Geranium has undergone some changes to the interior of the restaurant since we were last there. There is now an open kitchen in the main dining room, the banquet seats have been replaced with comfortable chairs, wall coverings have been removed to expose more windows and the Paul Bocuse Award Statuettes are now in a case out front. It continues to offers top notch service and an extraordinary view from the 8th floor of the non-descript building it is hidden in, as well as stunningly beautiful and flavorful food. Chef Rasmus Kofoed is still in the kitchen and as welcoming as ever. They offer one tasting menu at lunch and dinner for all guests and wine or juice pairing options. There are no upgrades, supplements or silliness, just an afternoon or evening of deliciousness and pampering by the excellent staff.
The meal starts with a series of appetizers, first being a combination of Danish lobster and custard with a great color derived from carrots and sea buckthorn. It was mildly flavored but a visual treat.
It went up from there with leaves made from Jerusalem artichoke served with a sauce of garlic and walnut. The sauce was very nice but I hated to dilute the incredible taste of the thin, crisp artichoke leaves.
Next was a spoon filled with flowers and herbs to mix into a tomato water that was dotted with ham fat. The tomato water had a texture more like gelatin and the fat added the perfect touch of salt to the savory simple dish and then the herbs brought it to another level of good.
The charcoal potatoes are black but do not have a hint of burnt taste, rather the simple but wonderful taste of fresh potato is crowned with an amazing sheep’s butter. I saw the fellow at the next table finish off every bit of that butter. Yum!
Salted mackerel was wrapped in dill coating and served alongside horseradish cream and dill pickle sorbet. It was an interesting combination of flavors that worked well.
Faux razor clams were the last appetizer. They are a signature dish, according to our waiter, and are made from a thin piece of dough stuffed with clams and sour cream. Very good!
The first main dish was a celeriac and scallop, with the celeriac served in grilled celeriac juice. The scallops were part of a tart covered with dried trout.
The salted hake was slightly smoked as accented with ashes of parsley that made it look like a piece of marble. It was then covered with Finnish caviar in buttermilk and finally adorned with crispy fish scales. It was too pretty to eat but I did! The fish scales were a perfect crunch and the flavors combined into a luscious taste. Fun and tasty!
The breads and cow butter. The sour dough rolls were mixed with whipped buttermilk and covered with pumpkin and sunflower seeds and I could have eaten the entire plate. The tall leaves were perfectly crisp and buttery cheese bites. All were hot and wonderful.
Next were the creamy vegetables with oysters. Another visually pretty dish and equally tasty with the flavors blending wonderfully.
The egg yolk was pickled in the next dish to mix with “Vesterhavs” cheese, leeks and herbs. Some of the onions had been grilled to add a really nice accent.
King crab from Norway was covered with cabbage and covered with oyster flowers and then covered with a broth made from the crab shells and skeletons and brown butter. You had me at brown butter – it was superb!
The last main dish was pork served with an arc of kohlrabi and covered with flowers. The flowers did have flavor not just looks and the pork was a perfect bit of heavy protein to close out the savory dishes.
Desserts started with a sphere of rhubarb yogurt with sweet beetroot juice inside, surrounded by blackcurrant leaves and something with a citrus essence. It was a one bite explosion of great flavor.
The beeswax ice cream was served with blueberries from Sweden. The ice cream was incredibly smooth and the berries great. A delightful combination.
Next was a trip into the forrest with white chocolate ice cream covered with woodruff and sorrel and a frozen bit of something and adorned with a tree of dried and caramelized sugar. This one didn’t work for me, the icy bit watered down the taste of the custard and the herbs were distracting rather than enhancing. The previous one was much better.
“The End” was a black skull in the middle of a white plate. It was a salted licorice and cocoa butter outside filled with a light, fluffy and sweet substance. Not too sweet and fun visually but I’d still chose the beeswax ice cream course.
We had a tour of the place with a description of all the changes next and then the final section was sweets and I was so busy getting down the description I didn’t get pictures of them before we bit into them. There was a caramel with pickled fennel, a white chocolate ball filled with cookie dough, a pine egg filled with caramel and a cake with pumpkin seed oil. None wowed me.
