Date Night: Hache

The year started with lunch…. no wait.  My year started with chicken shawarma and spicy hot chocolate. Welcome to 2013.  I have now been living in Copenhagen for just over two weeks.

What can I say about Copenhagen?  Minus the changeable weather (from rain, to fog, to cloud, to sun, to snow and back again), this city has it all.  The quality, availability and selection of food/ingredients is incredible, the design (interiors, furniture/tableware/architecture) is incredible and the fashion is incredible.

For now, I am slowly making my way around the city and exploring the various neighbourhoods on foot but I will get a bike in the spring for efficiency sake.  It seems that nothing is more than a 20 minute walk away.

Back to the part about food-I decided, this year I am going to attempt to make a dent in the city’s food scene and actively dine at different restaurants each week on a sort of-date night/date brunch with my husband.  I started building a (growing) list of restaurants that I want to visit and have washi tapped them to my office wall.

During our moving week, we were busy setting up, unpacking, making trips to Ikea and the like.  I asked him what food he was craving most that we could not get living in Prague to which my non-beef eating husband replied- a “good” burger.

Restaurant #1: Hache, is a gourmet burger restaurant across the street from Torvehallerne market in the centre of the city.  It was packed when we arrived on a Friday night in December.  Thankfully we had a reservation or else we would have been out of luck.  The interior of Hache is minimalist and cosy.  The ceiling is scattered with exposed pendant lights to illuminate its bare walls.  Like all good restaurants in the city, you dine by candlelight here.

Out of the 15 or so burgers on the menu, I ordered the Greek burger (lamb) and he tried the chili burger which comes with a chili pepper tooth-picked atop the bun.

Photo Source: Hache

The burgers are monstrous at Hache and require a fork and knife to eat them.  At least that is how everyone else in this packed restaurant was eating their sandwiches- fork and knife in hand.

The burger comes solo but there are different sides and salads to add to the meal.  We tested some olives, a salad and some fries.  We were utterly stuffed from this meal but it was incredible.

I saw another gourmet burger restaurant in Copenhagen called Halifax that I may test out for comparison sake, but if Hache was my only option in the city, I would be satisfied.

Happy Holidays +

I am slowly settling into the new flat in Copenhagen.  After two nights of hanging lights and learning about hanging pendant lights and Danish electricity, my husband and I finally got our lights up, working and secure in the ceiling. Thankfully, we are no longer sitting in a flat of darkness!

It’s a process to move to a new city and get set up. Particularly over the holidays, when hours are intermittent.

On Friday, my husband and I received a beautiful holiday gift basket (box) that contained an array of delicious Italian delicacies.

The box included two bottles of wine, hand made chocolates, pasta sauce, sun dried tomatoes and organic olive oil.  Not only was it super-fun to receive such a lovely gift, I was impressed with the company that assembled the box.

Social Good Stories, the Copenhagen based gift box company, is a social enterprise that sells gift baskets whose ingredients all come from producers that are social enterprises.

Photo Source: Social Good Stories

For example, my two wine bottles come from a small organic producer called Valdi Bella.  They make wine in Sicily without paying protection money to the Mafia.  The winery also cooperates with a local youth institution to help young people with a difficult past  find the desire to change their lives.

The company also developed a fundraising platform where you can forgo the baskets and donate directly to the projects they are supporting.

I thought this basket was terrific.  Not only did we receive some great food that we will test out this week in the kitchen, our basked also supported and gave back to other communities. Win-win.

Back in Toronto, Christmas Eve meant Chinese food and a movie, which then evolved into a family meal followed by a movie.   Tonight, for our holiday meal of deux, we are cooking up some pesto salmon, roasted balsamic cabbage and spicy sweet potato fries.

Wishing you all happy holidays!

Enjoy the food, the friends, the family and the holiday spirit whatever you celebrate this time of year.

Torvehallerne Market: Inside and Out

I blogged about Torvehallerne market a while back (see: Torvehallerne Market) and FINALLY got the opportunity to go take a tour myself when I was in Copenhagen earlier this month.  Running back and forth between the two market buildings was a treat.  There were so many stalls to check out and sample, it could have kept me busy for weeks.  For that reason, I found myself returning daily during my weekend trip.

The market is centrally located in the city and spread out over two modern, industrial looking buildings.   There is a large uncovered paved section, in between the two market buildings, that seemed to resemble an outdoor extension of the indoor market which had several stalls selling beautiful fresh produce and some guys playing live music.

I tried to capture a couple of my favourite market stalls as I walked around but it was really busy inside and out and there were always people in my shots!  Oh well…

We taste tested a pizza from Gorm’s– and WOW!  Their pizza is incredible. The crust is paper thin, almost like a cracker.  They use fresh ingredient and create your pie like true chefs, as opposed to treating your pizza like fast food (simply reheating a slice).  When we received our pizza it was drizzled with a basil-pesto oil that kicked the flavour up to new heights.

I thought these were funny shaped radishes, so I took a picture.  They reminded me of a pill in a capsule.  When I picture a radish, I think of it having a round shape, not cylindrical.  Maybe these are special Danish radishes!

More cupcakes from Agnes.

Delicious baked goods from

My favourite stalls: Agnes Cupcakes (which I blogged about here “Birthday Cupcakes from Agnes”), Gorm’s (thin crust pizza), Laura Bakery (Bakery identity by Johannes Trope), The Coffee Collective, Nordic (cheese + dairy), A Xoco (premium crafted quality chocolate by Anthon Berg) and whoever is doing the flowers.

I was thinking about this….the thing about visiting markets (anywhere in the world) is that unless you live in the city, you’re relegated to samples and simple take away items, which can sometimes be frustrating and unsatisfying if you are really into food.  The fun of such a beautiful market like this is getting to buy ingredients to cook a meal.  I guess you can always imagine what that would be like and stick to the samples.

The meat, fish, produce, cheese, sauces and spices also looked excellent here.  Torvehallerne is a great, bustling hub in the city that is certainly worth a visit if you are in town.

OTHER PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT TORVEHALLERNE

1. New York Times Travel: An open invitation to eat in Copenhagen

2. Food Republic: Copenhagen: At Torvehallerne Market, Impeccable Taste, Design and Smoked Scallops

3. Conde Nast The Daily Traveler: Photos from the Road: Copenhagen’s Torvehallerne Market

Birthday Cupcake from Agnes

I am back from a rain filled birthday weekend in Copenhagen.  The rain held off on Friday (my birthday), but the rest of the weekend was pretty dreary and wet.  A little rain and cold did not stop us from exploring the city though.  With umbrellas, rain gear, gloves and scarves in tow, we walked all over the place to get a sense of the landscape of the city.

I think our best unintentional find was Agnes Cupcakes, Copenhagen’s answer to the North American cupcake craze.  Agnes Cupcakes was started in 2010 in Copenhagen by founder, Kristian Vangsgaard.  Agnes runs on a calendar system of flavours so everyday, there will be a combination of staple flavours such as Red Velvet, Carrot and Dark Chocolate and specialty flavours such as Liquorice, Caramel, Sicilian Lemon, and Quince-tea.

The interior of Agnes Cupcakes is a combination of glass, marble and wood; a reflection of Scandinavian minimalism meets cupcakes.  I actually thought, their interior reminded me of Karas Cupcakes in San Francisco with its glass, and wood- or maybe I’ve visited too many cupcake shops and they are all starting to blur together.

I really liked the Agnes Cupcakes display case because their cupcakes are quite textured in their frosting and decor and visually looked attractive on display.  Some of their cupcakes are simple like the one I tasted with a swirl of icing and a fondant cutout on top (think Sprinkles). Others, in contrast, are rolled in chocolate curls, toasted coconut, sprinkles or other fun items to bite into.

Take away cupcakes are packaged in beautiful, brown, branded boxes and dine-in cupcakes are served on a ceramic plate/platter that has a groove to hold the cupcake and a groove to hold a beverage.  Or I guess you could say there were two grooves for two cupcakes.

We arrived at Agnes at around 7pm for a pre-dinner birthday cupcake.  There was some promotion going on where you could buy a cupcake and a beverage for a reduced price, so we went with a tea and a carrot cake cupcake with a cream cheese frosting.  The carrot cake was spongy and moist and the cream cheese frosting had the tang I was looking for.  It was not the stiffest or densest cream cheese frosting that I’ve tasted, but its gooier consistency complement the carrot cake nicely.

I am a firm believer that you can’t judge a book by its cover, which is why we returned to Agnes Cupcakes on our last day in Copenhagen and sampled two (more) of their mini cupcake, just to make sure!

We also tested a dark chocolate cupcake that had a superb, rich, (bitter) dark chocolate frosting that was like biting into a truffle and their toasted coconut cupcake which was fun to eat thanks to all the little coconut shavings.

What I’ve learned from travelling and eating in Europe this past year (and from personal baking experience here) is that ingredients vary from country to country and things like flour consistency can really alter an end product.  I would say that Agnes’ Cupcakes were spongy and moist but not dense, in comparison to a cupcake that you may taste in North America.  However the flavours and frostings were all terrific.  This is the real deal in Europe!

Other People Who Are Talking About Agnes Cupcakes:

1. Unlike.net: Agnes Cupcakes

2. Umamimart: Packaging w*&$^) Agnest Cupcakes

3. New City Mums: Agnes Cupcakes

4. Anarka: Agnes Cupcakes

Radio

Like any other passionate traveler, I have a long list of cities to cross off my wish list. One of the cities I was most looking forward to visiting while living in Europe is Copenhagen.  My husband and I planned a birthday weekend get-away in October and I am thrilled.

Since I have never been to any Scandinavian country, I can’t tell you exactly what I am attracted to, but from everything I have read and seen, Copenhagen to me represents the best of design, nature and food all rolled into one.

I am most looking forward to visiting this restaurant: Radio

The restaurant owns two acres of land where they grow vegetables for the restaurant.  The interior is modern but still reflects the natural simplicity that is associated with Scandinavian design.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Simply Chocolate

Happy Monday.  I am happy to report that I had a very productive weekend.  I put the finishing touches on my wedding flowers which were inspired by the ombre flowers from a birthday shoot posted on My Sweet & Saucy‘s blog, worked with my graphic designer on the wedding program, attended a fabulous dinner party and made the Raw Pad Thai salad from My New Roots, to accompany some pan seared salmon among other tasks that aren’t as exciting as the ones I mentioned.

I hope the title of my blog post tells you what I feel like eating today.  I don’t know what it is, but I have an insatiable craving for chocolate.  I thought I would visually represent my craving with an interesting looking chocolate company in Denmark.  Simply Chocolate is an “unpretentious” chocolate company in Copenhagen with witty package and creative in-store design.

Their chocolate has funny sayings on their packages such as “Oral Satisfaction Inside,” or “Grainy Gill,” “Minty Cindy,” “The Cream Team,” and “Undercover Goji.”  Anyone of these chocolates from Simply Chocolate would have done the trick today.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 

In other exciting news, I am almost ready to reveal the project I have been working on for the past four months.  It is a digital magazine on entertaining at home.  I’ve taken a global approach to the topics and can’t wait to hear what you think.