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The Michelin Guide announced its edition for the Nordic countries 2020 with a stunning two-star entry for Rasmus Munk’s Alchemist.
Alchemist, the Copenhagen restaurant opened just seven months ago to rave reviews and some confusion. Munk is doing something there that many chefs aim to do, yet so few actually achieve and that’s create something truly unique.
On receiving the news of Alchemist’s two Michelin stars, Munk said: “Considering that we are a new restaurant with no previous record of stars in the guide I hardly dared to hope for even one, so two is truly mind-blowing”.
Munk labels his style of cooking “Holistic Cuisine”, where gastronomy plays the central part but is enhanced by art, drama, music, sensory stimulation and visual technology.
“An evening at Alchemist is something completely different from dining at a traditional restaurant. I knew very well when we opened that we risked being excluded from guides such as Michelin since the experience is so different. I am very grateful that the guide has recognized that a fine dining experience can be approached in new and less traditional ways.”
Alchemist has been widely recognised as being at the vanguard of gastronomy and it is one of the hardest reservations around, with over 10,000 people on the waiting list.
“I am very proud and humbled by all the recognition and attention we have received, most of all because it helps me access a greater audience. What keeps me going as a chef is the possibility to influence people – my ultimate goal is to change the world through gastronomy. At Alchemist we have the opportunity to transport our guests out of their ordinary world and into a dimension outside time and space. That’s a really good place to start a conversation”, said Munk.
Here’s a look at some of the dishes that shook the world of gastronomy and garnered Alchemist two Michelin stars after just seven months.
Think Outside the Box photo by Soren Gammelmark
Lamb’s brain is not normally eaten in Denmark and is otherwise discarded as waste. It was therefore quite challenging to work out the logistics of having it on the menu. The lamb’s brain is coated in a cherry sauce made from cherries from Frederiksdal cherry orchard. The brain is presented floating in walnut oil in a transparent box and is lifted up and sliced tableside and then served atop an onion marmalade on a cherry meringue. The brain is salted and steamed for 7 minutes at 52 degrees to preserve the texture.
Amber photo by Soren Gammelmark
Amber photo by Soren Gammelmark
Red wood ants are trapped in a honey and ginger candy (pate de fruit with a beeswax and sugar shell). On the coast of Jutland, it is common to hunt for amber on the beaches. You often need to bite it, to test if it’s the real thing and not glass.
Andy Warhol photo by Soren Gammelmark
Under a crispy casing made from banana juice lies a sorbet made from Manzano bananas, paired with South American flavours like cachaça, tonka beans and caramelized egg yolk.
Andy Warhol photo by Soren Gammelmark
Andy Warhol photo by Soren Gammelmark
Autumn kiss by Soren Gammelmark
The dish is served on a silicone tongue, cast from a real, human tongue. It is a seasonal dish so the toppings change over time. These are the toppings so far: Summer season: Rhubarb gazpacho, Lacto-fermented strawberries, green tomatoes and elderflowers. Autumn season: Beetroot puré, pickled and fresh blackberries and blueberries from Sweden, pine and rosehip aroma with fermented plums from last year.
Sunburned Bikini photo by Soren Gammelmark
The ham and cheese “Bikini toast” is a Barcelona classic, named after the Bikini Concert hall where it was first served. The Alchemist version is made with sweet and chewy mochi dough, filled with Gruyére cheese and Joselito ham.
Food for Thought photo by Claes Bech Poulsen
A tribute to foie gras producer Eduardo Sousa who figured out a way to produce natural foie gras from wild geese that land in Spain once a year to feast on acorns and olives before migrating further south. Sautéed foie gras in a Madeira casing topped with yuzu gel and aerated foie gras.
Læsø Chocolate photo by Claes Bech Poulsen
A “chocolate” shell is made by conching langoustine shells together with langoustine fat from the stock. Inside the shell is a tartare made from the damaged langoustines tails, yuzu and ginger and topped with a drop of distilled langoustine bisque. It is topped with a flake of Læsø sea salt. Læsø is the island off the coast of Denmark where the langoustines are caught.
Plastic Fantastic photo by Claes Bech Poulsen
Grilled cod jaw brushed with smoked bone marrow and grilled. It is topped with a cream of Comté cheese. The “fantastic plastic” that tops the dish is made from a dehydrated cod skin bouillon.
Raw Scallop photo by Claes Bech Poulsen
The hand-dived Norwegian scallop from Hitra is actually gently sautéed on one side and placed upside down in the shell on top of the cream of fermented lemon. The roe sack is created from a membrane encasing two blanquette sauces with different viscosity, one is flavoured with yuzu, elderflower and the other with a mussel bouillon and scallop roe.
Snowball photo by Claes Bech Poulsen
The snowball is made from a tomato water made of fermented tomatoes that are juiced, cold distilled and frozen. The snowball is dipped in olive oil from Azienda Agricola Terraliva in Sicily.
The Omelet photo by Claes Bech Poulsen
A membrane made from egg yolk is filled with an egg yolk and Comté cheese filling that has been carefully heated to 52 degrees to retain the flavour of raw egg yolk. The Omelet is topped with paper-thin lardo and black truffles.
The Toast by Claes Bech Poulsen
A toast where the element of surprise lies in realizing that it is feather-light and actually not a toast at all when lifting it up. The flavour reminds Rasmus of ‘kryddere’, the crisp brioche toasts he used to eat as a child. The toast is made of aerated vegetable cellulose and then sautéed in brown butter (no flour is used). It is topped with fermented almond cream and oscietra caviar.
The Pigeon photo by Soren Gammelmark
The pigeon from France is dry-aged through 14 days in a casing of beeswax. The melting point for beeswax is at 55 degrees, so we cook it just below, at 52 degrees, so the wax stays intact while still imparting its flavour to the meat. The pigeon breast is then grilled on the Josper grill and served with a sauce of Tasmanian honey, pigeon stock and fermented red currants.
