Eating at Michelin starred restaurant is slowly becoming a fantastic, albet expensive addiction of mine. I was visiting Copenhagen recently with a friend, and thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to dine in one of Copenhagen’s couple Michelin star restaurants. The obvious choice for many is Noma, but I decided against in favour of Geranium for a couple of reasons: Geranium was cheaper, Geranium just last year got its second star so they still must be trying hard, and Noma failed to get its third star last year, making it stay at two stars.
We went for lunch, since not only is it cheaper for the same menu, but it’s much easier to get a reservation. Surprisingly, we were the only people in the whole restaurant. That’s right – a private lunch in a 2-Michelin star restaurant!
The decor is black&white and modern, with a transparent glass in front of the kitchen letting the guests see what’s happening in the kitchen.
Geranium
Geranium empty for lunch
We took the Univers tasting menu, the larger option of the two. It consists of twenty-three dishes, and additionally I chose a juice pairing.
Crispy Grains from Kornly
Aerated Carrot (goes with the next milk dish)
Milk & Fermented Juice from Carrot & Sea Buckthorn
Pear & Lemon Verbena. It looks like this is made by thinly slicing pears, intermixing verbena in-between, and then pressing it together with some kind of press. A very interesting result considering I really like verbena!
Jerusalem Artichoke, Rye & Walnut. A very aesthetically pleasant dish and tasty dish! A bit of a challenge to eat, since you are to scoop out the cream with the rye stick, which breaks very easily!
Nothing is what it seems it is! You are to eat the whole thing, including the wrapper. Very fragrant and tasty, although made me feel like I'm eating a potpourri.
“Chared Potatoe” & Sheep Milk Butter. A very well presented dish that surprises you! You would expect this potato to have a horrid burned taste, but it's just the opposite. You put it on the spoon with the sheep milk butter (next photo), and it's just a perfectly cooked and “chared” potato that melts in your mouth.
“Chared Potatoe” & Sheep Milk Butter
Cep Soup, Truffle & Egg Yolk in Vinegar. The soup has very good presentation and is very fragrant. Can definitely taste the truffle, and the egg yolk makes for a nice foam presentation on the top.
“Danish Cod”. This is a cod chip served on a plate with a cod skeleton.
Jellied Ham, Tomato Water & Sorrel Flowers. If you have a look, you will see pieces of jelly floating, which is jellied ham. Another dish where the individual aromas are extracted and kept together separately, and which come together and mix nicely after you eat the dish.
“Dillstone”, Horseradish & Granita from Pickled Cucumber. This is a dill “stone” that goes together with the granita in the next picture. I'm putting this as my number one favourite dish because of the intense flavours. Not exactly sure how the dillstone is made, but my guess is it is jellied into this shape. It goes fantastically with the granita and horseradish. Even though the granita is cold (the colder the dish the harder it is for us to register the taste), the cucumber taste is strong. This dish reminded of a Polish summer soup dish called chlodnik.
“Dillstone”, Horseradish & Granita from Pickled Cucumber. See previous picture for description.
King Crab, Lemon Balm & Cloud Berries. The crab itself had fantastic presentation as it arrived on the table, but I didn't get the chance to snap a picture before the waiter scooped out the crab into the dishes. Tasty.
Geranium Kitchen
Impressions from Samso. This dish was served in the kitchen, which I found very exciting! It looks like razor clams, but looks are deceiving! The whole thing, including the shell and the seaweed is edible. You take the ‘razor clam’ and dip it in the sauce (next picture). Extremely well done aesthetics.
Impressions from Samso.
Me (right), my friend, and the Geranium kitchen team. Thanks a lot guys for the fantastic lunch and free cookie at the end!
Bread with Emmer & Spelt
Bread with Emmer & Spelt
Onions, Chamomile & Melted Hay Cheese. Interesting dish, but I'm not a fan of such large quantities of onions (pickled or raw. Onion soup I found delicious though!). Probably my least favourite dish.
Scallop in Hay Aroma, Buttermilk, Herbs. The scallops arrived on a bed of hay, which was lit and extinguished and the scallops were covered for 30 seconds to get the aroma. When they arrive on the table and the cover is removed, you still get the fresh hay aroma. You eat this with your fingers, with the buttermlik and herbs. Fantastic, since I love scallops.
Scallop in Hay Aroma, Buttermilk, Herbs
Scallop in Hay Aroma, Buttermilk, Herbs
Limfjord's Oyster, Seaweed & Fermented Cabbage. Under all the greenery and sauce, we have a fresh oyster that goes really well together with the fermented cabbage sauce (I'm not a fan of raw oyster, but the cabbage nicely neutralizes the raw oyster taste).
Jerusalem Artichoke, Duck Heart & Pickled Pine. Duck hearts were tasty, although could have been a bit softer (I'm no cook, maybe it's not possible to get it softer since this muscle works so much). I loved the addition of pickled pine though. Pine appears in a couple of dishes at Geranium.
Venison, Beetroot, Smoked Lard & Dried Berries. An unmatched color composition – fantastic aesthetics. This was the favourite dish of our waiter. The venison was soft and integrated well together with the dried berry sauce.
White Chocolate, Woodruff & Sorrel. We are entering dessert territory. It does not look like a dessert at first glance, but it is. The white chocolate is a in the form of a granite (it's cold!), and is put on some kind of mousse made from woodruff and sorrel.
“Fallen Apples”, Dried Elder & Dried Leaves. This dish remind me of autumn when the apples start falling and the leaves start withering. Very good aesthetics (must be hard to get the sauce to not spill away and stay in a circle), with a taste to match.
Prunes, Dark Beer & Cream with Beech wood Aroma. Minimalist food design, I love it! Only three components, each made from a basic material, come together to form a sunset with a withered tree in the foreground. The tree is made from dark beer, the sun is dried prunes, and the background is served by a cream with beech wood aroma.
Green Egg with Pine. For the end, we have another pine-flavoured dish. These are chocolate eggs covered with pine dust I believe. Again, fantastic presentation (the pine needles fill the table with fragrance) and a tasty way to end the visit.
That’s it for the menu! There is one last item to make it to 23 – “Black Currant Bonbon with Liquorice”, which you get after payment. Payment… If you are interested, the Univers lunch menu is 1250 DKK per person which is around $230, with no extra tax. That gets you $10 per dish, although a very small one!
Thanks again to the team at Geranium for a fantastic private lunch and a free cookie that they made for themselves afterwards!