Set in a 17th century orangery, the dining room is light and airy. It brightens the mood the moment you enter and gives an almost fairy tale aura to the evening. Head chef and co-owner Jakob Mielcke describes his own kitchen: “The wild ingredients are essential to our kitchen. We spend a lot of time in nature and chasing ourselves all our wildlife that fills the menu during the 6-8 months, where we have access to it. The seasons use thematically so the spring is green and is characterized by the exceptional vegetables we can find on our latitudes and preferably in our own garden. Summer is warm and yellow and offers berries, fruits, cereals and corn. Autumn is dark red and is characterized by deer and wildlife. The winter months are deep blue and this is especially the seafood we have focus on.” We went in mid spring in celebration of our anniversary. We began with champagne. I had the Cuvee Vendemiaire and my husband had the Shaman Marguet. Both were excellent and paired with our three starters. The sommelier, Jose Santos, knows his stuff and presented most of our wine (we had the seven course tasting menu with pairings). His passion comes through with every description he gave us.
Our first starter was the lumpfish roe with cod roe and cucumber. Danes love their lumpfish and 2018 is a great year for them. Beneath the roe is a creamy cucumber relish. The next starter was the baguette with chicken liver and sorrel. The “baguette” was a savory meringue that was browned and lined to resemble bread. For the final starter, we experienced some of chef Mielcke’s cured meats: a charcuteri of pork cheek, duck feet rullepolse, and duck breast. All three were very nice but I particularly enjoyed the duck breast.
We were then poured an Alvarinho from Portugal (the sommelier’s home country). We had this same wine from Regueiro when we were in Lisbon and it reminded me how much I loved it then. Every wine cellar should have a case of this versatile white. This paired beautifully with our next four starters. A gorgeous dish of razor clams with white asparagus and seaweed with a frozen cucumber granita was first up. Followed by oysters and apple in a cream with fresh dill nestled in kohlrabi chips (similar in texture to Thai shrimp chips). The salty oysters and sweet apples were perfect together even for my husband who shies away from oysters. Next we had little tarts of mussels, beurre noisette and sorrel. These had a great lemony flavor. Our final starter of the night was the lemon sole with kombu, Thai basil and chicken skin for texture. I liked this dish but it may have had too many Thai basil leaves as they overpowered the sole. I created the perfect bites by eating most of the greens at the end.
The Von Winning Riesling was very special. It is the most recently bottled Riesling from the Ungeheuer field and has very limited production. A beautiful nose with citrus, lemongrass and white pepper with a great stone and citrus taste. This paired wonderfully with the summer peas with Shiso and egg royal. What a perfect spring dish! Domaine Robert Denogent’s Les Reisses is 100 percent Chardonnay from Pouilly-Fuisse and was buttery and complex. Candied citrus mingle with a dry mineral yeast flavor. This wine was paired with the Jerusalem artichokes with lovage and anchovies. They were the perfect balance of salty and citrusy.
Aromatically the 2014 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir has sweet red fruit, boysenberry, black cherry, rose petal, mint, spices, refined with a hint of rusticity and earth. On the palate, one can find layers of spice, white pepper, dark cherry and blackberry with youthful tannins and excellent depth. The first main dish was sweetbreads (smoked and then seared for crispiness) with eggplant and ponzu. This was one of my favorite pairings as the Pinot melded perfectly with the fatty sweetbreads. The limited addition Sicilian Syrah from Vinding Montecarrubo was amazing. It has classic Syrah notes in the aroma with white pepper, blackberry, minerals, a bit of licorice and cedar. It is certainly a dense and compact wine, but with a coolness and elegance. Not an easy task on hot Sicily! Nice and solid bite, but the tannins are ripe, cool and perfectly integrated in the wine. Not bad for a Danish guy making wine in Italy! This was paired with the lamb breast with ramson and miso. It was perfectly cooked and delicious.
For the cheese courses, the sommelier gave us a choice between the 2006 Nicolas Joly Coulee de Serrant is made from chenin blanc grapes or the Dow’s tawny port so I had the wine and my husband had the port. The chenin blanc was a deep straw in color with an orange hue. Nose of ginger with hint of honey. Intriguing tastes of dry apple cider, dried tangerine, green figs, autumnal spices, and hints of lanolin and honey. Very well balanced wine with great viscosity and mouthfeel. The lovely port had a nutty, caramel and cocoa nose and taste with a subtle oak flavor. It held up beautifully to the truffles on the cheese: Swedish “Granbark” cow milk cheese and shaved truffles. It was slightly melted and mild in flavor. We also received a mille feuille with soft cheese and truffles and a fruit compote.
For the first dessert courses, we were served a semi-sweet riesling from Muller-Catoir. It had an exotic nose with pineapple, melon, mango and coconut notes with a bit of acacia honey added on the mouth. Blood orange ollebrod (beer and bread) was the first to go with this wine. This was a fresh and light take on the traditional Danish porridge. The next course was sweetened milk with rhubarb and raspberry. It had light crispy layers that were subtly sweet.
The origin of the word probably comes from the Latin phrase “Rata fiat”: “Let the treaty be ratified,” so sharing a glass of Ratafia meant that the agreement was sealed. Ratafia is a liqueur made from the blend of must, unfermented grape juice and fine Champagne (alcohol from the distillation of Champagne wines). This Ratafia is aged 18 months in barrels. The taste is rich, sweet and gentle with a spicy finish. It was paired with our final dessert: birch ice cream with celeriac and tonka bean. The ice cream had warm buttery/caramel notes while the tonka bean added vanilla, cherry and almond taste.
To finish the incredible evening, we had cappuccino and a kringle with lemon verbena and matcha. The pastry was sitting atop this little send-off poem by Michael Faudet that was slightly altered to fit the occasion. What a spectacular experience!
Mielcke & Hurtigkarl, Frederiksberg Runddel 1, 2000 Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark; Tel. +45 3834 8436; Reservations recommended; Tuesday – Saturday, 6PM – 9PM.
Food Travel & Me 