u/robarpoch

I was looking into them just a month or so ago & it looked like they were going for $650K (USD) or so. Just looked again yesterday and they're $800K-1mn.

WTF? Realistically I wasn't likely to get one just given how impractical they seem to be, but it's so scorchingly good looking it was a real temptation, but at a million? What the hell is going on?

Aure was our 4th and final fine dining experience of the trip. It may have been about the best.

Old gunpowder shop.

Aure is in a very unassuming building, a renovated old gunpowder shop. It's in an unassuming area maybe 100 yards from Noma and just a ways down the street from Alchemist.

Recently renovated

Aure has been through a recent renovation and I'll say it, it's very nice in there. Notice those low support beams? Notice how tall Danes are? Yea, it makes for an entertaining evening watching them dodge around them.

As seems to be the pattern here, we were offered champagne to go with the snacks (which we opted for, and it was a very good pair), and then a wine pairing, which we also opted for (the cheaper one), which ended up being brilliant. Their somm is outstanding.

Fjord shrimps, horseradish, garden sorrel

Fjord shrimps, horseradish, garden sorrel: This is the third time we've been served these small shrimps. Each time completely different from the others. At Alchemist it was rich and luxurious. At Koan it tasted like nothing. Here it's a bright opening dish to awaken the palate, and as such completely winning. Horseradish and sorrel make a nice bit of heat with the cold, herbaceous broth. Horseradish is particularly nice with these shrimps.

King crab, yoghurt, kumquat

King crab, yoghurt, kumquat : I loved kumquat with scallop, and I love it just as much with crab. Very strong crab flavor here with citrus and creamy yogurt. Another fabulous bite.

Hamachi, smoked soy, platinum caviar

Hamachi, smoked soy, platinum caviar: rich, saline, smoky. This bite is pure luxury in a single bite. Also a beautifully crafted dish. By this point we knew this place was something special.

Norlin Wagyu, ramson capers, sansho pepper

Norlin Wagyu, ramson capers, sansho pepper: This is the only red meat we were served across all our FD experiences in Copenhagen. If you're only going to get one it's a great way to do it. Fatty, briny, smoky, crispy, a bit of heat. Another spectacular single bite.

All four of these opening snacks were beautiful both for the eyes and palate. I don't know if they're quite as good as those 4 openers at Jordnær, but if there's a gap between them you can barely fit a sheet of paper through it.

Norwegian shrimp, vanilla, sudachi

Norwegian shrimp, vanilla, sudachi: More shrimp, more citrusy, hints of vanilla. Very subtle and refined. Very fresh.

Japanese milk bread, butter from Aabybro

Japanese milk bread, butter from Aabybro: If I hadn't just had a slightly better one of these at Jordnær (which was a little less dense) I'd say it was the best milk bread of my life. This butter was better though, just incredibly rich and creamy. These Danes know their butter.

Mackerel, blue mussel, pickled coriander seeds

Mackerel, blue mussel, pickled coriander seeds: I'll be candid, when I saw this, I didn't think I was going to love it as I'm not a huge mackerel fan. I was wrong. The coriander really brightens up this oily fish. This was a surprisingly delicious 3 bites and I drank the broth up after. Just absurdly good.

Oysters, horseradish, quince

Oysters, horseradish, quince: a subtle horseradish granita over oysters with a bit of tart quince and herbaceous oil/broth. More deliciousness. Every bit of everything at this place is just packed with strong and subtle flavors.

Squid, crown dill, baerii caviar

Squid, crown dill, baerii caviar: very fresh and tender squid and caviar in a rich butter sauce. A nice pivot from the sharpness of the horseradish granita, this was savory, briny, and rich.

Chawanmushi, kimichi sauce, leeks, langoustine claw

Edit: So I reached out to the restaurant and it is what I thought it might be - a second langoustine presentation. Chawanmushi with kimchi sauce, leeks, and langoustine claw. I remember thinking this was way more like the chawanmushi texture I'm familiar with than what we had earlier in the week.

Langoustine, ramson, tomato escabeche

Langoustine, ramson, tomato escabeche: Langoustine tail, brown butter foam, mushroom reduction, tempura shiso, marinated tomato. They encouraged us to try the tail with each of the components on the plate individually. They all worked. We also liked the cook on this grilled tail quite a bit. Of the three places that served us langoustine on this trip, this is the one we liked the most (though we enjoyed all 3). I've never been a big langoustine fan, but I guess the Danes just do it better.

Monkfish, ramson kosho, black truffle

Monkfish, ramson kosho, black truffle: Monkfish is another meaty fish my wife would generally not get down with. This, we loved. with truffle, that foam, and that deeply rich ramson kosho broth this was a huge hit. Perfectly cooked and that broth... swoon. The second bread service (below) was served with it and used to mop up every drop of that sauce.

Bread & butter #2

Went with the monkfish & was delicious.

Cantaloupe melon, oolong tea, lavender

Cantaloupe melon, oolong tea, lavender: melon granita over melon and cream with oolong cream in the cup. Thoroughly enjoyed. This granita was packed with flavor. Delightful and refreshing pivot into desserts.

Mandarin, honey, blackcurrant leaves

Mandarin, honey, blackcurrant leaves: Mandarin with a dollop of honey ice cream (I think). More lovely fresh fruit paired with creaminess.

Petit fours

Unlike so many other places, the petit fours were not an afterthought here.

Sticky toffee pudding: this is apparently the chef's favorite dessert and I can see why. It's pure decadence.

Homage to the gunpowder house: this is a bit of fun molecular gastronomy here. It looks like gunpowder in the bowl but converts to caramel in the mouth. Nothing super complex in flavor, but a fun surprise.

Custard tart, chestnut liqueur, truffle: More delicious decadence.

Valrhona 64%, hazelnut praliné: bittersweet chocolate over praline. Tasty, less impressive than the other three.

Overall we thought the food had exactly zero misses. Everything was perfectly prepared, beautiful, wonderfully balanced in flavor. The somm is kind of brilliant, serving wines which, to our palate really enhanced or complimented the food. This was our favorite drink pairing of the entire trip. Service was very nice, less formal than many, but very comfortable.

Nicky Arentsen was very present and served us several of the courses. Seems like a nice guy, but not super chatty.

If you dig on gender equity in the kitchen, there were 2 women chefs. Nice to see.

My wife liked this more than Jordnær. I thought it was, for food at least, certainly on par. It's as good as pretty near anything I've had anywhere, and much better than most of the 3* spots I've been. For Copenhagen, the price is a downright bargain.

We loved everything about this place. I hope it doesn't become impossible to book in the future.

3rd stop in Copenhagen - Koan.

Koan

Of all the places we dined, the setting is definitely the most beautiful and serene in appearance. I'm not really capturing it that well in this photo as the whole wall to my right is done in these back-lit wood slats. It really is a lovely setting.

We arrived a little early, but when they were ready to open they greeted us outside and led us in. Everyone very gracious as you might expect, including Kristian Baumann. Lots of smiles, quiet open kitchen. As service started, the atmosphere became noticeably tense. Will touch on service after the food.

We were offered a selection of Champagnes to choose from to go with the initial bites. It was clear they were optional. They explained the price of each. When we asked, the least expensive one (still expensive) was suggested and we ordered it. I'd recommend it as the champagne was a lovely pair for the first few bites. We also ordered the Sool Korean drink pairing. I'll touch on that at the end.

Shrimps

Shrimps: Tiny raw Norwegian shrimp, some umami binder, lavender flowers. They made a thing of their peeling these tiny little shrimp. I think they're the same ones featured in Alchemist's 1984 dish. This was fine. Not as much flavor as I hoped/expected, particularly given our experience with these shrimp 2 days before. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. Very very pretty, though.

Stewed Oyster

Stewed oyster: heart of stewed oyster, buttery Champagne sauce, Korean seaweed garnish. This looks nice and sounds like it should be so good, but again it was just fine. This is Korean food. I really expected my hair to be blown back by the flavors but this was just a little flat. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't much of anything.

Scallop

Scallop: raw scallop sitting on some kumquat and a little ponzu. OK, finally, this was just awesome. Ultra fresh, sweet scallop with that tart bit of kumquat turns out to be a magnificent combination. All three of us loved this dish, even my wife who can sometimes be a little +/- on raw scallop. This was a huge stand-out dish for the night.

Acorn

Acorn: acorn flour tart and jelly with green strawberry rosette with side car of mushroom consomme (?) and sorrel (?). Again, this is a really pretty dish with a ton of skill going into it's crafting that just didn't taste like much of anything. We had a few things with green strawberry before and this just didn't seem to bring much of any of that sweetness or tartness. Back to not bad, but not great either.

White kimchi

White kimchi: white kimchi with shaved kimchi brine granita. Sigh. OK, I appreciate a subtle dish, but in the mouth this was like a pile of plain shaved ice over barely sweet cabbage. I've gone through some mental gymnastics to justify some dishes I've had in the past, but I couldn't find anything to love in this. Again just bland.

Tofu & GastroUnika Platinum Selection

Tofu & GastroUnika Platinum Selection: pine-nut tofu, caviar, goju berry. I expected to LOVE this. I adore good caviar. I thought for sure it made everything better. It doesn't. Again, this tofu at the center was beautifully creamy but tasted like nothing. None of us could believe how disappointing this was. It looks amazing. Tastes like nothing.

Chilled lobster noodles

Chilled lobster noodles: lobster, crab, cold noodles, finger lime, fried leeks, shellfish broth. Hallelujah, back on track. This was cool, packed with shellfish flavor and lovely little citrusy pops and noodles with exceptionally nice flavor and texture. This wasn't as good as their few exceptional dishes, but it was really sincerely delicious, flavorful, and carried a strong sense of the essence of the components. Thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

Kkwabaegi

Kkwabaegi: this is a savory version of a fried bread that's usually sweet. This is so mother-fucking good I don't know how to fully describe it to you. It's so ethereally light you can't believe it doesn't float off the plate. It pulls apart perfectly with a touch. It came hot and stayed hot until the last bite. The butter if soft, flavorful and delicious. There's a light salt over the whole thing. It's easily the best bread of any kind I've ever had in my life and I know I'll miss it until the day I die. This is a towering triumph of bread-making. I will die on this hill.

Langoustine

Langoustine: langoustine, caramelized apple, sweet potato leaves, gochujang (I think) sauce. Three good dishes in a row. It's a whole new day. The savoriness of the langoustine, the sweetness of the leaves and apple, and the heat from the sauce all just dovetailed beautifully. Great balance of flavors to go with that rich shellfish. The langoustine was done a bit more than at Jordnær, which my wife very much appreciated as well. Great great dish.

Edit: OK, I've reread what I wrote here and I think I've underplayed this. Normally, I think langoustine is kind of boring. If not for the dish I had the very next night I'd be saying this is the best langoustine I've ever had. This is a sensationally good version of this protein and absolutely worthy of the Michelin recognition they've received.

The flavors of Sundae

The flavors of Sundae: crispy (outside) blood sausage with blackcurrant. I'll be candid with you, I don't typically love blood sausage but this was quite tasty. The blackcurrants added a bit of sweetness and stickiness that worked well with the sausage. A nice, savory dish.

Gamasot rice

Gamasot rice: This was the first of two rice dishes. The rice is prepared in a cast iron pot and the light rice on top went into this dish. The rice is topped with (I think) squid, shrimp, and a medley of vegetables. On the side a banchan. In run-of-the-mill Korean places I love this sort of stuff. They encouraged us to mix everything together in the rice and eat bites with the different banchan elements. I could not believe how utterly bland this was. Some of the banchan were OK, but the rice just was just vacant. How this and that magnificent and profoundly flavorful langoustine could come out of the same kitchen is a complete mystery to me.

Caramelized rice

Caramelized rice: this is alleged to be the sticky, scorched rice from the bottom of the pot with more seafood in it. What it tasted like was bland sticky rice with none of the crispiness or seafood savoriness I might have hoped for. Again, nothing actively bad, but just another bowl of disappointment.

Raspberries

Raspberries: raspberries, redcurrant and pomegranate (I think) in a fruit consommé. It tastes like what it says it is. Light, refreshing, a tasty pivot to dessert.

Oolong tea & Good memories

Oolong tea & Good memories: incredibly rich and light oolong soufflé, seaweed ice cream, hazelnut oil, and caviar. This is one of the best desserts I've ever eaten. Get everything in each bite and it's just perfect. The oolong soufflé is nearly as light as that bread, but rich and creamy and satisfying. And I guess it's ice cream with caviar from now on, because I'm not sure I can go back. This is a perfect dessert.

Combawa, Barley & Gochugaru, Chapssal-tteok, Sesame Dasik

Combawa, Barley & Gochugaru, Chapssal-tteok, Sesame Dasik: The lime combawa was tasty, the rest were, for us, not much worth mentioning. They should have ended on the soufflé.

As I mentioned at the top, we had the champagne (which worked well with the opening bites) and then the Sool drink pairing which, to our palates, made zero sense with the food. I didn't feel like any of them really worked with the food, which bummed me out.

Service, which opened quite friendly became tense over the course of the evening. It didn't seem directed at us, but there were times you could cut the tension with a knife. People looked like they were trying desperately not to look over their shoulders to see if they were being watched. We never felt poorly cared for, but man we felt for the staff who never seemed completely at ease.

Overall, there were definitely some real standout dishes. The scallop, bread, langoustine, and soufflé were entirely worthy of the kind of distinction this restaurant is known for. Unfortunately too much of the rest of it (which was most of it) was just boring or bland. Shocking (to us) for a place with Korean inspiration.

This isn't Disneyland, kids...

Alchemist was #2 on the trip and really the main reason we were in Copenhagen. This place is wild.

A few things of note:

1. If you're planning on going soon, I'd recommend stopping reading this now. A non-trivial amount of the enjoyment of this place is the surprise and while I'll hold a few things back I am showing a bit as well as the full menu. Go in as blind as you can and you'll enjoy it more.
2. It's every second of a 6+ hr experience. Plan on being there late.
3. A lot of the experiences, particularly the food, are designed to make a point. They do a LOT to make them palatable (most all the food is really delicious), but driving that point home is often reflected in an appearance that walks a fine line between off-putting and openly upsetting.
4. I was asked more than once if I had a heart condition before one experience. So there's that...
5. I'm just now realizing that the menu they gave us is basically useless in describing the dishes, so I'm going off memory and what I can get google to cough up. There were 32 eaten experiences and in every instance you're coping with sensory overload while trying to pay attention to flavor, plus, I have the memory of a goldfish, so don't hold your breath for a lot of detail. I will say this, though. There's huge amounts of technique and very subtle flavor in these dishes. I can't convey the full experience of them well, I'm afraid. Most everything was delicious. I'll point out where things were less so.

Buckle up, this is going to get weird. Also long. Sorry.

WTF is this?

To the tune of not wanting to spoil anything for anyone, I'm not going to tell you about the current first experience. This pic is a tiny taste that tells you nothing important. You're welcome.

We were greeted in the second room with the person who was with us through the whole night. Our seat presented a view of their experimentation kitchen where they're preparing the snacks we had in this room. They delivered an ipad which allowed us to explore the drink menus available. I went with the mixed menu that pulls from all areas (wine, beer, mixed, and non-alc). My son had the non-alc pairing.

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Daisy: Shaped like Denmark's national flower - foam flavored with mandarins, saffron, yuzu, frozen citrus pearls. Very pretty, very refreshing and a lovely little start.

Smokey Ball: Hollow round thin pastry topped with langoustine tartare, almond cream, and caviar. They tell you to bite off the top and then finish the bottom in a second bite. Why? It's filled with smoke that puffs out after the first bite. The first bite is really the tasty part with langoustine and caviar. Very enjoyable.

Butterfly: Yes, real butterflies (farmed, dead by the time they reach you), on a leaf with a little cheese. A citrusy and creamy bite. Very tasty. The wings stick to the top of your mouth.

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Nordic Dosa: crisps made with dosa batter, stuffed with Nordic stuff - Danish cheese, capers? I don't know if I got a lot of "dosa" in it, but it was a good bite with a creamy filling like a thin bagel stuffed with chive and onion cream cheese just much lighter and tastier.

Sunburnt Bikini: mochi, jamon iberico, gruyere. They tell you to tear it apart before eating. Every bit as delicious as you imagine it is.

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The World's Greatest Omelette: The menu says "Omelette" but they said "World's Greatest" when they delivered it to us, and they're not wrong. This is the thinnest skin surrounding a fully liquid interior, like a little bag. It's eggy, cheesey, hammy, and clearly has some truffle in it. I realized they'd been making these in front of me the whole time we'd been there and they take like 2-3 people to assemble. I was so vocal about how much I liked it they brought us extras. If I had a bottomless bowl of these I'd be stuffing one in my mouth right now.

Bouncy Rice: glutinous rice dumpling with a spicy filling. I'll be frank, I have no clue what the filling is but it's got umami and a bit of heat. Chewy texture as you'd expect from the rice. Very tasty. Really liked it but not as good as that damn omelette.

Time to move to the dome.

Settings.

Upper left is the snack room with the experimental kitchen. Upper right/bottom left are slices of the dome room. Bottom right was the place setting. The light swings around so they can point it at new courses when they arrive and then swing back in front of you.

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Moon Jellyfish: invasive jellyfish and a gooseberry (IIRC) broth. The jellyfish is really just briny and has a little bounce to the texture. Nice contrast to the slightly sweet broth they're swimming in. Would eat again.

1984: A little on the nose visually, I think, but definitely a striking bowl. I think the cap was made with some fish eye? Then caviar and a bunch of both raw and cooked tiny shrimps that are in season beneath. Green peas, maybe some creme fraiche? Crazy delicious. Wish there was more in there.

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Uni & Wasabi: I'll be frank with you, I didn't get a ton of uni flavor in this. Definitely creamy under those microgreens, very tasty, subtle, but not a wash of sweet like you can get with uni. It's very pretty, I enjoyed it, but found it a little forgettable.

Caviar Marble: I'd have loved to have been the chef they let dick around in their experimental kitchen for two-and-a-half YEARS figuring out how to turn caviar into a wafer. "No chef, haven't figured it out yet. Just gonna need a few more tins for today. I'm sure we'll get it soon..." These had the texture of a wafer but the perfect taste of great caviar. Bit of some cream in the middle. Very tasty, but mostly memorable for the material transformation.

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Lobster Claw: It looks a little toyish, but this lobster is one of the best things I ate this whole trip. It's a mix of claw and tail, cooled to -80 deg, then flash fried. There were a few things to get this treatment in this meal and it leads to an ultra-thin, ultra-crispy shell around the most tender lobstertastic filling. Personally I find lobster to be a bit meh, so to jazz it up they have this tomato, horseradish dipping sauce which was so gd good I about licked the bowl clean. LOVED this dish.

Plastic Fantastic: cod, cheese, and "plastic". This is another one of those "message" dishes which just also happened to be delicious. Deeply savory. Need to take multiple bites as that pseudo-plastic can get sticky and gummy.

Tongue Kiss: pickled white asparagus you have to suck off a rubber tongue. This tasted fine (tastes like what it is). I'd have preferred something more aggressively delicious if I'm going to have to slurp it off that thing. Definitely visually arresting though.

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Litophane Pablo-matic: Perhaps because of my age and upbringing, In my head I call this "Pablo Picasso Was Never Called An Asshole". It's bean soup on a light-box you scoop up with a Picasso art cracker. It actually tasted quite nice, though this one is clearly about how their culinary technique can lead to impact on the eyes than on the palate.

Food For Thought: cherry meringue under a lamb's brain mousse. If you're going to serve brain this is probably the best way to do it. It basically tasted like a cherry mousse and if they hadn't done every damned thing in the world to make what it contains as obvious as humanly possible, you'd never guess from flavor. For extra fun, the brain it comes served atop is motorized to gyrate.

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Pigeon In The Grave: wax-aged squab, black truffle, in a buttery fermented slightly-sweet and umami-broth. I've had winged-rat before and generally have enjoyed it. I'm not sure I can tell the difference the wax-encased wet-aging made but this was legitimately delicious, though one could ask just how hard that is if it's swimming in a butter sauce with truffles.

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Airy Bread: Airy bread my ass. I mean yes, it is incredibly airy bread made in 20-some-odd layers with butter. But that's topped with a creamy sauce and a huge rosette of Jamon-fucking-Iberico. I LOVE Jamon Iberico. A big mouthful of Jamon Iberico makes me swoon. Jamon Iberico atop some of the lightest, butteriest, airiest bread ever is a delight. When they came to clear our plates I held mine up and in my most pathetic Dickensian voice said "please sir, could I have another". She gave me a huge smile and said "yes". 5 minutes later I was chewing on another. This place is fucking awesome.

Cordyceps: Yes, this is the fungus that takes over bugs' brains and zombifies them. It's also the fungus that does the same in the "Last of Us" games and TV show. It's apparently also VERY popular in Eastern medicine and insanely expensive. They've figured out how to grow it on egg shells. Here they served it with a dark, rich, dashi broth. It's strange to say something this earthy had a clean flavor, but somehow it did. Visually striking, rich, and satisfying.

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Hunger: It's basically thin-sliced rabbit jerky. Not a ton of flavor here, this is about the presentation and the message.

Wiped Out: meant to evoke bugs on a windshield, the goop is mealworm they've somehow got to be sweet and flower petals meant to remind you of wings. Eat with a squeegie. Again, not a whole lot here flavor-wise. Just sweet and thick. I'm not sure why they chickened out on the bug wings given they fed us real butterflies earlier.

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Burnout Chicken: spiced chicken and shrimp meatball, chicken skin, tamarind, served on a real wax-coated chicken foot. Just a really really good Asian-spiced meatball - perfect level of seasoning, perfect density to the meatball, perfect cook. On a foot. I'd eat this again in a heartbeat.

We now pivot to sweet courses.

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Woodruff: Sincerely a beautiful dish, this is cold, citrusy, creamy, and herbaceous. A nice, pretty palate-cleanser.

A Wish For Peace: It's edible origami atop a sweet buckwheat tea egg. Subtle, creamy, tasty, also very pretty. The anime characters on each are different.

The Scream: they instruct you to eat it from the bottom up and it goes from sweet at the bottom to very sharp and citrusy at the top. Another nice creamy dessert, but as much about novelty as flavor.

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Eight Layers of Life: This fucking nightmare is an eight-flavor salty and sweet cake stuffed with deer blood that vomits itself all over your plate when you cut it. The people next to us wouldn't touch it. The blood has been fermented or something to remove the iron flavor so it doesn't read as "blood" on the tongue. This is one of those dishes which everyone would think is really good if they just DIDN'T TELL YOU WHAT WAS IN IT.

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Illusion: this forms a moiré pattern when you pull it out of the box. What is it? A tasty ice-cream cake. I'm sure making this is a pain in the ass, but it's pretty simple in the mouth.

"Do either of you have a heart condition?"

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So, yea, I'm going to leave this one a mystery for you as well. After this we got a nice tour of the main kitchen and a brief explanation of how they keep so many dishes straight across so many diners.

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So, after that weirdness you get to yet a 5th room where you chill out and have a few sweets before you head home. I find most restaurants make these final bites a total afterthought and even after a tremendous meal leave you walking out on a let-down. Not here. These were all delicious.

Amber: a fruit pate inside a sugar shell with red ants. Very tasty.

Candy Comb: Fruity jellies in a fruit syrup. Way better than gummy bears. In addition to a lovely flavor these had a really nice bite to them.

"Brændte Mandler": my god these were amazing. This is the purest expression of almond in dessert form I can imagine. Inside that almondy chocolate shell is a cream that tastes of the purest sweet almond. I wouldn't shut up about these either so they brought me an extra to force me to stop talking.

Flavor Saver: chocolate and creamy jam mustache. Take a selfie. Then eat it. Then want another.

Rasmus Munk was kind enough to come out and greet us before we left.

Go home.

It would be an easy mistake to think of this place as serving up gimmicky food, where taste takes a back-seat to cosmetics and shock-value. A common thing among all the food here I found is just really great balance of textures, flavors, and perfect cookery. I'm stunned at the level of technical prowess it takes to execute these dishes - to make them taste this good as well is utterly remarkable.

Service was a delight. We met many servers here, all of whom were engaged and fun. This is NOT the kind of stuffy service you get at many fine-dining places. At one point we noticed one of the servers looked an awful lot like Daniel Brühl, the sniper from Inglorious Bastards. When we mentioned this to our main guy who'd been with us from the start, it set of a search to find this guy who, when told, came over and tried to convince us that our host looked like an even more infamous German if ill repute. It was a wild night.

My son said it wasn't the absolute best food he'd ever had, but declared it the best meal he'd ever had. I kind of agree. This is a completely unique experience that happens to include world-class dining.

Went to Copenhagen. Dined at 4 FD spots. Started at Jordær.

TL/DR: one of the greatest dining experiences of my life.

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Unassuming entry in a hotel. Someone is waiting outside the hotel for restaurant guests, brings you in, etc. Very gracious, easy, and comfortable greeting. Once seated they offer you champagne to go with the 6 initial snacks. I'd recommend it - it pairs beautifully with the food.

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6 initial bites:

Bleak Roe Sour Cream & Buckwheat

King Crab | Sudachi & Jabasco

Lobster | Yuzu & Sansho Pepper

Bluefin Tuna | Myoga & Caviar

Rosette Waffle | Fjord Shrimp Salad & Caviar

Takoyaki

All 6 of these were delicious, the first 4 may well be the best 4 consecutive bites of anything I've ever had anywhere. Every one of these bites had a wonderful flavor and textural balance, with crunchy, creamy, salty and savory elements in really exceptional harmony. As an example, so many crab dishes have barely a hint of crab in them. This one had a massive punch of perfectly done crab flavor. The bluefin bite, small though it was, carried tremendous tuna flavor and had me thinking "well, I guess it's caviar with tuna from now on". The takoyaki, thought good, was (IMHO) a step down in deliciousness from the previous 5 bites, perhaps being a bit overwhelmed with breadyness than I would have found ideal.

Scallops, Gooseberry & Rose

Scallops, Gooseberry & Rose. Perfectly fresh little raw scallops with a gooseberry and rose broth beneath them. Beautiful, delicious, and refreshing. Never in my life would I have thought to combine scallops with gooseberry, but there it is, working perfectly. It's a lovely, delicious dish.

Essence of Langoustine|Tomato & Vanilla

There's a langoustine puree (or something like that) buried at the bottom of this with a lovely tomato/vanilla broth poured over. Again, flavors I would never have thought to combine working perfectly. This was VERY small taste and a bit of a challenge to scrape up from this bowl, but very enjoyable once you get it in your mouth.

Green Asparagus|Västerbotten Cheese & Fresh Almonds

Funky cheese to go with asparagus? Why not? Maybe my least favorite bite of the night, but in no way unenjoyable.

Lobster, White Current & Elderflower

There's lobster buried there under that broth. I'll be straight with you. I'm not usually a huge lobster/langoustine fan. They're usually overdone and boring. This combination was delicious, though. The lobster, of course, perfectly tender.

Hamachi, Ponzu & Wasabi

I have to admit it. I stole this photo from the interwebs because I took a bite before remembering to take the photo myself. This is perhaps the most obvious and expected preparation of the night - hamachi belly with ponzu and wasabi comes straight from the Japanese culinary lexicon. Exceptional quality ingredients makes this a comforting and utterly delicious 3 bites.

Chawanmushi | King Crab & Galangal

This may be the least chawanmushi-ish chawanmushi I've ever had, as I just didn't get a ton of custard texture or flavor from it. I did, though, get a fuck-ton of perfectly done crab and caviar. The broth they poured in had a lovely savoriness that complimented it perfectly. Call it what you want, it was exceptionally good and had me scraping the bottom of the bowl.

Langoustine|Sakura & Plum Kernel

Langoustine with a slightly sweet beurre blanc? OK, maybe the hamachi wasn't the only classic combination of the night. The langoustine was done a little on rare side, making for a soft texture my wife wasn't the biggest fan of, but which I very much enjoyed. Butter sauce? What's to complain about. Not the best langoustine dish I've ever had (turns out I had 2 more I liked more on this same trip), but perfectly enjoyable for what it is.

Milk bread and butter

It's very very very very good milk bread and very very very good butter. Again, I had one bread on this trip I liked more, but this is top-tier b&b. Scrumptious.

Turbot | Beluga Caviar & White Walnut

Fuck yeah. Turbot is the kind of thick, meaty fish my wife doesn't usually dig on. Turns out if you bury it in caviar and beurre blanc that changes the equation. This fish was as perfectly cooked as I've ever had in my life and the sheer luxury of it with the walnut is a total knock-out. Winning dish.

Fraise des Bois|Champagne & Litchi

Green strawberries must be in season as we saw this component in a couple meals we had. Here it paired beautifully with the litchi and champagne cream. Just a luscious little tart and creamy dessert.

Pavlova | Miyazaki Mango & Sheep's Cream

Oh yea, this is a winner. This Japanese mango is so sweet and rich, they basically just puree and freeze it to make this ice cream. The chewy pavlova was magnificent. What a fantastic few bites this made.

Japanese winter melon

My son was SUPER excited to get this. I'll be frank with you, I don't get the hype. It's very sweet, very tender, very tasty, but for the money these things cost I'm just not getting it. It's melon. I thought the previous two desserts were much better.

When did finedining start limiting you to 20 pics? Oh well, there were some little chocolates and crap like that. I usually find these to be basically afterthoughts and it was the same here. Nothing worth mentioning.

Overall fabulously good food. We did the Champagne pairing which worked incredibly well with the food. I'm not super deep on different styles of champagne, but their somm really killed it when it came to finding the right type to go with each course.

Service was outstanding. Have you ever seen someone doing what they're good at and it just seems effortless? Absolutely at the top of their game and just killing it without showing any effort? That's how service felt here. We always felt cared for, but it was never intrusive. Chefs came and described each dish, willing to stay and chat briefly if you had questions.

They're also pretty good at seeing how you interact. We're a pretty loose fine dining family, not too stuck on formality. I myself don't love how they always have to come and fold your napkins if you ever leave the table - it feels like a waste of time for people who have better things to be doing. I know they're going to do it anyhow, but I try to fold my napkin and leave it the way they do when I visit the restroom.

My wife tried the same thing, but leaving it pointed the wrong way and slightly off. The fellow who had seated us and had been with us through the evening came over and, just loud enough for me to hear said "so..." as he turned the napkin over, and then "...close" as he moved it to the side. I laughed out loud. It's one of my favorite fine dining stories now.

Overall, though heart-stoppingly expensive, this place is firing on all cylinders. The food is gorgeous, sometimes surprising, and fantastically delicious. This is perhaps the best meal I've had since some of those early meals at the CT@BF back when they were in Brooklyn and César was slinging 24 dishes per seating. Service was as good as we've had anywhere. Would 100% recommend to pretty much anyone who doesn't demand red meat in every meal.