2017. november 13. írta: világevő

Pic-Crenn-Kofoed: 3 stars' 6 hands dinner

In general, I'm not interested in dinners where chefs team up. I'm usually more interested in the solo performance of a chef but this particular dinner wasn't one to miss. Let's see why.

Starring:

- Rasmus Kofoed, host, in the colours of the 3 Michelin-starred Geranium in Copenhagen, which served as the venue of the dinner (he was also the advisor of the Hungarian Bocuse d'Or team, I previously wrote about him in Hungarian)

- Anne-Sophie Pic, legend of Valence, 3 Michelin-starred as well (plus 2 other in Lausanne, 1 in Paris, and possibly one more in London soon, where she has just opened a restaurant this year.) (I wrote about her here and my interview with her is also available, both in Hungarian)

- Dominique Crenn, from San Francisco, 2 Michelin-starred, extravagant chef (here is my post about her in Hungarian)

Two young boy, a Danish Prince and Princess were present, as well as the billionaire owner of the restaurant, who just invested the day before a bigger amount in the Alchemist in Copenhagen (it seems he wasn't bothered by the live woodlice...) and the envoy of Világevő, i.e. me.

The world of gastronomy is still unbelievably dominated by male chefs (recently, Dominique Crenn publicly objected to it in relation to the San Pellegrino jury), which makes the fact that Rasmus Kofoed invited two female chefs to cooperate with him even more amazing. He simply chose to invite two chefs, whom he finds very inspiring and whom he appreciates. They happened to be female. (On the pictures, you might spot another important participant, Søren Ledet, who is Rasmus's partner and the sommelier.)

Let's see the menu!

Amuse bouches imagined by the Geranium, which are more or less the permanent snacks of the restaurant. Very sophisticated, interesting and perfectly balanced dishes:

Lobster, milk, fermented carrot juice, sea buckthorn

Sunchoke leaf, peanut/hazelnut oil, rye vinegar

"Razor clam" with minerals, sour cream

Tomato water, ham fat, aromatic leaves

"Dill pebbles" filled with mackerel, horseradish, pickled dill granita

Together with the garnish:

Nettle, smoked cheese, dried oyster

The main dishes started only after this point. Both of the guest chefs contributed with 3 dishes each.

Cucumber, melon, crème fraiche (Crenn)

Grilled cauliflower, dried trout, oysterleaf (Kofoed)

Crunchy grains, bread from ancient grains, gluten free bread with seeds (Kofoed)

These are the gluten free breads:

Tomatoes, Murcott tangerine, Chiloé-berry, sage, aged olive (ice cream) (Pic)

Caviar, koji, shiso, preserved lemon (Crenn)

Nasturtium-langoustine, sheep's cream, aromatic seeds (Kofoed)

Lobster, berry-dashi, raspberry-barberry chutney, lovage, lavender (Pic)

King crab, razor clam, trotter-dashi (Crenn)

Oyster, rhubarb, Irish coffee, Bourbon coffee (Pic)

Surprisingly, there was no meat as main dish. Instead, the chefs orchestrated a fantastic parade of the best crab varieties. Based on my previous very positive experiences, I was rather surprised to feel some disturbances in the dishes of Pic. She brought over-complicated and not really harmonious dishes which didn't really come together at the end. [I spoke with a friend in the meantime, who recently visited her restaurant, and he reassured me that her long tasting menu is still amazing and these are the dishes, that don't fit in there. Maybe she wants to show off a bit more than it would be necessary, although she can best impress with her noble simplicity.]

And the desserts:

Umeboshi and white sesame (Crenn)

A small mouthful of beetroot, blackcurrant, yoghurt and marigold (Kofoed)

Bitter honey, chocolate (Pic)

Finally, everything was back on track. The waves, made of chocolate with very high cocoa content specifically produced for Anne-Sophie Pic by Valrhona and the fillings were all outstanding - both the flavours and the textures. The others performed throughout very confidently, and here as well: e.g. Crenn's savoury Japanese plum was extraordinarily delicious as a dessert.

Snapshots from the dinner: