Grød (porridge) Taste-Test

What a weekend!  I’ve been battling with a smoking issue in my flat where smoke from a downstairs convenience store seems to be filtering into my unit through an unidentified hole.  We had a carpenter come twice to seal our baseboards and I think the problem has now been solved.  To celebrate, my husband and I spent the afternoon hanging pictures on the wall.  We were sitting on the fence over finishing our decor due to the possibility of having to move.  We also took our first outing outside of Copenhagen- a visit to the Louisiana museum of art- (another post will follow with pictures later this week).

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from my Grod taste test.  The week before last, Lasse Andersen’s Grød, the all-day, sweet-savoury-porridge-only Nørrebro hotspot opened a second location in Torvehallerne market.  Grød is a special dining concept unique to Copenhagen.  It was started in 2011 as a porridge only establishment and has since developed a loyal following of porridge-heads in CPH (I am now one of them!).

Porridge in Copenhagen is not your standard flavourless mushy oat gruel.   Of course you can find  oatmeal in Copenhagen but here, porridge is typically dolled up and has been elevated to a respectable dish of admiration.  In fact, porridge is taken so seriously there was a city wide  Grød competition in February where 23 of Copenhagen’s chefs battled it out for the title of  best porridge in the city.

As I alluded to earlier, oats are not the star attraction in porridge as you  might find in North America.  Here, many other grains are thrown into the mix such as barley, rye, and spelt.   Porridge toppings are equally as important as the base grain. It is not surprising to add a dollop of Icelandic (or Danish) skyr, or some cream, whipped flavoured butter, chopped nuts, sliced fruit, liquorice powder and I am sure chocolate is also an option on some menus.  Porridge is a creative pursuit, which makes ordering it and tasting it around the city an adventure and a delight.

When I visited the new location in Torvehallerne market, I ordered a spelt based grød (porridge), with bananas, chopped nuts and liquorice sugar powder as a topping.

It was a little bowlful of heaven.  The texture was just right.  This one take-away cup contained a creamy spelt porridge, crunchy nuts, sweet banana and melty liquorice sugar powder (not overpowering at all).  I was a bit hesitant to select that particular concoction because my love affair with liquorice has not developed to the Danish level of appreciation.  Together with the other ingredients it just worked.

I look forward to returning to the Torevehallerne location to sample more of Grød’s grød. They also have savoury options that resemble more of a risotto than a breakfast porridge.

If you find yourself en route to Copenhagen, a stop at either of Grød’s locations is a must.

No one does porridge like the Danes.

Il Giardino- Finally a top restaurant in the mountains

As I mentioned yesterday, sometimes the food is hit or miss in the Austrian Alps particularly if you visit off season.  Some of the restaurants/hotel restaurants we wanted to try were already on vacation until the next tourism season.

You can always find a simple meal of pizza or schnitzel at a casual Italian or Austrian eatery, but if you are looking for an experience that is beyond a college pizza joint or a smoky old hotel restaurant or bar, the options are few and far between.  On a recent trip to the Alps, my husband and I decided to make a 1.5 hour detour to the Aqua Dome therme in the town of Langenfeld (Tirol).  We knew we would need to figure out a dinner option after our soak and steam and threw it up to chance to find a restaurant on the way home.

Don’t ask what made me say “STOP” as we drove through the town of Oetz, but my Michelin-dar sensors lit up as we passed Il Giardino.  We parked the car outside of the apartment-hotel and walked inside the all white, French-Scandinavian, cosy dining room.  I saw the two big red Michelin nominated stickers posted on the door from 2008 and 2009- a good sign and a significant boost from all the pizza I’ve been eating over the weekend.  The restaurant and hotel is owned by husband and wife Peter and Christine Singer and has been around for 22 years.

We were one of four table that night (off-season) and had almost an entire section to ourselves.  We were seated in a sunken, garden room with sliding windows that opened on-to the outdoor seating (in nicer weather).  The room was dimly lit with candles, soft lights and decorated with framed black and white posters, a few plants and white orchids.

To start, we were served an amuse bouche of cooked beef in a jelly roll, a tomato puree and a fresh slice of baguette.  It was delicious and I am not one to scarf down a beef jelly roll.

We both had the ruccola and Parmesan salad, a habit from earlier in the weekend.  Il Giardino’s rucola salad was excellent.  It was spicy, salty and tangy all at the same time.  There was generous shavings of Parmesan and the pine nuts were perfectly toasted.

For our main courses, my husband ordered the pork schnitzel (he was sick of pizza) which came with sauteed cabbage, a homemade cranberry sauce and roasted cauliflower.

I was sick of pizza so I ordered pasta!  I chose the mascarpone and tomato pasta which was a little bowl of heaven. You could actually taste the acidity of the tomatoes among the creamy mascarpone cheese.  Typically it is all cream and no tomato.  The flavours were very balanced and very satisfying.  I devoured the entire mound of pasta.  When pasta is cooked by a top chef, it tastes extra good.

To finish, we had espresso and tea and could not resist an ice.  Over the course of our weekend in the Alps, at every restaurant we ate at, we saw order after order of ice cream sundaes coming out of the kitchen.  We figured if we were going to have ice cream on the trip, it might as well be here.

We chose the ‘Nutty’ ice cream which came with two very long spoons to scoop out cashew and walnut ice creams topped with whipped cream and a tart raspberry sauce.

At the end of the meal, Chef Wolfgang Scalet even popped his head out to say hello.  What a wonderful treat after a weekend of mediocre dining.  I could not recommend this restaurant enough if you happen to be passing through this part of the world.  You will not be disappointed.

Il Giardino, A-6433 Otz: Hauptstrasse 86, Austria

www.ilgiardino-oetz.com

A mini getaway to the Austrian Alps

I like a good mountain get-away.  I am a non-skier/non-snowboarder but when I am in the mountains, I can unwind, I can breathe and I feel relaxed.  There is something about walking outdoors surrounded by mountains that is humbling and grounding.  I also like eating muesli, which can always be found on the menu of an Austrian alpine hotel. Double score!

Let me tell you a bit about taking a mini getaway to the Austrian Alps.  Living in Europe makes a weekend getaway to the Alps very plausible (not just the Austrian Alps- really any Alp range in Europe).   We flew one hour from Copenhagen to Munich, rented a car and drove about an hour and a half south into the Tirol region of Austria, where we checked in at DasPost Hotel.

This hotel was adorable with its contemporary wood and stag interior design.  Come to think of it, DasPost was stag happy!  I tried to snap a couple shots around the place.

In traditional alpine custom, there was lots of wood used throughout the hotel.  As we drove through the valley towards our hotel in Zell am Ziller, we passed several lumber/timber yards.  My favourite room in DasPost was the breakfast room.  There were floor to ceiling windows on three sides of the space with sliding glass doors that could be opened when the weather gets a bit warmer.  They accented this ‘sun’ breakfast spot with modern light fixtures, bold coloured felt chairs, a brightly patterned fabric on the banquet wall seats and a single tulip in a white vase.  When you look out, your view is to the hotel’s backyard which is an outdoor pool, decks and one of their outdoor saunas.

The basement of the hotel came equipped with four lovely saunas and they also had a spa, a fitness room plus an indoor and outdoor pool.  All the right components for a relaxing non-skiing weekend.  (Remember- saunas are naked-only in Austria)

Zell am Ziller is a small village (one of many) dotting the mountains of Tirol.  Right across from the hotel was an inter-village train that you could take up to the ski area.  There is also a run/walk/bike park, a nicely groomed path that runs along both sides of the river, where you can run/walk/bike for kilometers on end.  I tried it out on foot one morning and it was great.  Everyone said their hellos, and good mornings as we passed one another.

Of course since I was in Tirol, I did a bit of MPREIS hunting.  MPREIS is my favourite Tirolean grocery store chain.  Each MPREIS is designed by an architect and they are all made to look different from the exterior.  They stock each store with a lot of local produce and the shopping experience is just a pleasure.  I think I found six on this trip. It’s like the where’s Waldo game, but I play the “where’s MPREIS” game.

It is no wonder that the timber industry seems to be alive and well in the mountains, all the houses, hotels and buildings seem to be made of wood or have wood trimmings and accents.

Depending on where you stay in the mountains the food can be rather hit or miss.  I found one bit HIT but I will write about that in a separate post.  For the most part, there is an overabundance of apfel strudel and pizza.  On this trip, I ate pizza three days in a row at three different restaurants.  I had pizza coming out of my ears by the last day.  It was a total pizza overdose, and now I am on a no-pizza mission until I am detoxed from it.  -FYI when you order a vegetarian pizza, it typically comes with corn on top!

All in all, our mini getaway was a perfect vacation after a hectic trip to Toronto.  We even to a detour and drove down to the famed, Aqua Dome, a therme which has received a lot of press for its interesting architecture.

If I had to choose where to return, I would go back to Bad Gastein (see below) over Zell am Ziller, but that is because there was a bit more to do there (for me).  For my husband, the snowboarder, the Hintertux glacier and Zillertal mountains were more than enough to keep him happy.

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My last mini getaway to the Austrian Alps was to Bad Gastein and you can read about it here.

Finally! A macaron worth blogging about

Finally! A macaron worth blogging about.  I used to blog about macarons all the time.  I think macarons, done well, are blog worthy.  A lot of my earlier material centered on where to eat macarons around the world (here, here, and here  as an example).  Then it sort of just petered out.  Maybe I haven’t found an inspiring macaron lately.

I am proud to say, macarons are back on Lamb411 and boy did I unearth the mother load today!  I had four superb macarons at Strangas Dessert boutique in Copenhagen.

Not only were the macarons superb, I think they might go down in my books as some of the best macarons that I’ve ever eaten.  These were better than Laduree, which has not been very impressive my past two visits to Paris.

I chose four flavours to taste: Basil + something, lemon and violet, salted caramel and mocha. The meringue possessed the right balance of crunchy and chewy and the flavour combinations were intense and bold (especially the basil).

The Strangas Dessert boutique is cosy (it’s Copenhagen after all ) with its white brick walls, three candle lit wooden tables and pots of sugar.  But you don’t just come here for the macarons- although for me, that was the main draw.  Nikolaos Strangas, the head pastry chef and owner of Strangas, is a master and artist when it comes to making delicate, French inspired desserts.  I had a chance to meet and briefly speak to Nikolaos this afternoon and not only was he very personable and charming, it sounds like there are a lot of exciting projects on his pastry table.  I added him to Instagram to keep track!

I have to return and sample what was in the adjacent display-I saw a nice looking cheese cake for starters…

Strangas Dessert Boutique · Åboulevard 7  Copenhagen

Date Night #6 Rakultur (Stockholm)

The good thing about date night is that it is portable. So when date night falls on a travel weekend, date night shifts from Copenhagen to a new city.

My husband and I dined at Rakultur, one of Stockholm’s best sushi restaurant (so said a friend of a friend (who is a chef in the city)).

This was my first and only sushi meal in Stockholm so I can’t comment on “bests” but it was serious sushi and up there in my all time sushi meals.

Rakultur does not take reservations (I called ahead), and when we showed up we were faced with a 40 minute wait.  Our luck, two large parties just arrived before us. Fortunately 40 minutes turned into 15 when the waitress cleared two seats at the bar.  Perfect for us.

The kitchen closes at 9:30 so we were informed if we wanted a chef’s table tasting menu, to hurry up and place the order.  I wasn’t starving so I ordered two rolls (a saute autumn mushroom roll and a Korean steak tartar and pear salad roll).  My husband decided on the small chef’s table tasting menu which included a roll that pays tribute to Momofuku in New York - the pork knuckle roll- in addition to several other artful rolls.

On the menu, I noticed Rakultur even had a selection of sushi made from Scandinavian fish, which I thought was neat.  This is not a “California roll or spicy tuna” type sushi restaurant.  Here you get creative ingredient combinations and simple, clean, delicately presented sushi.  I appreciated the little added touches sprinkled on top of some of the rolls or the bottle of soy sauce with a paint brush to lightly dab and brush soy to your fish.

For some reason, while I was sitting at the chef’s table, I thought of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, if you’ve seen it.  The dining experience was not as formal as Jiro but there was some serious sushi design work and assemblage going on behind the glass separating us from the three chefs.

We left very full and very satisfied.  Highly recommended.

Restaurant Råkultur- Kungstensgatan 2 114 25 Stockholm

Telephone: 08-696 23 25

Date Night #5 Che Fe 90-100% Bio Trattoria

Nothing like a bit of “organic” positioning to catch your eye and move you to a decision.  This was the case for Che Fe, a 90-100% Bio Italian Trattoria in my neighbourhood.

Photo Source: 10Best

Why 90-100% you ask?  Good question!  My husband and I asked the waiter the same question too.

But before I tell you the answer, I will tell you why I chose this restaurant.  It was a dark and stormy night in Copenhagen, minus the stormy.  Rather, it was a cold and dark night.  We were committed to date night but did not feel like travelling very far.  Solution:  Our complex of apartments contains a handful of restaurants.  Che Fe is one of them.  For us, a meal at Che Fe involved exiting our flat and walking across the street into a warm, cosy restaurant.  Score!  And, I guess you could say I was curious why the window of the restaurant says 90-100% organic.  Why not just say 90% or 100%???  Why the range?

Like many of the restaurants in Copenhagen, Che Fe operates on a seasonal menu which switches up every two to three months.  When we visited, we caught the end of the “winter” menu, which means the next time we visit, we will get to taste test something new.  In fact, just last week I received an email with their February-pre-spring menu that will feature venison.

“We are in our February menu inspired by winter venison and early spring, which is spreading across the fields in Sicily.” (Gotta love Google Translate)

Che Fe is a Sicilian restaurant and to be accurate, they are 93% organic.  This means all ingredients used in the menu come from organic Italian producers with the exception of the spirits (however they did find an organic Limoncello producer) and the fish.  They shared with us they would rather serve fresh fish from the seas around Denmark but they could not guarantee the sea fish stuck to an organic diet .  We’ll let that one fly.

This little, warmly lit restaurant was packed.  We snagged the last table on a Friday night at 8pm.  We weren’t starving so we started with some olives, my husband tried the soup (above) and we each got a main (him the venison papardelle and me a crepe like vegetarian dish with swiss chard, lentils and cheese, in a tomato sauce).

Our personable waiter was chatty and helpful guiding us through the dining experience.  Earlier on in the meal, we shared with him that we were new to the hood and Che Fe’s new next door neighbours.  After the last sip of organic limoncello and piece of tiramisu, the waiter approached our table with a small white gift bag.  How thoughtful! We received a small parting gift for being their new neighbours- a bottle of olive oil and some nice pasta.

The other cool thing about this restaurant is that they also have a mini organic Italian food boutique and are sister companies with the Italian bakery Il Fornaio, which is located in Torvehallerne market.

Che Fe- you’re going on the rotation!  It’s nice to have you as neighbours.

Address:  BORGERGADE 17A · 1300 KØBENHAVN K