Chapter 5 - Day 6 - Sunday Shopping/"New Nordic Food" Experience

June 14

We had set this day for "shop til you drop" given the great names in Danish design all together here: Illums Bolighus, Royal Copenhagen, Georg Jensen. We also wanted to check out clothes and design at the two big department stores: Illum and Magasin de Nord. 

For shopping, central Copenhagen is very compact and vehicle free. The main shopping area is called the Stroget and winds around and through a lovely square:

Check the Royal Copenhagen sign on the left edge and the big, colorful "sale" is at Illum.

Inside, the stores were pretty straightforward, with the exception of Royal Copenhagen whose store was striking.

We broke for lunch and walked over to an island that holds the Parliament building. We had a reservation at a unique restaurant inside the tower at Parliament.

We had to go through security before taking the elevator to the restaurant. The setting was stunning with old statues everywhere.

The food was quite good and we had more views through this window to the city.

After lunch it was back to stores. We really liked these lights, but they were a bit large to take back.

We headed out for dinner, but were a little early for our reservation. So we went and had a glass of wine at a nearby hotel. The lobby had a interesting art exhibit.

This dinner was warm, friendly and very interesting, although I am not sure I can describe exactly what we ate.  We went to " Bror" (Bro in English).  It is a spin off from some of the staff of Noma (also in Copenhagen and often cited as "The World's Best Restaurant") including a very friendly Englishman.  The restaurant is in a funky neighborhood near the the university, rather spartan--certainly not fancy, paper napkins and wooden tables.

It is a set, four-course meal that had a few extras thrown in.  It fulfilled the image of "New Nordic" food with unusual ingredients and preparations.We started with bulls testicles fried with tartar sauce. They were actually quite tasty. The "official" starter was a smoked mackerel with pickled fennel.  This was followed by ox heart roasted and sliced very thin. Unusual, but tender and very tasty. The main course was hake sauteed with shaved white asparagus--definitely in season. This was served with the most wonderful new potatoes with dill - yummy.  Dessert was rhubarb with tarragon  ice cream--an amazing combination.  The head waiter was also the sommelier who certainly loved his wines.  He could describe water and you would think you are drinking liquid gold. We had a wonderful white wine--a Sancerre.

The restaurant also had an antique wooden robot.  

The story is that the owner found it as he was building the restaurant.  He liked it so much he had a picture of it tattooed on his arm - VERY New Nordic!

The walk home from the train was windy and cold, yet at 10:30 pm the sun was just setting. We were marching toward midsomer.