Copenhagen has been on my list for quite a while and of course any time you mention it to a food lover, the first question is "Are you going to Noma?" Sadly, I wasn't able to get a reservation there but instead I was able to get one at BROR which is run by 2 of the restaurant's former sous chefs who branched out on their own in 2013. Although I've never been to Noma, I would guess the concept here is heavily influenced by it with a Nordic flavor set menu made from in-season produce. They must be doing something right as they were awarded the Michelin's Bib Gourmand in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The space is relatively cozy - a split level restaurant with simple finishes. We sat on the upper level and were immediately greeted by a handful of really enthusiastic and kind waiters. It's a set menu and you can choose between the 5 course (595 krone or $88 USD) or 4 course (395 Krone or $59 USD). The 5 course comes with 5 additional "snacks", so you're actually eating a 10 course meal. I had heard that Scandinavia is super expensive (which it is) but this meal was real steal given the quality of the food and overall experience. As long as I was going to be in Copenhagen, I was going to go all out and get the 5 course menu. If you're coming all the way to Copenhagen, don't be cheap and just enjoy the meal for what's actually probably cheaper than what you would get in NYC.
The first snack was bull's balls with tartar sauce. Yes, I had bull's testicles. It was pounded into almost a patty and breaded and tasted very delicate and tender. Dipped in the sour tartare sauce, it really made you feel like you were eating a fish filet sandwich instead of bull's balls. 2nd snack was ox heart in a lettuce wrap. The ox heart didn't freak me out and since it was in a lettuce wrap, it made me feel like I was just eating something healthy sprinkled with some small cuts of meat in it. Third snack was English peas chilled with ice. The peas were fresh and delicious - how can you not love the taste of a freshly picked peas? I wasn't a huge fan of the ice that it was sitting in - it kind of diluted the taste of the pea but I guess it did keep it super chilled?
Fourth snack was cod's neck with crispy fish skin, horseradish, and egg salad. This was one of the top dishes of the night for me. This is what I envision when I think of Nordic food. The fish neck was tender and delicious - fish head is actually one of my favorite parts of the fish, people don't realize how tender the meat is there. The egg salad was a homey touch to the meal with the dill on top of it. I didn't finish all the fish skin since it was a bit too dry for me, but I loved everything about this dish.
Fifth snack was a traditional sourdough bread with butter that had bone marrow in it. Jesus - there is just something about fresh warm sourdough bread that I could eat for hours. The bread on this entire trip was awesome - you could tell it's not the white processed crap we eat at home but it was all multi-grained, seeded brown bread. I was really trying not to eat all of it but I couldn't help myself. The butter with bone marrow was an interesting touch - it just added a lot more unnecessary fat to the butter. I actually like the regular butter that Lav got with hers.
After all this snacking, we get served our main courses. I honestly could have stopped eating here and been a happy camper. But onwards! The 1st main course was marinated mackerel with green strawberries.
This was a stunning dish, incredibly beautifully plated. And not bad tasting either. The fish was nicely marinated and served chilled. The green strawberries added a nice tartness to the dish. The next dish was asparagus with chicken heart - more hearts! This was also a fantastic dish - the heart was surprisingly tasty - chicken heart can be really rubbery but this one was crisp and well balanced with the crunchy fresh asparagus.
This was followed by a delicious white fish dish with pate, fish roe and a charred broccoli-rabe like veggie and cauliflower. Another favorite of mine - I should have known that any of the fish dishes would be winners.
Lastly, we were served 2 desserts. While I usually wouldn't say I need less dessert, I could have been fine with just 1 of them. The first was a bone marrow brulee with fresh strawberry sorbet. As much as I love actual bone marrow, having it in a dessert form didn't really do it for me. There wasn't a lot of sweetness and it just tasted fatty to me but it was a gorgous presentation of the brulee instead the bone marrow. But the sorbet was fantastic - super refreshing. In an ideal world, we would have stopped there. But we ended with another fruit dessert of tarragon and rubarb - I was so full at this point that I kind of just picked around it. Lav mentioned that she would have liked one of the desserts to be more of a chocolate focused dessert, which I don't disagree with. It would have been nice to change it up a bit between a fruit and chocolate dessert.
Overall, it was a really lovely way to kick off my Danish and Norwegian adventure. Everyone who worked there was incredibly attentive and seemed very educated about the dishes - they spoke to them in such great loving detail that it really puts my blog to shame. They also did a wonderful vegetarian version for Lav which was great because places like these can traditionally be a bit difficult to accommodate but they did a really lovely job. Of course I would have loved to have tried Noma before it closed but if you can't get a reservation like I did, BROR is an extremely affordable and excellent back up. Total bill with tax and tip: $149/pp
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