This Kokkeriet Copenhagen Review, 1 Michelin Star is from our recent visit, part of our Copenhagen trip with luxury hotel site inspection visits. See all posts tagged Michelin Star Restaurants for our other Michelin restaurant reviews.
Kokkeriet Restaurant Location, Hours and Reservations
Kokkeriet is located at Kronprinsessegade 64, in the heart of Copenhagen's Nyboder neighborhood. It's about a 12 minute walk from Nørreport Station and about a 15 min. walk from Kongens Nytorv Metro Station. Kokkeriet is open nightly for dinner from 6pm, with 9:30pm as the latest seating.
The Scene
On our Wednesday evening visit, it was a warm day, and as with many places in Copenhagen, there was no air conditioning in the restaurant, so it was fairly warm when we arrive at about 6:30pm. There were already several couples in their 30s-early 40s seated, and as our dinner progressed, additional couples and a larger group of young men arrived. Unsurprisingly, our son was the only kid in the restaurant.
Kokkeriet Menu and Food
Kokkeriet exclusively serves tasting menus, a smaller tasting menu for DKK 900 (~$137) or the full tasting menu for DKK 1200 (~$183) per person.
Even before you look at the menu, several snacks are offered. The first one was pretty to look at, but such a small bite that it was actually hard to taste the components of kohlrabi, cornflower and bronze fennel.
The next one was dubbed a “celebration of the Danish potato,” and tasted, well, of potato, with a nice bit of crunch from the edible malt it was served in. We were invited to roll the potato in it before eating, and after eying the malt rather dubiously (“Are you sure this isn't Danish dirt?” my husband joked) my husband and son ate their potatoes.
The next snack was a bit too much even for me, and I try to keep an open mind where modern restaurants are concerned. It was smoked brioche, served with smoke plumes still wafting up, and served with a black dip, apparently made of cream cheese and leek, which my son immediately referred to as “black goo,” and which sparked an hour long discussion of “Prometheus” and the various Alien movies.
This was definitely our least favorite of the food we were served–the smoked brioche looked like lava rock, and didn't taste like much; the “black goo” wasn't too flavorful either.
The next snack was far prettier: raspberry tartlets with liver pate and chicken skin, served atop potpourri. While pretty, and definitely more appetizing than the previous course, it was pretty ordinary taste-wise, and I was beginning to worry that the entire dinner was going to be cutting edge dishes that were mediocre, taste-wise.
Fortunately the last snack was also the best: Kokkeriet's homemade rye bread porridge, plated tableside with chocolate, pistachios, rye, a bit of prune, cream, and lemon verbena. It was the first thing we tasted that we really liked, and was also distinctively Danish. Our server wryly observed that she'd had it as a child and never liked it, but if the version served her had been Kokkeriet's, she'd have had a different opinion.
After choosing the smaller menu, we enjoyed Kokkeriet's fresh sourdough bread rolls, served with whipped brown butter and pine salt. A real Michelin star restaurant, in my view, should serve excellent warm homemade bread, and Kokkeriet delivered with flying colors. Even the butter is churned in-house.
Next was a modern version of shrimp cocktail, with a sweet shrimp and tomato broth. Good, but not memorable.
In the next dish, pumpkin was beautifully shaped, nearly as a flower, around a scallop, with a creamy goat cheese sauce poured over it. Of the courses we'd had so far, I liked this most, apart from the rye bread porridge snack.
The subsequent carrot course with orange was again pretty, and perhaps if I was a vegan I'd have been more excited about it, but it just didn't wow me.
From the subsequent course of the fried lemon sole with pea puree and elderflower, I really enjoyed Kokkeriet's cuisine. This dish was masterful in terms of the balance of flavors, from the perfectly cooked sole to the bright and slightly sweet pea puree and the slight tartness of the sauce.
The next dish of beetroot served with hay cream and truffle was also delectable.
Both my husband and I really enjoyed the poussin with cauliflower. The poussin was carved tableside, and perfectly roasted. This is one of the few dishes where the main ingredient is brought in, since poussin isn't raised in Denmark.
The veal dish that followed looked like Christmas, with the greens topped with red currants. The accompanying sweet-tart blueberry sauce deliciously complemented the tender meat.
A pre-dessert of pine sorbet with pear and yuzu sauce was very refreshing as a palate cleanser.
The dessert was surprising, in a good way. Walnut mousse was served with ice cream and thin slices of radish. I would have winced if I'd remembered the mention of radish in a dessert, especially as I don't even care for radish in salads. But somehow the thin slices worked perfectly in this dessert, adding just the right amount of kick and crunch.
The Verdict
Kokkeriet was an uneven experience for us. If I could redesign the meal we had there, I'd eliminate all the snacks except for the Rye Bread Porridge, which for us was by far the best. The others, for us at least, were all style/presentation over substance (taste). I'd also eliminate the shrimp cocktail and carrot courses, they just weren't memorable enough. These snacks and less memorable courses add time to the meal, which even for the shorter version took about 3 hours. I'd prefer a shorter 2 hour meal with only the best tastes.
The courses we most enjoyed, in addition to the rye bread snack, were the Poussin with Cauliflower, Veal with Red Currants, Beetroot with Hay Cream and Truffle, Pine Sorbet with Yuzu, and the Walnut Mousse dessert, so I would keep those. We're glad we tried Kokkeriet, as it provided insight into Copenhagen's New Nordic foodie scene, but for these kinds of Nordic flavors I have to say St. Petersburg, Russia, provides much better value at restaurants such as Birch, even if the restaurants aren't Michelin star rated. And for those in NYC or visiting NYC who want high end Nordic cuisine, I recommend 2 Michelin Star Aska, in Brooklyn.
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Disclosure: We paid for our own meal at Kokkeriet.
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Great review, I’m leaving for Copenhagen in a week, and would have been intrigued, but I will take a miss based on your observations. If you have any particular recommendations for more modesty priced restaurants would be interested.
Glad it was helpful! And to reiterate, the second part of the meal, including all the mains of sole, poussin, veal plus the beet with hay cream and black truffle and the pre-dessert and dessert were fantastic, as was the homebaked bread/butter and rye porridge. It was mainly the snacks and a couple small veggie dishes that were unremarkable to us. Stay tuned, I’ll have another review within the next week of a more informal Copenhagen restaurant that we liked.