A continuous feast of common sense and an aesthetic explosion. It is said of the Scandinavian countries that if Stockholm fully meets high expectations, then Copenhagen surpasses them.

There is something very Danish in the center of Copenhagen. Inderhavnsbron Bridge. Inner Harbour Bridge or “kiss bridge”, which got its name because of its two span sections. The bridge was supposed to be finished in 2013, but “design problems arose” and then the contractor filed for bankruptcy.

Among the Danes, he received the nickname “missing bridge” for his very public refusal to improve the city. The revised opening date of summer 2015 was also missed. The bridge was opened in the summer of 2016. Now it combines Nihavn and Christianshavn: a picturesque, incredible city center and a more unusual (can you say so?) the area in which the Christian hippie commune lives. And if you came to Copenhagen for the emotion of food, and according to statistics it is very possible, it is this bridge that will connect the Standard of Klaus Meyer and Noma René Redzepi.

Meyer and Redzepi are two of the most influential figures in the Scandinavian food revolution. Although if you are only familiar with the last name, this can be forgiven. Meyer's idea was that restaurants could be inspired by local, northern foods. Work with this approach, rather than perceiving locavor as a menu restriction. With this idea of collaboration, he approached Paul Cunningham, an English chef who lives in Copenhagen, but rejected the idea and instead offered a short list of chefs to collaborate with, including Redzepi. Noma opened in 2003, as partners Meyer and Redzepi. For two years, Redzepi took the Michelin star, and hasn't stopped since.

Noma(date. Noma) is a famous Scandinavian restaurant in Copenhagen (Denmark). In the Michelin Red Guide, it is rated at two stars out of three possible. On April 26, 2010, it was recognized as “the best restaurant in the world” by the prestigious British magazine Restaurant, in 2011 it topped a list of 50 restaurants worldwide compiled by more than 800 experts, restaurant critics and chefs. A year earlier, it was ranked third in the rating of this magazine. The name of the restaurant is an abbreviation of the words “nordisk” (northern) and “mad” (food).

Wiki Help. Noma Restaurant is located in an old warehouse on the banks of the canal in the Kristianshavn district in central Copenhagen. The warehouse building is located on the Greenland Trade Square (Grønlandet Handelsplats), which for 200 years served as the center of trade with the Faroe Islands, Finnmark, Iceland and Greenland. Fish, whale oil, leather and other goods were stored here before being sold to European markets. In 2004, the warehouse was transformed into the North Atlantic House (Nordatlantens Brygge), the center of art and culture of the countries of the North Atlantic region. At the same time, the Noma restaurant was opened. The Noma restaurant serves Scandinavian cuisine. Its founders, René Redzepi and Klaus Meyer, tried to reimagine the Scandinavian art of cooking. Noma's cuisine can be considered more a modern interpretation of Nordic cuisine than classic cuisine, which also serves moss, lichen and bone marrow.

In Denmark, Meyer needs no introduction: he led a popular cooking TV show, the 54-year-old entrepreneur here has an empire consisting of books, gastronomes, bakeries (the best in the world!), a country hotel and high-end restaurants. The latter is the entire “enterprise” the Standart, located in an Art Deco building that was once the Copenhagen Customs House. Inside there is a cafe, a pan-Indian restaurant, a jazz club and a Michelin-starred New Scandinavian restaurant called Studio. And in New York, Meyer has a Great Northern Food Hall and a restaurant called Agern. You can talk about this Copenhagen man for a long time. Today we are preparing two of his recipes.

Rye bread

On 2 loaves:

• 600 ml of cold water
• 200 ml of buttermilk (you can replace buttermilk with “sour” milk: pour 1 tbsp. spoon of lemon juice or vinegar into a glass measuring cup, and then add milk to get 225 ml. liquid. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes, until thickened)
• 150 ml of beer
• 10 g yeast
• sea salt 25 g
• 250 g of chopped rye grain
• 200 g flaxseed
• 200 g sunflower seeds
• 550 g (large grinding or milled) whole wheat rye flour

Day 1. Pour cold water, buttermilk and beer into a bowl and dissolve the yeast in it. Add salt, rye grain, all seeds and rye flour. Knead the dough for 10 minutes — you can use a dough mixer. Divide the dough into two greased baking molds, cover them with a film or a damp towel and leave in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. The longer the aging, the more flavor the bread will achieve. But do not leave the dough for more than 6 days - it will be very sour.

Day 2. Bake bread at 180C for 90 minutes, remove from molds. Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack.

Copenhagen coffee. Copenhagen is gastronomic. With street food and waterfront venues, with restaurants and old-new hipster neighborhoods. But my advice is to get out of town.

Now cook the salmon. It is simpler than the more famous version of Gravlax (Swedish). No need to mess with the coloring beets, put the fish under the press. All you need is an impressive arsenal of spices and fresh dill. And when it is all at home, you can cope with this recipe in 5 minutes.

Gravlax

• bunch of dill
• 1 tbsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp allspice
• 2 tbsp coriander seeds (I put half, I don't really like it, but according to Meyer's classic recipe — 2 tbsp.)
• 2 tbsp juniper berries
• 3/4 cup sugar (I take 1/2)
• 1/2 cup large salt
• salmon fillet — 2-2.5 kg

Dry spices grind in a mortar. In a bowl, lay the salmon with the skin down. Cover with spices, sugar, salt. Top - chopped dill. Cover with cling film. Leave in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours. You can turn 1-2 times.

I still freeze our salmon after salting just in case. Then I defrost, wash off the spices. Gravlax is a classic of cold snacks and breakfasts. To eggs or with rye bread.