Sunday 18 March 2012

Copenhagen - Brdr. Price

Plenty of Butter (or in Danish Rigeligt med smør).

It's M's birthday and so he gets to choose what, where and how to dine. Actually, he selects something that we have all been awaiting, namely visiting the newly opened Brdr. Price restaurant (the Price Brothers) in Copenhagen. Brdr. Price have become culinary celebrities in Denmark, because of their television show on DR. Initially this was aired on the more specialized DR2 channel, but it became very popular and it was then moved to DR1 prime time. As you can see on our facebook page, we are naturally also fans of Brdr. Price. But it is not only K and T, but also M and MK who loves it and the show will provide one of the few occasions where we are all watching the same television show.
The restaurant is divided into two sections - the dining room and the kitchen. The latter being less formal seems the better place for us, since we have MK with us. The menu is a bistro style menu which suits us just fine.
For a starting snack we have bread with three different kinds of butter (of course) - regular, smoked and wild garlic (ramson), olives and bread fries with brandade mayo
Next is the starter and MK has a carpaccio of scallops (as you will see, MK is not afraid to order a full menu despite her tender age of 7 years). This is delicately served and the small bitter salad leaves are finely dressed.
M orders the fish soup with croutons and Rouille. Maybe not quite what he had hoped for, but that says more about his expectations as it is quite nice.
Needless to say, T and K have the foie gras terrine. Somethings never change. But we do so in the the certain conviction that we will get to taste the dishes of the kids and we don't feel like the salmon smorgaas.

For the main course, MK gets her eagerly awaited moules frites. It is quite overwhelming, in particular since she should no longer have any appetite left and so she eats a little of the large dish before giving up and starts roaming around the restaurant. The very nice waitress asks if she wants to come and see the kitchen and MK eagerly accepts. Our debriefing is not too good, so we learn only that it was a "biiig kitchen".
M has ordered a Steak sandwich and is once again not quite happy - we suspect it's the rocket. It is rather good and he eats it all after freeing it of its dangerous green attributes. Actually, we should credit M for being adventurous. He has ordered two dishes somewhat different from his normal preferences.
K and T decide to align to the concept of the French bistro and orders Steak-Frites and of course a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which we can no longer recall and don't recognize from the wine list.

For dessert we have again something different each one. The kids have Creme Brulée and K has the lemon tart while T has chocolate fondant.

It's Sunday and we need to get all the way back to Elsinore so the kids may attend school next day and so we thank the very nice waitress, but still MK is disappointed not to have met either Adam or James.

In conclusion we think that the concept is fine. The dishes certainly are those of a better bistro. The wine card is limited, but good. The prices are however too high, we think. Still, it feels a little bit like the brothers are chatting and bickering over the dishes  we have been served and so we pay that little extra on this occasion, but we don't think we'll do that on a regular week day.
7/10

Friday 2 March 2012

Beaucastel

A couple of days ago we were invited to the opening of the new wine center of Vinoble/Østjysk Vinforsyning in Krystalgade Copenhagen. It is an impressive center now with much more space for the shop and offices. Furthermore important additions have been made in the form of tasting room and of course just more room for the exhibition area.
There is much to tempt us, but as happens more and more often, we go into the "treasury". This area in a wine shop is where private owners have placed their wines for the shop to sell on with commission. On this occasion we simply have to buy a bottle of Chateau Beaucastel 2009. We know it will be child murder as we say in Denmark, but nevertheless...
We start the dinner with a little foie gras. This we have with some toasted dark bread and pickled plums and pickled green tomatoes. We try the Puligny Montrachet 2007 from Joseph Drouhin. It is very good 8,8/10 even if often prefer something more sweet with foie gras, e.g. Gewürtztraminer or even sauternes.
For the main course we have prepared a veal 'culotte' and on the side a small serving of potatoes thinky sliced and packed with shallots, chicken fond and some gruyere cheese. We also make some ratatouille of red onions, garlic, eggplant, red peppers and salted capers.
But of course, tonight it is the wine that plays the leading role and it does so very nicely. Despite its young age, it is still a complex and readily drinkable wine. That is not to say that we wouldn't like to have it again in 10-15 years, but that will have to wait. 9,4/10