National Geographic Traveller

IMAGES: GETTY; MARIE LOUISE MUNKSGAARD

AMASS

Matt Orlando, formerly of Noma

and the Fat Duck, has led a drive

to reduce waste at Amass by 80%

through recycling, composting

and reuse — an idea that's

reflected on the menu, with dishes

such as flatbread made from

fermented potato peel. Berries,

herbs and vegetables from the

restaurant's garden regularly

feature in the chef's cooking;

recent highlights include pork

with unripe apple, Swiss chard

and almond; and fennel frond ice

cream with wild blueberry, dried

yoghurt and olive oil.

HOW MUCH: Six courses cost £75

each, nine courses cost £100

each (without wine).

amassrestaurant.com

RESTAURANT PALÆGADE

This new restaurant has a top-

drawer approach to traditional

Danish cuisine, with novel takes

on classic dishes at night and

imaginatively crafted smørrebrød

at lunchtime. Start with a fish

plate, such as herring pickled

in apple, and follow it with

something meatier, like beef

tartar with dehydrated tomatoes.

HOW MUCH: Lunch from £20 each

(without wine). palaegade.dk

SPISEHUSET

Navigate the backstreets of

Kødbyen (the city's Meatpacking

District) to Spisehuset and

discover an ever-changing

menu showcasing chef Johanne

Vestergaard’s creativity.

Eschewing an a la carte menu,

the staff instead shuttles a series

of beautiful dishes to the table.

HOW MUCH: Three courses for

£35 or five courses including

cheese for £45 each. spisehuset.dk

A TASTE OF

Copenhagen

NORDIC VISITOR offers three nights in

Copenhagen, including airport transfers, hotel

accommodation, breakfast, a sightseeing tour and

entrance to the Carlsberg Brewery from £588 (€703)

per person. denmark.nordicvisitor.com

strawberry, it leads to something bigger,”
Jensen explains. “One plus one equals three.”
I hear something similar when I visit
Henrik Brinks, master distiller at Copenhagen
Distillery. He produces gin, aquavit and
schnapps, all of which are made by taking a
neutral spirit derived from an agricultural
product and giving it the dominant flavour
of one or more botanicals. “If that dominant
flavour is juniper, it’ll be gin,” Brinks explains.
“If it’s either dill or caraway, it’ll be aquavit.”
Everything else is schnapps, including the
Christmas spirit he’s making when I visit
the distillery. I peer into a bucket containing
a murky mishmash of botanicals — hand-
peeled oranges, juniper, long peppers, prunes
and cardamom — which are left to macerate
in alcohol for five days.
Rum or whisky producers can mask the
inferiority of their spirit by maturing it in
a cask. This isn’t the case with schnapps.
“You’re completely naked when you distil
schnapps,” Brinks says. “It’s all about balance
and pairing different botanicals.”
I dip my finger into the cool, clear liquid as
it begins to trickle out of the still. It tingles
my tongue and warms my chest — the perfect
balance of sweetness and spice, fire and ice.
Schnapps is best enjoyed alongside
smørrebrød (buttered bread, typically topped
with meats, fish, spreads or cheese), so Brinks
sends me to Restaurant Palægade, which
serves this iconic Danish dish for lunch.
Karina Pedersen, who leads the
restaurant’s lunchtime kitchen, tells
me smørrebrød’s reputation had taken a
battering in recent years, due to many tourist

traps using store-bought products — but

eateries like Restaurant Palægade are now

leading a return to the use of high-quality,

homemade ingredients.

I spend the day in Restaurant Palægade’s

kitchen and try plating a simple dish

of smørrebrød, beginning by laying two

fillets of plaice on a slice of buttered bread.

“Tails pointing away from the customer,”

Pedersen suggests. Having squeezed too

little mayonnaise on the fillets, I misalign

six shrimps. “Tails pointing in the same

direction,” she chides — and then sends me

packing before I can do any more damage.

A pedal-push away, I find a very different

take on smørrebrød. At Bror, a split-level

restaurant in the Latin Quarter, former Noma

sous-chefs Victor Wågman and Sam Nutter

specialise in using unusual animal parts, such

as the head, skin, penis and testicles. “With

a little bit of work and playfulness, you can

achieve results that people actually consider

delicious,” Wågman says with a wink.

Bull’s testicles are one of Bror’s standout

snacks. Breaded and deep-fried, they have

the ooze and crunch of a chicken nugget. The

latest addition to the menu is cow’s uterus,

which the chefs confit, glaze in a pan and

serve on crisp rye bread. I wash it down with

beer and schnapps — and consider having

seconds. Who’s got a ‘small normal’ now?

FROM LEFT: Traditional smørrebrød;

customers at Restaurant Palagade

64 natgeotraveller.co.uk

EAT