Geranium Restaurant Review

 

One of the best menus on the planet. In a world of 8 billion people it’s an honor to eat food prepared by the best. Rasmus Kofoed proved to be a  true all-star of the kitchen. It’s really something the nearly three-hour experience is like no other, and some moments blew me away. I wish the service had gone the distance, but it reminded me that even the  best teams can sometimes slip up that sai geranium is still top 5 in my life. That’s how good this place is. Delicious, unique food presented beautifully in a gorgeous restaurant overlooking Copenhagen. For that, I would come back in a heartbeat .

 Today we're having lunch at Restaurant Geranium, which is currently the second best restaurant in the world. Geranium was the first restaurant in Denmark to receive three Michelin stars, and it's been climbing on the 50 Best list for the past few years. First, it was number five. Then, last year, it was number two. Will it be the world's best restaurant this year? Chef Rasmus Kofoed is one of the most decorated chefs in the world. He is the only chef who's ever won the bronze, silver, and gold trophies at Bocuse D'Or. If he also takes home the "World's Best Restaurant" title, he's going to be the most award-winning chef in the world. Geranium recently removed meat from their menu. 

Now, the focus is completely on the local vegetables and seafood. We're going to go into the kitchen and see how some of the dishes are made. Then we're going to have a little chat with Chef Rasmus and hear if he has any thoughts and feelings about the upcoming awards. Menu My name is. . . My name is. . . chika-chika Slim Shady. My name is Rasmus Kofoed. Rasmus Kofoed. This is Geranium. The first one is to play with the Danish tradition, the herring and the snaps, the alcohol that we like to drink, where you are getting a little red here. And I think it's just a great way to begin the meal. So it's actually salted herring, gently smoked and mixed with a lot of dill stems and a little bit of sour cream.

 And then we place them in algae shells. So, that's wheat dough, brushed with algae paste. And then we top it off with a lot of watercress, a lot of dill, and we spray it with the dill snaps in the very end. When did I get the idea to change the menu? I think it's something that's been, it's been a conversation inside myself for years. I wanted to take Geranium in a different direction. We have been here for more than 11 years. So, I was thinking it was time to challenge ourselves. Yeah, we took meat off the menu, but it was never playing the leading role in the Geranium universe. We've been focusing more on seafood. We are a country surrounded by the ocean. 

I haven't been eating meat since the last five years, so it doesn't make sense for me to cook a dish with meat. And I also feel that the menu and the food that we do here needs to reflect me as a person. I'm trying all that I can do to show myself on the plate, and Geranium on the plate, the DNA that we have been developing through the years here. The idea with the new menu is that it's constantly evolving and catching up with nature. Right now, it's very green outside here in Copenhagen. It's springtime, one of the most beautiful seasons we have. So it's celeriac, thin slices of celeriac cooked in celeriac juice. And we wrap them carefully with "rygeost," the local, smoked kind of cottage cheese. Also a Danish tradition. Some crunchy vegetables. And then we carefully line them up on the plate and cover them with fermented cream. And we add a lot of Baerii caviar to the cream. If we should take the next step, it should be in the vegetarian direction. Now, here in the springtime, it's almost vegetarian. We took some of the fish and shellfish away because we have all these beautiful vegetables coming up. Maybe one day plant-based.

 I don't know. I just follow my heart and my brain. The asparagus dish is a very seasonal vegetable dish. The asparagus is cooked in salted water. We glaze them with some brown butter. We add a thin layer of cheese jelly on top, and some spring herbs,some of them with onion flavor and cress flavors, which bring a little spiciness to the dish. And we did a sauce from asparagus, the leftovers of the asparagus, with some aged, melted Danish cheese. And then we are adding a crunchy onion plant-inspired, to bring some crunchy texture, and also to tell the story about the beautiful layers you see when you cut through an onion. 

I remember back in 2009, I think we were #77. That was the first time we were on The World's 50 Best list. And yes, it's going slowly in the right direction. I mean, you never have a chance to know where you are on that list. You know if you're gonna enter, and be between 50 and one. Of course, you're hoping to get higher than the year before, but nothing is given. We were just happy if we could make it to the 19th spot, and then it was just beyond and like, wow. Next step. Next step. It was really. . . it was very emotional and amazing. And I'm so happy for the team because we are here together. It's not just the work. We are living our life as we are here. So we need to get the best out of it.

 And we need to create that common energy and create magic moments together with the guests. And it needs to start with us. We need to have fun. We need to enjoy what we are doing. With care, with respect, of course. But we need to have a good time as we're here. And that's something we focus on a lot. Restaurant Tour Geranium is located in the stadium that's home to Copenhagen's soccer team. In fact, their kitchens overlook the playing fields. Geranium has a stunning dining room with an open kitchen. They've brought the nature from outside into the restaurant with the new hand-painted flowers that decorate the walls.

After the main part of the meal, guests are taken on a tour of the restaurant. First stop was the award-winning wine cellar with wine director and co-owner, Søren Ledet. There are almost 15,000 bottles and almost 5,000 different labels. Of course, you'll find some of the most expensive wines in the world, but you'll also find some fun natural wines. Geranium has four different wine pairings and a non-alcoholic pairing made from house-made juices. Me and Søren are still great, great friends after working more than 20 years together. And that's very important to keep that friendship, because it's not always easy to run a restaurant. The dessert is a nice combination of pumpkin. 

So, it's a fresh juice, split with some pumpkin seed oil, some crunchy white chocolate, a thin layer of creamy chocolate in the bottom, and frozen water of cloud berries. On top, we did a thin layer of crunchy pumpkin with a lot of small leaves, telling about the the plant kingdom. But I think we are having a really good time at the moment. We've been having very tough years. Now we have the great years here. But running a restaurant like this will always be a challenge and you need to be ready for that. If you loved Geranium before, you'll find that it hasn't changed much. Even with the new menu, the identity is strong and you can taste Rasmus' unique style of cooking in every dish. The menu has become stronger. I love it more than ever before.

 Outro After your dessert, you're taken into the lounge for petit fours and hand-brewed coffee and herbal infusions made right in front of you. Will Geranium take first place at The World's 50 Best awards? We certainly hope so. It really is one of the best restaurants in the world. If you like our work, support us on Patreon, where we also have a food community called The Hungries.