A New Year's Resolution

According to Wikipedia, A New Year's Resolution (NYR) is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change...

Once more, at the turn of the year, the time has come to change some of my "bad" habits.

I've stopped smoking cigarettes this year... so for coming year, I made a decision to reduce my alcohol consumption.

As for rest of my NYR... well there are many many things that I want and I will do, but I'm not going to get in the details now ;-)

However, the most important to me is my inspiration, and the good new is, I have it back in abundance; my inspiration is everything that I love and want to do in my journey in life.

Anyway it is a time to wrap-up the last post this year, so, I'll show you some summer house rumble in the middle of winter in Sweden...


An old windmill...


Nature's perfect art...


A good fireplace...


A superb winter dish: rich, warm, hearty.

And everything is possible!


I wish you all a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year 2009 and please stay tuned!

A Julefrokost v5.0

Here's (hopefully) the last Julefrokost I had this year (see other post).

Not that I don’t like the food and the great company! It is because the snaps and beers are like Molotov cocktail for me and I can’t handle the day after :-/

Anyway, a few former colleagues and I head to Ida Davidsen restaurant, arguably the best Smørrebrød (open-faced sandwichs) restaurant in Denmark.

Literal translation of Smørrebrød is buttered bread... but in essence it's a slice of bread piled up with different meats, fish, veggies, cheeses and such.


Various smørrebrød

After this, I can say quite confident that nobody, and I mean nobody, makes a better smørrebrød in Denmark. This is a very cozy family restaurant in Copenhagen and the family has it for 2-3 generation. We eat couple of different stuff, and everything was great.

However, I need to stress that the smoked salmon (homemade) is the perfect food match for the aquavit, especially the one we had!


Niels Jørgen Kaiser - smørrebrød with homemade paté, bacon, mushrooms, horseradish and fond-jelly


Smørrebrød with sweet-and-sour fish


The duck :p


Kurt and Henrik skål-ing


At the other side, me and Kim. I hope Kim will give me a tip on the aquavit name.

For me, it’s amazing that Ida’s recipes seem so trivial, and yet once you taste her sandwiches, you just feel a pure delight.

Probably one should not specially head to Copenhagen for a smørrebrød, but if you are around, than this is a must!

Rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Restaurant Ida Davidsen
Store Kongensgade 70
1264 København K

Ebisu at Custom House, traditional Japanese food

The Custom House is in the heart of Copenhagen and it accommodates three restaurants. Ebisu, serving traditional Japanese kitchen, Bacino, offering Italian kitchen and Bar & Grill offering Danish/European cuisine.

The exterior of the building that has been formerly a customs or naval office, is restored to original appearance in full retro glow. The renowned English designer Sir Terence Conran designed the interior of all restaurants at Custom House, but frankly speaking, his design is boring for my eyes. It almost reassembles all his previous design I’ve visit, like for example L’Alcazar in Paris.

Anyway, I’ll focus on food and I’ll start right away: this is probably the best Japanese restaurant in Copenhagen I’ve tested, until today.

We went there at 17:45 because this was a dinner before Cinderella ballet (see other post), which means we got them at the opening hour. Of course, we were first guests so it has been bit empty, but fun.

We had Maguro, Umi no sarada, Soft shell crab with wasabi and spicy mayo , Hotataegai (Scallop), some uramaki…


Soft shell crab were great, but aren't they all in these types of places?


This was a turning point: ordinarily good to extraordinarily good, the Hotataegai. So fresh and delicious, with some hints of ocean and eastern flavors.


Uramaki - these dishes almost always bore me... but this was different. Wow.

At about 120€ per person, including beer and sake, I guess it is not very cheap, but it worth it.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 8.6 (out of 10.0)

Custom House
Havnegade 44
1058 København K

Cinderella

I've been at the ballet performance last Friday at the Opera to see the tale of Cinderella (Askepot). I guess everyone know the popular adventure about Cinderella, with all it's magical elements, oppression, injustice and rewarding happy end.

This has been a premiere of the new ballet by Tim Rush, and everything was... just perfect. From Tim Rushton's choreography, to Sergej Prokofjev's music, scenery, costumes, light, and finally, the ballet would not be complete without Den Kongelige Ballet, Dansk Danseteater and especially Cinderella (Christina Michanek) herself.


The full cast was first-rate, and Cinderella is full of charm and... well an intelligent flirt.



In addition, we visited Ebisu at Custom House for dinner before performance (see other post), so the evening ended exactly as it began - just perfect.

Copenhagen, Operaen, Store Scene
Period: Unfortunately it is no longer on the repertoire for this year.

Sake no nana - Is the best sushi in London ?!

First, I need to make a mayor disclaimer ;-) Readers of my blog can be confused because sometimes, it seems that the way I’m describing the restaurants and the actual rating I'm giving, are not “in sync”. Please, have on mind that a while ago, I've spent rambling ten days just eating in the restaurants of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe.

Which means, I do have one of the world best Japanese restaurants in mind as benchmarks, and I can’t help myself making comparisons.

Back to Alan Yau…

I've visited a few Alan Yau restaurants; from topnotch, like for example Yauatcha, to a superb and budget, like Wagamama, and I’ve always departed fully satisfied.

Enter Sake No Hana; and no doubt, the impeccable track record continues.


Noboru Ishii - the head sushi chef of Sake No Hana


Sushi chefs at work

From outside almost impossible to spot, just a cylindrical glossy black automatic door… actually two. Inside, the restaurant looks like classical Tokyo izakaya - sake bar with tatami – footsteps seating and the sushi bar with a cedar/metal sushi counter. Of course, there are western-style tables too.

The restaurant offers kaiseki menu (see other post) and it has… well overwhelmingly complex and difficult to follow a lá carte menu. Actually I’m wondering how they manage to maintain all this ingredients in fresh and perfect conditions.

I haven't had time to do a kaiseki during the lunchtime. I had miso soup, sashimi selection, and futomaki. Everything was tasteful, fresh and elegantly presented. The otoro sashimi was first I ever tasted in UK, and one of the better I had in my live. It had very delicate flavors and incredibly melting texture.


Tako sashimi


Futomaki
The pricing seems reasonable, although if you try to be playful, it might end up shockingly expensive. Of course drinks list highlight sake and there is a huge selection, so if you there during the dinnertime, better ask for help as this restaurant also have a sake sommelier.

Lunch about 50€ per person, including drinks.

This place has a charm. Highly recommended.

Rating: 8.5 (out of 10.0)

Sake No Hana
23 St James's Street
SW1A 1HA London