Höst is part of the Cofoco (COpenhagen FOod COnsulting) restaurant group, an initiative that aims to deliver an affordable fine dining experience in Copenhagen using local danish ingredients.
This restaurant offers either a 3-course set menu for 350 dkk (+ 245 dkk wine pairing) or 5-course for 450 dkk (+ 345 dkk wine paining).
The concept is: elegant nordic food in a rustic casual setting. And, review spoiler, they deliver.
Let's start with the restaurant itself. It's everything you can hope for from a typical modernistic design with nordic influences. Plants everywhere, warm lighting, exposed concrete walls, reclaimed wood, real candlesticks lit on each table, neutral tones, basically hygge heaven. It did not come as a surprise to me to learn they'd won two Restaurant & Bar Design Awards in London.
Now for the food, we went for the 5 course menu without wine pairing (mostly, if I'm being honest, because we'd been travelling all day and hadn't eaten much, therefore we were hungry and the Aperol Spritz we SHARED before dinner was enough to put us in a, shall we say, guiddy mood...).
This might sound silly, but as a tipsy french girl, the sight of homemade bread and butter made me overjoyed, and to top it all off it was excellent whipped butter and delicious sourdough and rye breads, so we were already onto a winner there. My final note on the bread&butter subject... wooden butter serving paddles are a new necessity in my life.
The amuse bouche were nice, but not mind blowing (nothing to write home about, as we like to say). They consisted of a cucumber oyster I can't really remember and a very nice crab cromesqui.
The first dish was a flounder topped with crispy chicken skin and a fermented asparagus sauce, all flavours and textures complemented each other beautifully.
Then came a scallop served with heirloom tomatoes and a smoked danish cheese. I was slightly retissant at first due to the impregnated Italian idea that cheese and seafood must not mix, but Italian Food Masters, I'm sorry, you were wrong. Smoked cheese is the long lost lover of scallops and I insist they must always be reunited!
We were also served a very nice sorrel and blue mussel soup before the mains.
The first main was a Norwegian lobster tail and cabbage served in a juniper pancake, again this was a great flavour combination which, upon reflexion, seems very natural.
Second main, was a beef tenderloin with mushroom, corn and a smoked sauce. This was probably the most disappointing dish although still an excellent one. If we're nitpicking, the smokiness from the sauce didn't really deliver and the beef, although extremely tender, lacked in flavour.
And finally, pudding.
Pre-desert was, if I remember correctly, a lager and raspberry concoction which was pleasantly bitter and refreshing.
Dessert, was amazing. Norwegian cheese with crispy fennel seed caramel and raspberry sorbet. There seems to be a new trend for cheese and berry in the form of a dessert, I'd mostly seen the use of goat's cheese with a frozen berry of some type and usually the addition of olive oil so this was quite a delightful variation and it was the perfect way to end the meal.
And that was our meal at #Höst, I would recommend it to all if ever in Copenhagen #delicious.
Verdict: 9.5/10
P.S.: Small pre-warning, if you're like me and would like to know this type of information, unless you order a hot beverage after the meal, you don't get the petit fours.
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