delicate gastronomy in a football stadium

This article is part of FT Globetrotter. Copenhagen guide

There can be no more incongruous location for a three-star Michelin restaurant than Geranium in Copenhagen. Named Best Restaurant in the World in 2022, it is located in an ugly gray and glass box of a giant football stadium, in the middle of a parking lot.

The day I have lunch there, the elevator soon fills with noisy office workers stopping by every other floor. It’s a relief to enter the serene dining room, filled with minimalist Nordic design touches and overlooking the local park, Fælledparken. Later during the meal I discover that the kitchen overlooks the field where FC Copenhagen and the Danish national team play.

Geranium was launched in 2007 by Danish chef Rasmus Kofoed, who trained in the Hotel d’Angleterrethe grande dame of CPH hotels, and is the only chef to have won gold, silver and bronze in the Bocuse d’Or championship. He wasn’t present during my visit, but his 18-course meal is something of a litmus test of his opinion of fine dining. Yes, the dishes are achingly beautiful. Yes, they are made from the best raw materials in interesting (if not unusual) flavor combinations. Yes, the service is impeccable. And yes, it is impressive to see so many dishes made without meat (a deliberate choice by Kofoed).

But from time to time a nagging doubt arises. Although the food is delicate, elegant and novel in Nordic style and technique, sometimes it falls short of being completely delicious to me. The Geranium is certainly a lovely experience, but is it really worth 4,200 DKK ($595/£470) for the meal and another 2,300-20,000 DKK ($325/£260-$2,830/£2,240)? for the drink pairing?

The first course is a really beautiful but small portion of Danish herring, small flowers and dill stems, served in a crispy seaweed tartlet and topped with a plant-shaped tile of black aquavit. It tastes fresh, the fatty herring offset by the crunch of the greenery, and is accompanied by a remarkably light glass of Adrien Renoir champagne.

Geranium’s kitchen is, as befits Copenhagen tradition, completely open, with half a dozen tattooed chefs working studiously but in a more lively and relaxed manner than anywhere else in the city. “I need hands, please”; “mushrooms at six”; It feels like being in “The Bear,” without the screaming. The tweezers are very obvious.

“A lot of things happen on this small plate,” is how the chef presents the next portion. The combination of lightly smoked roe, milk and kale is very delicate, similar to a tasty crème brûlée. It’s quickly followed by star-shaped boiled beetroot and a subtle horseradish sauce, which I wish I had more of. Another glass of champagne accompanies the obligatory caviar dish, served with a potato and beechnut waffle along with sour cream flavored with pickled walnut leaves. It’s a fun dish that you can serve yourself, but I think caviar is pretty overpowered.

Champagne aside, I opted for the non-alcoholic beverage pairing, and it may be the star of my meal. The first installment is made of apple, fennel and dill oil with dill powder sprinkled on top. It is shaken and served as a tableside cocktail, drawing admiring glances from other diners who enjoyed much less theatrics with their wine. A subsequent juice of blackberries and cherries is even more striking, when a pine twig is set on fire and the smoke is captured in a glass. Obviously, a lot of thought has gone into the couples, which is encouraging to see.

I’m also happy to see a dish with celeriac, perhaps my favorite vegetable. But despite a dazzling spiral presentation, served with even more caviar, it seems rather anonymous. That disappointment, however, is followed by a trio of spectacular courses. The wild mushroom soup is the highlight of the lunch, rich and deeply flavored, accompanied by the most beautiful cheese straw you will ever see, shaped like a flower. A plate of walnuts, Jerusalem artichoke and sauerkraut foam is just as good and looks like a small abstract painting. Sweet scallop and its roe are served with spicy dried blackcurrants, while a dried raspberry, coffee and rosemary juice provides a complex, sweet and sour accompaniment.

There’s a relentlessness to fine dining and I’m starting to feel full, especially at lunch. The next dish, a fried bread pancake with buttermilk, pickled ramson and truffle, doesn’t help much. Still, there are two more main dishes and no less than six desserts to go.

If there is one thing that Copenhagen restaurants excel at, it is sauces, and the rich, creamy sauce that accompanies them. major The main course of stuffed and fried monkfish proves this, although, like many other dishes at Geranium, I find the sauce tastier than the central attraction. A quick tour of the abundant wine cellar, prep kitchen (complete with views of the football field), and a private dining room is a welcome stretch for the legs.

The desserts are uniformly beautiful and feature many unusual ingredients, such as sea buckthorn, carrots, verbena and pickled rose hips. The excellent final cake of seeds, elderberries and apple brandy slides in easily, despite the 17 courses that preceded it. The highlight for me is the handmade herbal tea with mint, thyme and lemon verbena, hand-cut at your table.

There is no doubt that Geranium offers the quintessential Copenhagen dining experience in terms of food, atmosphere and value. Whether this is sufficient will be a matter of personal taste.

Have you had dinner at Geranio? If so, share your experience in the comments below. AND follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter