was prepared, it tasted delicious. 

Before you are served, the waitress brings you a round loaf of fresh Manitoba bread that is to die for.  It comes with an intense parsley olive oil + sea salt for dipping.  We polished that off quite quickly.

Photo Source: 1, 2, 3, 4 

We all enjoyed our meal but the issue was with duration of time.  I do leisurely dining. I’ve dined in relaxed settings before, but last Friday night was a bit excessive.  The meal dragged!  It felt like we were waiting an hour in between courses.

It was so slow it came to me asking our waitress what was going on?  Was the kitchen having a time issue? She replied it was her.    After I spoke up, the pace picked up.  I wish it did not have to come to that because I would not rush back in fear of excessively slow service.  Yes, perhaps she was having an off night- I get that but the three of us were finding the length of time painful.  We did not leave until 11pm.

This week I am headed to a local bio Italian joint which should be nice.

Hope your week is going well.

Have you dined at any interesting spots lately?  Do share!

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