Kul

Høkerboderne 16B-20
1712 København V
Telephone: +45 3321 0033
www.restaurantkul.dk
kontakt@restaurantkul.dk

Overall rating: 7/10

Date of visit: June 2014

Jump to Danish review – Gå til dansk anmeldelse

Kul is a new restaurant that opened in November 2013 and has garnered good reviews. Unlike many other restaurants in Copenhagen, the style is not particular Nordic, although it has elements from it. It’s quite a big mix of everything, actually. The one thing that characterises most of the dishes, though, is that most are grilled, hence the name (which means coal).

The decor is not exactly “posh”. The restaurant is situated in the meat packing district, which you can clearly see – whether you like this style or not.

The menu offers dishes to share for two and regular a la carte dishes of which they recommend two to three + a dessert if you’re hungry enough. These dishes range from 75 (€10) to 175 kroner (€23) with almost all of them priced around 90-110 kroner (€12-€15). The two shared dishes are 500 (€67) and 520 kroner (€69). Desserts and cheese are 85 kroner (€11) each.

Wine per glasses were individually priced. The one we choose was 85 kroner (€11). We just had tap water on the side, which was free.

We went for the regular a la carte dishes, and was first served some lovely bread with lemon thyme served with a nice onion purée.

My first dish was grilled prawns with avocado cream, avocado pieces with chilli and a bit of cress. The prawns were well cooked and had a nice taste of charcoal. My only real criticism here is that I would have liked one more element in this dish, so it wasn’t practically just prawns and avocado.

My then-wife’s dish might not look as pretty but actually tasted better: Grilled white asparagus with crab meat, vadouvan, vinaigrette, toasted almonds and a bit of cress. The asparagus were lovely and the combinations worked wonder and made this a very smooth dish (meant purely as a compliment).

My next dish was pork ribs smothered in barbecue sauce, served with cabbage and fat boy mayonnaise. This was very nice as well, but parts of the pork sauce was a bit burnt, and despite the cabbage I lacked something refreshing or acidic in this dish.

My wife at the time had veal sweetbreads with a ramson purée, green asparagus, green (unripe) strawberries and the spice mix ras el hanout. While this dish was also okay, and the most Nordic of our dishes, it simply wasn’t as much to our liking as we both of us had expected (it was one of the most appealing on the menu). It was well cooked but there was a somewhat unpleasant flavour somewhere in this mix.

My third course was quail with lardo, onion, raspberry vinegar, fresh oregano, a braising sauce and something crispy that I couldn’t identify. This dish was also well-cooked but not something out of the extraordinary taste wise. The onion was not exactly pungent, but I would still have preferred it cooked a bit more.

Then came the desserts. In Spain and Italy I often found desserts to be the weakest part of the meal. Here it was one of the strongest. My dessert was banana soft ice with fudge, pecan nuts with honey and dark chocolate, and slices of banana. Along with the asparagus dish, this was the highlight of the evening. My only complaint was that the soft ice was simply a bit too cold to eat.

The ice cream in my then-wife’s dessert had the same problem. It was a milk ice cream served with strawberries, two types of meringue and a strawberry consommé. This dish could have had an extra dimension if the ice cream had simply a flavour added – for instance lemon or liquorice. Nevertheless, it was a nice dish as well with nice strawberries.

Service was very relaxed and down to earth throughout the night, and the waitress was very knowledgeable about the wine they served. The pace of the meal felt very appropriate as well.

The price came to 725 kroner (€97) for a total of 7 dishes and one glass of red wine, meaning 362,50 (€48.50) per person. Although this might not seem cheap as such, I would say this is great value for money when you consider what else you can have for this price in Copenhagen. Depending on what you choose, this is around 0-50 Kroner more than the dreadful Jensens Bøfhus.

So, although there were slight ups and downs in this meal, it was nice consistent cooking that was fairly creative while at the same time not overly complicated. Although I enjoyed a restaurant like Cofoco more, Kul is still a restaurant I could see myself go back to.

Dansk anmeldelse

Kul åbnede i november 2013 og har siden starten fået gode anmeldelser. I modsætning til mange andre smarte restauranter i København er stilen ikke speciel nordisk, selvom der dog er visse elementer at finde fra den stilretning. Det er faktisk en god blanding af alt muligt. Det, der dog kendetegner de fleste af retterne, er, at det meste er grillet – deraf navnet.

Indretningen kan ikke kaldes “fin” – tværtimod. Beliggenheden er i kødbyen, og det kan også ses, uanset om man er til den stil eller ej.

Menuen byder på deleretter og almindelige a la carte. Hvis man vælger a la carte, anbefaler de to til tre retter + en dessert, hvis man er sulten nok. Retter svingerne fra 75 til 175 kroner, hvoraf langt de fleste ligger på 90-110 kroner. De to deleretter koster 500 og 520 kroner, hvor de så anbefaler, at man kun vælger den ene ret + evt. en dessert. Dessert og ost koster 85 kroner per ret.

Vin per glas var prissat individuelt. Vores valg af rødvin kostede 85 kroner. Vi fik bare postevand ved siden af, hvilket var gratis.

Vi valgte a la carte og fik først noget udsøgt brød med citrontimian serveret med en dejlig løgpuré.

Min første ret var grillede rejer med avocadocreme, avocadostykker med chili og en smule karse. Rejerne var veltilberedte med en behagelig smag af trækul, og chilien var heldigvis ikke for stærk. Min eneste rigtige kritik er, at jeg godt kunne have tænkt mig et element mere i retten, så det ikke i realiteten bare havde været rejer og avocado.

Min hustrus ret var visuelt ikke lige så flot, men smagte faktisk bedre end mind: Grillede hvide asparges med krabbekød, vadouvan, vinaigrette, ristede mandler og en smule karse. Aspargesene var udsøgte, og kombinationen var en fuldtræffer, hvilket gjorde det her til en ret, der var meget glat og rund (hvilket kun er ment som en kompliment).

Min næste ret var spareribs tværet ind i barbecuesauce, serveret med kål og fat boy-mayonnaise. Det var også en god ret, men dele af saucen var lidt brændt, og på trods af kålen savnede jeg noget friskt eller syrligt som modspil til det opulente kød.

Min hustru fik kalvebrisler med ramsløgspuré, grønne asparges, grønne (umodne) jordbær og krydderiblandingen ras el hanout. Det var også en okay ret og klart den mest nordiske, men vi var ikke så vilde med den, som vi havde forventet (det var ellers en af dem, der så bedst ud på menuen). Brislerne var møre, og retten var vellavet, men et eller andet på tallerken smagte ubehageligt.

Min tredje ret var vagtel med lardo, sommerløg, hvidvinseddike, frisk oregano, en braiseringssauce og noget knas, jeg ikke kunne placere. Igen var maden vellavet, men smagsmæssigt var det ikke noget ud over det sædvanlige. Jeg vil ikke kalde løget krads, men jeg ville have foretrukket, at det havde været tilberedt mere.

Så gik vi over til desserterne. I Spanien og Italien var desserterne oftest den svageste del af måltidet, mens det her var en af de stærkeste. Min dessert var banansoftice med karamel, pekannødder med honning og mørk chokolade samt bananskiver. Sammen med aspargesretten var det her aftenens højdepunkt. Min eneste lille kritik var, at isen ganske enkelt var for kold til at spise.

Isen i min hustrus dessert havde samme problem. Det var en mælkeis serveret med jordbær, to slags marengs og en jordbærconsommé. Det ville have tilføjet en ekstra dimension til isen, hvis isen havde haft fået tilsat en smag – f.eks. citron eller lakrids. Ikke desto mindre var det også en dejlig dessert med rigtig gode jordbær.

Betjeningen var meget afslappet og nede på jorden hele aftenen, og tjeneren var meget inde i vinen, de serverede. Tempoet i måltidet var også helt tilpas.

Prisen blev 725 kroner for i alt syv retter og et glas rødvin, hvilket vil sige 326,50 kroner per person. Selvom det måske ikke virker udpræget billigt, synes jeg absolut man får noget for pengene, når man sammenligner med, hvad man ellers kan få for samme beløb rundt omkring i København. Alt afhængig af hvad man vælger, er det 0-50 kroner mere per person end på det rædsomme Jensens Bøfhus – og der er virkelig en verden til forskel.

Så selvom der var nogle mindre op- og nedture i måltidet, var det god og stabil madlavning, der var rimelig kreativt uden at blive for indviklet. Selvom jeg lidt bedre kan lide f.eks. Cofoco, kunne jeg sagtens forestille mig at tage på Kul igen.