Memorable dinner at AOC restaurant (Copenhagen)!

I don’t know whether to call myself a foodie or not, but surly I can call myself a food-lover, open and ready all the time to try new stuff and have new experiences. This is how I have tried almost 100 restaurants in Copenhagen (in less than two years), and hundred others around the world. This is how I also have tried not very common dishes made of iguanas, crickets, ostriches, worms and the list ecn continue. In the same time I have eaten in six restaurants with one star Michelin. Therefore I had said to myself that’s come the time to move on to the next level, and experience something new; this is how I chose to visit AOC restaurant in Copenhagen. Two years ago Copenhagen had only one Michelin restaurant with two stars – Noma; last year another restaurant received the second star – Geranium Restaurant; and this year, 2015, AOC received the second star. In this situation it is easy to see that Copenhagen is gaining more and more international recognition as a culinary destination, but still, for the moment there is not a wide range of options, at least when it comes to restaurants in this class, two stars. Thus, it was easy for me to make a choice: at Noma it is very difficult to get a table, so it was not a real option for me. I was then left with Geranium or the new-entry AOC. I first wanted Geranium for the famous cook, Rasmus Kofoed, but it was fully booked for the day I wanted. So, I was left with AOC, but this doesn’t mean that I was disappointed, it was still my first time ever in a two star Michelin restaurant. Moving to my actually experience, to get to the restaurant is easy by any transportation mean, since it is located in the central area of Copenhagen, very close to Kongens Nytorv. However, the location, doesn’t allow the guest to have a view to anything. This is because the restaurant is located at the basement of a central building. So in itself the building and the room of the restaurant look more like a cellar. Due to its location, the entrance is made through the main entrance of a building that hosts – I guess – some other institutions or companies. However, once I got into the restaurant I was welcomed be the view of wine wall and a friendly waiter.  From there me, and my partner, were taken to our table. As a first impression, I noticed that the tables are very big, so they can host easily 4-5 guest; there where not tables for two guest only; as I have used to see in most of the other restaurants. Another thing I noticed was the asymmetry of the tables: there are mostly big round tables covered with a white table cloth, and at least one, square-like table, with no table cloth of any kind. I have to add that I chose the communication between us and the restaurant’s staff to be made in Danish (since I wanted to practice it), but because I was not close to the native speakers, due to the lack of practice, I was not very talkative, and so I didn’t ask for details. However, as usually, I was asked what I wanted to drink first, and I went for the champagne. The waiter brought three different kind of champagne, among which one was from Denmark!!!! So, because I had never tried champagne made in Denmark (I didn’t even know there was something like this) based on my interests of trying new stuff, I asked for a glass of Danish champagne. It is a bit stronger and fruity than the ones I was used with, but I like it. As price, one glass costs 200 Danish crowns. For the restof the dinner, for the first time in my life, I chose the juices (I had a glass of cucumber juice and one of beetroot). After the champagne I chose the food. There are three menus to choose from: the big one, called the Tasting Menu (appetizers, plus nine courses), the Little less Menu (appetizers and six courses chosen by the kitchen) and the Little One Menu (appetizers and four courses chosen by the kitchen). Willing to have an experience as complete as possible, I went for the Tasting menu, although I knew it was a lot for my stomach. Once I ordered the food, the feast had started. As normal, first came the appetizers, five of them (if I remember well)! Then, It was brought a little busket with bread and two different kinds of butter; both very delicious. From this point the real food started coming: first the Danish oysters with smoked buttermilk and wild cress. Very beautiful presentation and colors, with a rich aroma from oysters and the cress. Then it came the Lambfish roe, with row shrimps and beetroot. This is the dish I liked the least at AOC. This is because the roe were a lot in comparison with the little souce and the shrimps, and so their tast was very strong persistent, and I couldn’t almost feel the taste of the shrimps. Immediately after I finished this dish, I got my favorite dish at AOC: Baked onion, elderflower and Danish caviar (eight years old). This is delicious, and it is one of the best dishes I have ever eaten. The presentation and the explanation of the dish is sublime as well. It is a bit heavy but amazingly tasty.         Turbot, lard and turbot roe was coming just after and I enjoyed almost as much as I did with the previous one. What I liked the most about it was its presentation: the fish is baked in lard and juniper bush, and it has only a scissor to eat this dish with. You can see the way I handled  it in the video attached here. 

After this point I started feeling that I had got enough food, but I kept eating, interested in the other dishes to come. As the feast continued, I  received two more dishes: New Danish potatoes with morels and egg yolk, and Danish south sea lamp, with rams and fermented parsnip, which although lamb is not one of my favorites meat, I enjoyed in this combination. Once I were finished with the last main dish, it started the desserts. First it was the Camomille, honey and almond. Fresh and perfectly introduced in the menu, just after all the main dishes I had eaten. The second dessert was Aronia berries, sheep yogurt and thyme. This tastes fantastic, so my palate were ecstatic. With this dessert, I lost the track ot the dishes, and so I thought I was finished. However, the waiter told me that actually there was one more dessert to come…I was wowww! The last, really the last one, was Burned Jerusalem artichoke, walnut ice cream and sugar beet syrup. The plate is covered in a crust of burned artichoke, which must be smashed in order to reach the walnut ice cream and the syrup. However, this is a sweet dessert, especially if I have to compare it with the other two I had had before it.  All in all, after more than four hours of almost non-stop eating I decided to call it off. I couldn’t have neither coffee nor anything else; I was barely able to walk. Anyway, it was a great evening which I enjoyed a lot; and even though I didn’t really understand or see the difference between a one-star Michelin restaurant and two-stars Michelin restaurant, I liked AOC restaurant, and I recommended to everyone who is a foodie, curious, looking for new experiences, hungry, have some money to spend on food, tourist or local …and the list can continue.