Geranium
Geranium review at-a-glance
Awards: Three Michelin star, #5 worlds 50 best
Rating: 93.5/100
+An impressive amount of creativity, skill, and thoughtfulness goes into Kofoed’s lengthy tasting menu. It is hard not to be impressed by the detail of the dishes and the amount of work that went into them.
+Geranium has some of the best presented dishes around.
-I found myself more taken with the presentation of the dishes and the level of skill that went into making them than being awed by their taste.
-Priced prohibitively even by Scandanavian standards but at least you get a lengthy menu to go with the cost.
Verdict: It is hard not to be impressed by the amount of skill that goes into a meal at Geranium. Rasmus Kofoed sends out a parade of courses, all with striking presentation and immense attention to detail. All of this unfolds before the diner’s eyes in a completely open kitchen with the many chefs working together to assemble the many components of each dish. Besides all the technical ability, Kofoed has an eye for flavor. Where some new nordic restaurants veer a little too far off course in putting together flavor combinations, Kofoed did not put out any duds despite the long meal. A few forgettable courses for sure, but nothing bad. The only thing keeping the meal from a higher score is individual dishes lacked the wow factor. The overall experience was plenty memorable but the whole meal kind of blended together without too many standout dishes. I am glad I visited but given the cost, I am not sure I will run back.
Price I paid: 2800 DDK / €375
Value: 10/20 (higher if you apply Danish pricing standards)
Geranium & Rasmus Kofoed Background
Despite being home to Noma (arguably one of the most famous restaurants in the world) and a destination that attracts gourmets from across the world, Copenhagen (and all of Denmark for that matter) only has one three Michelin star restaurant - Geranium. In addition to its three stars, Geranium and chef Rasmus Kofed have achieved acclaim in just about every guide including #5 on the world 50 best 2020 and #16 on OAD100 2020 top European restaurants. Kofoed even won a gold medal for Denmark at the prestigious Bocuse d'Or for good measure (the trophies even on display in the restaurant). The restaurant itself is located somewhat oddly on the 8th floor of a soccer stadium in the northern part of the city in a somewhat residential area, far away from the hustle and bustle of central Copenhagen. As unassuming as the building is, Geranium’s dining room is striking. Floor to ceiling windows overlooking a park, lots of natural light, wood, and the most appealing part, a large open kitchen in full view of all the diners.
Rasmus Kofed’s cooking at Geranium is what you’d expect from a three-star in Scandanavia - heavily focused on vegetables and seafood found in the surrounding area, gorgeous presentations perfect for Instagram (even if the fluorescent lighting was not), and plenty of obscure ingredients. No matter what you think about this style of cooking you can’t dispute the amount of effort and technical skill that goes into a meal at Geranium - there were no slip-ups in the lengthy meal and flavors are thoughtfully put together.
This being a Michelin star restaurant in Scandinavia the only option is a tasting menu and it comes at quite a price - 2800 DDK / €375 when I visited, knocking off Frantzen by around €25 for the most expensive meal I have ever had. Befitting its high price, the lengthy menu is even delivered to you in a sealed envelope which would have been cooler had Kong Hans Kælder not done the exact same thing with their menu the previous night. Booze was equally pricey as is standard in Denmark - the cheapest wine pairing came in at a mind-boggling 1800 DDK / €240 and going up from there with the most expensive “rare & unique” pairing costing a hefty 16,000 DKK / €2,150.
What I ate at Geranium
Given there were nearly 30 dishes, Rasmus Kofoed segmented the meal at Geranium into 3 sections - snacks which consisted of smaller bites, dishes that were more substantial in nature, and then a lengthy dessert section at the end. The first snack was Jerusalem artichoke leaves & pickled walnut leaves which were made with a stencil that is getting quite popular these days as I have seen it at a number of other restaurants. The artichoke leaves themselves were made by puréeing artichoke, filling out the stencil, letting them sit to firm up a bit, and then giving them a few seconds in hot oil. The end result was an impressive crisp with just the right texture, delicate without being too brittle. Next up was a potato “Ryge Ost” & lightly smoked snail eggs (not pictured) which I can’t remember much about and was not particularly much to look at.
The meal went up several levels with the next two bites, first “Razor Clams” which was one of the more clever presentations in the meal with the dish consisting of a razor clam tartar featuring a bit of tarragon, parsley and sour cream that was then encased in a very thin dough that had been painted with ashes and algae to look more or less identical to an actual razor clam (but much more edible). Not only was this a smart presentation but the tartar was also top-notch with the seafood coming through nicely. This was followed by a complex dish of grilled lobster & milk with juice from fermented carrots and seabuckthorn. Seabuckthorn is a common ingredient and Nordic cooking and it went well with the lobster and fresh cheese that they make in house only a few hours before serving to get the optimal texture. Kofoed’s snack section of the Geranium menu concluded with a broth of walnut oil, mushroom juice, and fermented celeriac (not pictured) which was a pure umami bomb with a good truffle aroma and nice concentrated broth.
The first course of the “Dishes” section menu was a quite strikingly presented dish of ‘Red Stones” scallops & horseradish. A quite impressive fit of technical skill to create the presentation. While I am sure the scallop was of high quality I found its natural sweetness to be a little bit overwhelmed by the horseradish coating. The next dish was equally well presented but also better testing, consisting of yellow beets, sol, dried mussels & aromatic seeds. This was a very intelligent dish with all the various components working in harmony, the yellow beet, in particular, having remarkable flavor. Beetroot is a frequent guest on Michelin star menus these days but I feel comfortable saying that this is the best beet dish I have ever had.
Next up was back-to-back courses of crab, first King crab, dried vegetables, rygeost. The crab meat is cooked, removed from the shell, and mixed with a smoked Danish cheese called rygeost. It is then plated by being stuffed back in the shell and served with various dried vegetables including one that serves as a tortilla to be filled with the crab and eaten as a bit of a taco. While I am sure a great deal of work went into this I can’t say I enjoyed it. The crab’s flavor was mostly lost and the vegetable taco was gummy and stuck to the roof of my mouth.
The taco was followed up by a much better dish of creamy crab, algae & juice from dried scallop with the crab bun having a very nice texture and the broth having a nice deep flavor.
Bread was served as a course in the middle of the meal and included grissini, old grain bread, and, because we are in Denmark, a good sourdough. Although I am not a big fan of bread as a “course” all three examples were excellently made and the butter was good as it should be given the overall quality of dairy products in Denmark. The bread was followed up by one of Geranium’s signature courses, Marbled Hake, Caviar, and Buttermilk. The dish lived up to its reputation, the lean hake being nicely salted and lightly smoked just enough for the smokey flavor to come through on the palate. What makes the dish truly special is the buttermilk sauce which the kitchen prepares by heating up the buttermilk until it splits and then using just the liquid part (with a bit of butter) in combination with caviar, roe, parsley stems, and parsley juice. The end result was a lightly sour, and rich (but still refreshing) sauce that was spooned on top of the fish tableside. The last touch from the kitchen was a spoonful of deep-fried Hake scales which tasted better than they sound and most importantly added a balance of texture to the dish.
The next bite of Crispy Fjord Shrimp, Oyster & Truffle Seaweed was excellent but felt a bit out of place in the meal as the small tart was squeezed in between some more substantial courses. Whatever you think of this type of cooking, there is no disputing that Rasmus Kofoed is a technician in the kitchen with the tart here having a flawless texture and the perfect vessel for the shrimp and oyster. The most surprising dish of the night was labeled on the menu as Plant Kingdom Ransoms & Liquid Vesterhavs Cheese. When the server described the dish all I could think of was, well that sounds like a lot of onion, but somehow all the disparate components went together in harmony on the spoon and delivered a really fine-tuned flavor combination.
In what might have been the only dish cooked a la minute instead of assembled with tweezers was the main course of grilled quail, pine, and truffle. While the kitchen did not do much cooking per se this dish proved it was not due to lack of ability. The chef here could be seen slaving over his small hot grill as most of the dining room seemed to come to this dish at similar times. His efforts were not in vain, the quail coming out with great smoke from the grill while not being overcooked. After the quail, I moved into the dessert section of the menu which was featured as many bites as some entire tasting menus.
First up was a bite of beetroot, blackcurrant, yogurt & tagetes (a type of sunflower). As unappealing as this sounded to me as a dessert it actually worked shockingly well with the spoonful having very refreshing flavors and the right balance between the herbs and sweetness so you don’t forget you are eating a dessert. The next dessert is another Geranium classic, described as the forest with wood sorrel & woodruff. This dish is most known for its striking presentation with the wood sorrel granita being shaped into a flower and a prune caramel tree branch sitting over the top of the dish. As far as herb-based desserts go, this was actually pretty good with the sorrel granita having a nice freshness and acidity while the woodruff brought a bit of nuttiness.
We then moved into the third dessert Ollebrod, MIlk, Geranium, Rhubarb (not pictured). This dish was as ugly as the presentation of the forest was striking, the flavors also not really doing much for me. Maybe if I was Danish this would have taken me back to some childhood memories, but that was not the case. When I compare this to the honey cake and butter at Kadeau, also an elevated take on a danish classic, I much preferred Kadeau’s homage to classic Danish food than Geraniums. I love caramel so when I saw the last main dessert was caramel with roasted grains & frozen chamomile tea I knew I was in for a treat. I was not disappointed - the chamomile tea worked well with the caramel and the grains added a pleasant toastiness to the dish.
The last three desserts were much smaller affairs. First a Germanium staple “The End” which is really just a licorice mousse shaped into a skull. While I don’t particularly care for the flavor of licorice I can appreciate the homage to the Danish favorite and cheekiness from the kitchen shaping it into a skull to signify all things must come to an end.
The last few nibbles were a chocolate egg with pine and a potato cake with berries & fruit spirit both of which were harmless but not particularly inspiring.