Pondus
Åboulevarden 51
DK-8000 Aarhus
+45 2877 1850
info@restaurantpondus.dk
Overall rating: 5/10
Date of visit: June 2016
Jump to Danish review – Gå til dansk anmeldelse
Pondus has received a bib-gourmand in the Michelin Guide, so obviously our expectations were not exactly small, but three out of four people, including myself, were disappointed.
The restaurant offered both a la carte and a set three-course menu priced at 275 kroner (€37), which consisted of some of the same dishes. They also offer a wine pairing. Two of us chose the set menu, while the others went a la carte.
We were offered to try out a couple of wines per glass before deciding, which was great service, and unfortunately something you see too rarely in Denmark, but to be honest we actually didn’t find any wine we truly enjoyed. It seemed more important that the wine was organic and/or bio-dynamic than having good flavour, but that’s of course our personal opinion on the matter. One of the wines we tried was honestly a bottle of plonk!
But enough about that. The first dish was chicken with watercress, radishes and walnuts. As such not a bad dish, but just a completely ordinary plate of food that you ate and forgot.
The next dish for two of my companions was pork, which turned out to be half a pork chop and not the slowly braised pork that has become a stable in the gourmet restaurants whenever pork is on the menu. This was accompanied by grilled pointed cabbage, apples, flat-leaf parsley and a cold sauce with yoghurt. My two companions thought the cold sauce was a mistake, but it wasn’t. One of my companions didn’t like cabbage and was given endive instead.
I only had a small taste of this dish, but we all agreed that this dish wasn’t anything special either.
I and my other co-eater had cod with grilled endive, almonds, watercress and a green sauce that I have unfortunately forgotten what was. This dish was better, but still was just only “okay”. A part of my slice of fish tasted a bit “old”. I did, however, try my companions slice and there was no problem with that, so maybe I had been given a slice that had been lying around for too long.
One of my co-eaters’ dessert was beetroot ice cream with striped beets, walnuts and I believe yoghurt. She had said that she had hoped this dish would be better than the two previous ones, but she had a very strange look on her face when she tasted the ice cream. It should be said, however, that she is Japanese, and some of the new Nordic cuisine she doesn’t like very much (such as liquorice). However, I do understand her. I’ve had beetroot ice cream before (at Grønbech & Churchill), and I’m not a fan of those types of desserts either.
Our dessert was better. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what the ice cream was made of, but I believe it might have been buttermilk. It came with strawberries, mint and shortcrust pastry. This was easily the best dish of the meal, although it didn’t reach the sky.
All in all this was an average meal that wasn’t exactly expensive but still felt a bit overpriced. One of us was quite content, while the three others were saying “meh”.
The new Nordic cuisine is not my favourite type of food. I have definitely had many good meals in this style, but at some point it gets tedious eating trying to praise radishes, cabbage and celeriac – especially when it has to be used in every dish, even desserts. Granted, those ingredients can be put to use in a lovely meal, but this wasn’t the case at Pondus. Although the dessert were a bit creative, the other dishes were plain, and I wouldn’t choose a single one of these dishes again if I went to another gourmet restaurant and was presented a menu that contained these dishes. Pondus struck me as the Copenhagen’s Manfreds of Århus: A cool, young new Nordic hipster kitchen, where they serve politically correct wine and all the ingredients everybody hated 20 years ago, but that all the food critics and everybody else who’s anything in Scandinavia now see as the biggest thing since sliced bread. Höst did the same thing, but at least contained a couple of highlights. Even though the dessert was the highlight at Pondus it was nowhere near the lobster at Höst.
So, all things considered not a bad meal at Pondus, but I dare say that I could have cooked us three dishes that tasted better and were cheaper.
Dansk anmeldelse
Pondus har fået en Bib-gourmand i Michelin-guiden, så vores forventninger var ikke helt små, men tre ud af fire personer, inkl. mig selv, blev lidt skuffet.
Restauranten tilbød både a la carte og en fast trerettersmenu, som bestod af nogle af de samme retter. To af os valgte en menu, mens de andre gik a la carte.
Vi fik lov at smage lidt på et par vine på glas, før vi bestemte os, hvilket jo var god service, og desværre noget, man ser alt for sjældent i Danmark, men for at være ærlig fandt vi faktisk ingen vine, vi rigtig var vilde med. Det lod til, at det var vigtigere, at vinen var økologisk og/eller biodynamisk, end at den smagte godt, men det er selvfølgelig vores personlige holdning. En af de vine, vi smagte på, var dog virkelig noget sprøjt, rent ud sagt!
Nok om det. Første ret var kylling med brøndkarse, radiser og valnødder. Som sådan ikke en dårlig ret, men bare et ordinært måltid mad, som man spiste og glemte igen.
Næste ret var for to af mine medspisere svinekød, hvilket viste sig at være en halv svinekotelet, frem for det langtidsbraiserede svinekød, som ellers er blevet fast inventar, når der står svinekød på menuen på gourmetrestauranterne. Tilbehøret var grillet spidskål, æbler, bredbladet persille og en kold sovs med yoghurt. Mine to medspisere troede, at den kolde sovs var en fejl, men det var det ikke. Den ene af mine medspisere brød sig ikke om kål og fik julesalat i stedet for.
Jeg fik kun en lille smagsprøve på retten, men vi var alle enige om, at den her ret heller ikke var noget specielt.
Vi to andre fik torsk med grillet julesalat, mandler, brøndkarse og en grøn sauce, som jeg desværre har glemt, hvad var. Den her ret var bedre, omend den stadig blot lå i et “okay” leje. En del af mit stykke fisk smagte dog “gammelt”. Jeg smagte min medspisers stykke, og det var der intet i vejen med, så jeg havde måske fået et stykke, som havde fået lov at ligge for længe.
En af mine medspisere fik som dessert rødbede-is med bolsjebeder, valnødder og yoghurt var det vist. Hun havde sagt til os, at hun håbede, at desserten var bedre end de andre retter, men hun fik et meget underligt ansigtsudtryk, da hun smagte på isen. Det skal dog siges, at hun er japaner, og visse af de nordiske ting behager hende ikke (f.eks. lakrids). Alligevel forstår jeg hende godt. Jeg har fået rødbede-is før (på Grønbech & Churchill), og jeg er heller ikke fan af den slags desserter.
Vores dessert var bedre. Jeg kan desværre ikke huske, hvad isen var lavet af, men jeg tror kærnemælk. Tilbehøret var jordbær, mynte og mørdej. Det var klart måltidets bedste ret, selvom den dog ikke helt nåede op i de højere skylag.
Alt i alt var det et gennemsnitligt måltid, der ganske vist ikke kostede mange penge, men som alligevel virkede til lidt for dyrt. En af os var ganske godt tilfreds, mens de tre andre var mellemfornøjede.
Det nynordiske køkken er ikke min yndlingsmad. Jeg har absolut fået masser af gode måltider i den retning, men på et tidspunkt bliver det trættende at prøve at klappe i hænderne af radiser, kål og knoldselleri – især hvis det absolut skal indgå i alle retter, selv desserter. Bevares, de ingredienser burde også kunne indgå i et lækkert måltid, men det var ikke tilfældet på Pondus. Selvom der var lidt kreativitet i desserterne, var de andre retter ordinære, og der var ikke en af retterne, jeg ville vælge igen, hvis jeg på en gourmetrestaurant blev præsenteret et menukort med dem på. Pondus slog mig lidt som at være Århus’ svar på Københavns Manfreds: Et smart, ungt nynordisk hipsterkøkken, hvor man serverer politisk korrekt vin og alle de ingredienser, ingen kunne fordrage for 20 år siden, men som alle madanmeldere og de folk, der ellers er noget ved musikken i Skandinavien, nu synes er Jesu genkomst. Höst lavede samme nummer, men der var i det mindste et par højdepunkter. Selvom desserten var højdepunktet på Pondus, var den slet ikke på niveau med hummeren på Höst.
Så ikke et dårligt måltid hos Pondus, men jeg vil vove den påstand, at jeg selv kunne have lavet tre retter, der smagte bedre, til færre penge. Hvis man er villig til at smide lidt flere penge på bordet, vil jeg hellere anbefale Restaurant Ferdinand.
