Fifteen years after Noma taught the world to eat twigs, four Copenhagen nights take in Koan’s case for a third star, Radio’s August vegetables, PÆRE’s Blue Cheese Martini and Tivoli’s hand-braked rollercoaster.
asserted
nights → teach → star
On our first morning, Copenhagen offered petrichor, pastries and perfect coffee as bicycles ticked past.
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bicycles → offer → petrichor
Minutes later we had passed a palace and watched pedestrians await green lights despite empty roads.
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pedestrians → pass → roads
The streets looked as if litter required planning permission, though 14 of 40 fountains remained dry after two specialist staff resigned - an embarrassment measured in empty basins.
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staff → look → basins
Those basins were conspicuous precisely because almost everything around them worked.
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everything → work → them
Noma reopened a fortnight before we arrived under executive head chef Pablo Soto, with René Redzepi returning as creative director rather than daily operator after renewed scrutiny of the restaurant’s working culture.
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Redzepi → reopen → culture
Yet Copenhagen no longer needs one restaurant - or one chef - to speak for it.
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Copenhagen → need → it
The dining room turns its back on the waterfront and towards the pass and sommelier station.
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room → turn → pass
Nearby, a block of Korean granite, given by Korean veterans, honours Jutlandia, Denmark’s hospital ship during the Korean War.
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block → give → War
The restaurant began as a pop-up at Empirical Spirits in 2020, then opened permanently here in April 2023.
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restaurant → begin → April
Ten weeks later, Michelin awarded it two stars.
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Michelin → award → stars
Born in Seoul and adopted by Danish parents, chef-patron Kristian Baumann trained at Noma, Manfreds and Relæ, and helped launch Noma Japan.
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Baumann → bear → Japan
When Redzepi took Noma to Australia, Baumann occupied its Copenhagen kitchen with 108; Michelin arrived six months later.
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Michelin → take → 108
A first research trip to South Korea in 2017, followed by regular returns, helped turn curiosity into a language.
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trip → follow → language
Koan cooks in the charged interval between birthplace and upbringing.
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Koan → cook → birthplace
Service was balletic, though nobody asked us to admire the footwork.
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nobody → ask → footwork
Jeff Njoroge Njehu guided us through 18 courses without making dinner sound like coursework.
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dinner → guide → coursework
Hand-peeled raw shrimps, poached oyster and scallop led to acorn, white kimchi and silken tofu with caviar.
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shrimps → peel → caviar
The white-kimchi flower arrived in a ‘Reborn’ bowl by Korean artist Lee Ki-jo, made with fragments of Ming and Qing porcelain.
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flower → arrive → porcelain
Broken material returned in another form.
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material → return → form
Chilled lobster noodles, kkwabaegi, summer salad and plump langoustine followed.
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noodles → chill → ?
The menu’s spare nouns withheld the plot until each dish arrived.
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dish → withhold → plot
Gamasot rice with forensically displayed accompaniments yielded to its caramelised base before a Korean-accented run of sweets.
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rice → display → sweets
Head sommelier Lasse Peder Nielsen’s pairing refused a single compass.
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pairing → refuse → compass
Yunguna, an experimental Copenhagen rice winery, supplied takju - cloudy, unfiltered Korean rice wine - and yakju, its clear counterpart.
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Yunguna → supply → takju
Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Cherbaudes 2019 brought Burgundy into the middle.
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Cherbaudes → bring → middle
Mas Amiel Maury Rouge 1985 emerged from a demijohn through an implement which looked disconcertingly equipped to inseminate cattle.
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which → emerge → cattle
Meanwhile, alcohol-free pairings treated diners as adults: homemade carrot and rooibos, pine needle, tomato and fig leaf; woodruff, apple and cep.
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pairings → treat → carrot
A third star would look less like a favour than administration catching up.
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administration → look → favour
Nimb: playtime with room service
We arrived before our room was ready.
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room → arrive → service
This is normally when a hotel produces a sofa, coffee and a sentence involving ‘shortly’.
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hotel → produce → sofa
Markus, one of Nimb’s concierges, had a better idea: ‘Would you like to ride the rollercoaster while you wait?’
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you → have → rollercoaster
Nimb Hotel, an SLH Hotel, stands within Tivoli’s Technicolor gardens, which brought the world to the city.
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which → stand → city
Its white Moorish building, inaugurated in 1909, takes its name from restaurateurs Vilhelm and Louise Nimb.
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building → inaugurate → Vilhelm
Our art-rich Junior Suite looked across Tivoli; guests enter freely and receive unlimited rides.
At dusk, ride Rutschebanen.
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guests → look → Rutschebanen
Running since 1914, it is among the world’s oldest surviving wooden rollercoasters, with a brakeman aboard each train controlling its descent by hand.
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brakeman → run → hand
Nazi collaborators burned sections of Tivoli on 24 June 1944; the rollercoaster reopened 25 days later.
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rollercoaster → burn → June
It now clatters through its painted mountain with the confidence of a machine which has seen off several official systems.
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which → clatter → systems
Four days before we arrived, Tivoli opened Hikari, a Japanese-inspired street beneath The Demon.
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Tivoli → arrive → Demon
The new Typhoons Eye spins riders towards weightlessness; the relatively genteel Rutschebanen relies on timber and trust.
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Rutschebanen → spin → timber
…and 68 more, not listed.
The Aporia
