Restaurant Relæ

1 star for this restaurant because it falls short on every level for what it is distinguished to be.
we had dinner here last november (2015). to make a long story short, the meal felt veryyyyy pretentious. one of our courses was a shot of plain chicken broth. i am not exaggerating as it literally was about 1 or 2 ounces of plain soup broth. i would have been less offended if this was an amuse bouche or a side to a course, not the course itself. not when we are paying $$$$.
for our main, they presented steak knives and proceeded to bring out grilled beets that were repurposed to look liked steak slices. so lame and so pretentious. and the worse offense, not even thrilling or even delicious — gelatinous beets, grilled. *yawn* was that really supposed to be that spectacular? any one who thought so is just drinking the cool aid and kidding themselves.
my overall feeling was that the chef probably had a truly amazing first menu and got a bit over inflated in terms of ego and thus produced an offensively lacking next menu. i’d recommend cutting down the frills and honing in on the basics — - people want good, delicious food at your restaurant, not a magic show. don’t be the basic bitch that thinks she’s hot shit when she’s not.
if you’re in the area, spend this money towards a real meal at geranium — — it crushes this restaurant and will actually exceed your expectations.

Excellent dishes (4-​course or 7-​course pre-​fixe) that capture seasonal, farm-​to-​table ingredients of the area. The prices are also reasonable for a restaurant this caliber, a Michelin-​starred and ranked in the top 50 world’s best restaurant. Service is casual but impeccable. Love that the chefs also serve the food as they are able to answer questions. I highly recommend if you can get a reservation.

Just outstanding — surprise and delight from start to end. The attention to detail was evident throughout, from sitting down to open your personal cutlery drawer to the first morsel of every course. It was quite possibly the most impeccably cooked chicken I have ever had. And the cheese course was somehow even better. We were up sold on a few extra courses and the wine pairing, and were happy with every decision.

Wow! This was a great experiance. The food is exellent and also to a good price. The restaurant interior is quite simple, all focus on the menu.

Best restaurant visit in my life! My biggest question leaving Relae was why they only have 1 star. The food is absolutly amazing and the prices are very reasonable for high end dining, 4 courses for 450 or 7 courses for 725.
Relae cook vegetable focused food that is probably considered modern scandinavian. We picked the 7 course menu and 6 of the 7 dishes were mindblowing and the 7^th dish was ok. The best dishes was the pork main course which featured hands down the best piece of pork I have ever eaten that was cooked too perfection using sous vide.
The dessert was also one of the highlights featuring a coffee sorbet with cream and burned popcorns. As a non coffeedrinker I always think coffee in desserts are overpowering but this was perfectly balanced.
The restaurant it self is very beautiful with exposed brick, really nice tables and really nice plates.
Best dinner of my life so I will for sure visit Relae again!

The restaurant was quite nice. The décor was warm with a modern minimalist feel. Service was as you would expect from a Michelin starred restaurant.
The chefs take great pride in preparing the food, with each one coming over to introduce the dish. They were really friendly and chatty as well.
My partner and I loved the wonderful different textures and flavours that were incorporated into the meal. I was surprised by the creativity of the chefs with the use of simple ingredients cooked or prepared in unique ways.

The skill doesn’t match the ambition. We had the four course menu, each course a very inventive, technical dish, and each not only failed to impress, but a few were not eaten. Service was attentive and helpful, the atmosphere pleasant. But the flavours just didn’t meld, dance or compete in any meaningful way. I’d wouldn’t send anyone here. Maybe we had an off night, but I not worth exploring.

The Michelin star and coveted Pellegrino World Ranking are warranted at this cozy, intimate, blow the pants off your palette landmark. The service was sensational. The meal? One of the best I’ve had the fortune to devour. Oysters and vegetables and creams and cheeses prepared in such mind bending ways with fixings a simpleton would dare not dream of found us walking away from the table glowing, wondering «how’d they do it?» So grateful we had the opportunity to dine on such glorious fare.

Sat at the chef’s counter and ordered the 7 course. I had high expectations, this being a one-​Michelin rated but more so because the chef is a Noma alum. Sadly, disappointed in the execution of the dishes. More accustomed to complex and surprising flavors from SF restaurants and also Michelin starred restaurants visited in Stockholm (Frantzen being my absolute favorite), Relae fell short. While food is solid, I would not recommend but would steer friends to visit Studio instead, where presentation was playful and food superb.

I have been waiting a long time to dine at a Michelin starred restaurant, and I must say Relae failed to meet my expectations. I did my research and knew that the food could be a bit hit and miss due to it’s experimental nature, but I had hopes, considering that I’m a pretty open minded eater, that I would enjoy it.
The evening started out great– the atmosphere is very cozy and the whole set up, what with the menus and cutlery being inside the tables and the eclectic artwork, set a great tone. We were offered a local sparkling cider to start which was really delicious (and surprisingly not on the bill at the end) and the server who started us out was great. Unfortunately we didn’t seem to have one server but a whole team of them and while some were wonderful others were lacking in warmth. To start off the meal we were also brought a little amuse bouche (no idea what the Danish term would be) — essentially a jazzed up cucumbers and dip. It’s hard to describe how something so simple could be so delicious, but it really blew me away! Shows to me that some people in the kitchen really know what they’re doing. It ended up being my favourite food of the night actually, and set my expectations for a meal that left me feeling disappointed.
We opted for 4 courses with wine pairings:
First course was a smoked mackerel with different variations of cauliflower. While the mackerel was outstanding and the cauliflower purée that accompanied it delicious, the other varieties of cauliflower — blanched and couscous, were dull and flavourless. Plainly blanched cauliflower is no tastier made at home then in a high end restaurant… I understand trying to showcase an ingredient in it’s simplest form but I don’t think blanched cauliflower or what tasted to be unseasoned cauliflower couscous is the greatest example of that. Overall though a nice dish. The mackerel and purée were really top notch, and with some tweaks I think the entire dish could be outstanding.
For the second course we had a sunflower seed risotto with black truffle. I was not impressed. It wasn’t that it tasted bad — all in all it tasted okay, and the texture they managed to pull off with the sunflower seeds was impressive. But with a meal at that price I want my food tasting more than ‘okay’. I also must say I’d much rather have had a rice risotto. Creativity is nice, but sometimes the classic way is the right way.
For the third course we had a roasted (?) carrot dish with black seaweed and cassis. This flavour combination to me did not work on any level. It was bitter and sickly sweet and I struggled to find a redeeming quality to the dish. The best I can say is that it looked pretty intense. I found myself craving a roasted carrot dish I get at one of my favourite restaurants back home. A ¹⁄₁₀^th of the price, but 10x better.
Finally for dessert we were served fermented milk ice cream with warm raspberries, and some crunchy crumb of sorts (this meal was a couple months back and I can’t seem to remember what it was). When this dessert was described my first though was ‘oh no’ fermented milk ice cream sounded horrid to me, but actually it was delicious! The ice cream had such an incredible flavour and the warm raspberries just melted in your mouth. I loved the combination of hot and cold, and it made for a very pleasant eating experience. For me what was done with the raspberries is how you properly showcase and ingredient in it’s simplicity, a far better result then with the cauliflower! I could have done without the crunchy crumb, I didn’t think it added much flavour wise (probably why I can’t recall what it was) but I understand the textural idea behind it. Overall a good end to a meal that had more than a couple flaws.
While the food disappointed, where Relae really shined for me was with the wine pairings! I am not easy to impress when it comes to wine and they really blew me away. Each pairing was clearly very well thought out– evident in the fact that the wines not only complimented the dish, but enhanced it! Not to mention they were superb on their own merit. I don’t think there was a single miss when it came to wines.
While the wine, atmosphere (especially loved the artwork outside the bathroom), aspects of the service, and some of the food were big positives. I did leave feeling a bit ripped off. I’m glad I went because of the experience, but I think they need to step it up with the food if they want to be worthy of the cost of dining there. Maybe I came on a bad night when they were still working out kinks on some of the dishes, or it could be to an extent a personal taste issue, but I do think it’s fair to say that Relae leaves something to be desired.

You enter a really nice place with beautiful furniture and nice décor, and you’re welcomed by nice staff. Everything seems to be great and we have to decide whether to get the 4-​course or 7-​course dinner. Suddenly an appetizer arrives and we’re met with these pickled cucumbers and some sort of anchovy sauce as dip. Here we go again… It didn’t quite fall in my taste, so we quickly decided to go with the 4-​course set.
The rest of the meal was subpar and the only noteworthy one was the pumpkin dish with some mushrooms. When I enter a restaurant with this kind of interior and price, then I expect something extraordinary, thus my expectations was shattered once again.
At this point I remembered that Ralæ is actually in the same chain/​family as Bæst where I came to the same conclusion; Fancy, hyped and overpriced, which unfortunately fits my review of Ralæ.
My companions describes it like the fairy tale:
«The Emperor’s New Clothes» — All appearance, no substance.

Gorgeous space and very tasty. Good for vegetarians. Be prepared for some very earthy flavors like seaweed and nettles.

A try in Copenhagen if you have the time and budget.
I was very excited to visit hearing so many great things about this place, but it was all worth it.
Being a single diner I was sat at the bar where I had a good overview of what was happening in the kitchen. Service was good and relaxed.
The food of course was the highlight. Having the 7 course tasting menu with wine was definitely a lot of food to go through, thankfully I only had a little bit of the bread.
All the reviews are correct, this is creative dining, which means some dish will be great, well others not on the same level when it comes to taste, but the experience is great.
It’s all true about the wine pairings, you get really different organic wines, some of which have interesting odors but well worth the pairing.
Well worth a shot.

Last night my boyfriend and I booked a late table at Relæ. A while back we were a group of friends trying their Chef’s table (Table 0), and we had a great evening and were quite challenged in some of the dishes, but this table is also the more experimental version, and we have since then wanted to try the standard menu at Relæ. We have visited Manfreds many times now, and enjoy their way of handling vegetables every time, so now it was time to try the Relæ version.
I do not know why, but I was a little sceptic upfront, maybe I was afraid that the menu was going to be too crazy/​weird, since I know, that the kitchen is very experimental, but boy oh boy was I not disappointed leaving Relæ at midnight. Once again Puglisi and his team have managed to make me go home full, happy and a little tipsy.
We decided to try everything they offered — the Let’s try it all menu, and the evening started out good, as expected, a little vegetable snack, and then a bouillon made from ramson — the Nordic garlic. It was very good and had a rich taste.
Onto the 7 courses, which included a wonderful enoki mushroom, sunchoke and walnut dish, quite powerfull, a delicious ragu with perfectly tender squid spaghetti and chicken liver as I recall. I am a big fan of the salty kitchen and I very much liked, that these dished were not subtle in taste. The third course was a challenge for me, because essentially it was a version of the danish dish Øllebrød, which I strongly dislike — I think I have a childhood trauma with this dish. But I must say, putting the thought of the rather sweet traditional version aside, I actually enjoyed the dish. Actively enjoying, not just accepting. It tasted very good, though sometimes I had a flashback which I managed to remove by having some of the also interesting wine.
A small note on the wines. They are definitely quite different, but I am a fan of these biodynamic and very organic wines, and what surprises me each time, is that the aroma of the wines can be rather weird — for instance one wine had a little rotten egg smell, but when tasting it, it is very far from, and can be a very good match for the different courses. Only one of the 7 seven wines was not my taste, but otherwise the pairing was very good in my opinion.
The «main» dishes were a vegetable dish on celeriac and a chicken dish. The vegetarian one was quite good, since it also involved Havgus cheese, coffee, and a hollandaiseish sauce, the chicken dish was deliciously cooked chicken and sesame seeds, but the parsnip (I think it was) and a green oil, did not have very much flavor.
Last but not least, a cheese dish — good :) and two desserts. Unfortunately I am not a big fan of desserts, so my opinion of these are biased, but still, I do not think that these desserts were among my favorites. They challenge you in texture and taste, and is actually the only part keeping me from adding the last star.
But again, leaving the restaurant, I was absolutely satisfied and happy. I have a small sitting dance movement which breakes out when I find a dish extraordinary, and for this meal, it made its way through during the squid ragu.

To sum it up, we had an incredibly delicious meal in a relaxed and friendly setting. We ate at many of Copenhagen’s most acclaimed restaurants during our week-​long stay, and lunch at Relae was our favorite meal in terms of the entire package– food, presentation, ambiance, service, and location. In fact, we enjoyed our meal so much that before we were even through with all the courses, when we heard one of the chefs would be hosting a dinner at a New Nordic restaurant in our hometown of NYC, we immediately committed to attending.
If you are interested in learning about the composition of the dishes, the sourcing of ingredients, and the restaurant’s unique approaches to their business model and customer service, I’d recommend requesting a seat at the bar of the open kitchen. We were able to freely converse throughout the meal with the chefs, and we had a very nice (and very long!) conversation with Kim, the co-​owner and manager. We left the meal with much respect for Relae as a business, and more importantly, the food!
The street Relae is located on, Jaegersborggade, is definitely worth exploring for an hour or two before your meal. There are great little design, pottery, and chocolate shops, perfect for souvenirs.

Had a nice meal at Relae; I had been spoiled by a superlative experience I had at Restaurant Sletten just a couple days prior, so that is probably why I haven’t given Relae five stars. But a good meal with really attractively-​presented dishes, nice wine pairings, and oh man, that sourdough bread!
Food:
I chose the four course omnivore menu, with wine pairings. Was also presented with a glass of cider before dinner, an amuse bouche, warm sourdough bread with butter, and a cheese course before dessert.
Celeriac amuse bouche — blanche celery root «chip» with salad leaves and herbs on top. Crisp and refreshing, and went nicely with the house cider.
Sourdough bread was a classic pain au levain, with a great crust and chewy crumb. And man, oh man, there really is nothing better than Danish butter. If you haven’t tried it, get thee some right now. It’s magic.
The 4 course omnivore menu:
1. Trout, chicken skin, and mushrooms — this was fantastic. A lovely piece of fish, crunchy chicken skin bits, pan jus, and raw julienned mushrooms on top.
2. Hokkaido pumpkin, seabuckthorn, and hazelnut — This was a miss for me. Seabuckthorn is quite pungent and I felt it overshadowed both the pumpkin and hazelnut. This course was presented as a soup/​chowder, and the bowl was beautiful. For me, the taste didn’t match.
3. Lamb, swiss chard, and seaweed — Another terrific course. Tender lamb loin (or it could have been saddle) paired so well with the bitter chard and salty seaweed. This dish hit all the notes for me. And it was
4. Sweet corn and marjoram dessert — I didn’t understand this dessert. Sweet corn ice cream, marjoram, and popcorn powder. Textures were interesting, the flavors didn’t work for me. The wine served with it, however, was amazing (Aresco 2010 Ca de Noci from Emilia-​Romagna)
Before dessert we had the cheese course, which was a rye flatbread with rod lober cheese and dried berries. A lovely variation on a cheese course.
Service:
Great service. Attentive and friendly, and our server was very knowledgeable about the wines and the food. We were given a warm towel prior to the meal, and we were looked after very well all night. We had a party of eight, and when we finished our meal, the restaurant needed to turn the tables. They did this very politely and without rushing us.
Vibe:
Dutch treat cool. A simple, warm dining room, silverware, napkin, and menu tucked under the table in a drawer, and some cool bar seating. This is a place you can wear a t-​shirt and jeans to and get some good food.
Family-​friendly:
Nope. Leave the kids at home and enjoy.
Summary:
We had a good experience at Relae. The amuse bouche, the bread, the cheese course, and two of the four courses I had were excellent. I think on a different day, with a different daily menu, all of the courses would be excellent. I admire what is happening here at Relae. It is very easy to appreciate the commitment to creativity, local ingredients, and the wine program. There are many Redzepi disciples cranking out food in Copenhagen; if you can’t get into Noma, the food and experience at Relae will still make you very happy.

***4.5 stars for Relae***
What a great place to review for my 500^th!
I heard about this place from a co-​worker. He told me one of the former NOMA chefs opened this place and/​or works here. We jumped at the opportunity and made a reservation online 1 – 2 weeks in advance. We stayed at a hotel near Tivoli gardens and took a bus ride to the restaurant, then walked another 10 – 15 minutes. The place was super cute and located on the corner of the street. We arrived early and they were able to accommodate us. We started with some sparkling wine and a white asparagus appetizer with cream and crushed pistachios. It was very tasty. The spirit was bubbly with a hint of sweetness and the appetizer was fresh and crunchy.
For dinner, we went with the 4 course omnivore meal.
We started with complimentary bread & olive oil. One word: AMAZING! This bread was the best bread I’ve ever had. Soft with great texture and tons of flavor. I was in heaven — just from the bread!
First course: Razor clam with cucumber and spinach
It was good but a little on the fishy side. I wish there was a squeeze of citrus to curb the fishiness.
Second course: Green asparagus soup with ramsons and beach herbs. This was the best soup I’ve ever had. The green broth was full of flavor with a hint of garlic.
Third course: Pork from Hindsholm, salted, and unripe strawberries
This was my favorite dish! The pork was juicy, salty, soft, ultra tender and succulent. Foodie lovers only dream of a piece of meat like this!
Fourth course: Rhubarb and almonds (dessert)
This was an ice cream like dish and it was my least favorite. I’m not a rhubarb fan and thought it had a really strong flavor. I loved the ice cream like center and rhubarb leather but didn’t like the chunks of rhubarb.
We also got the wine pairing. The wines were superb. All of them were white and really brought out each dish. Service was excellent. We loved our waiter (Alessandro). His explanations were more like stories and it was like talking to your friend over dinner.
Overall, we had a wonderful dining experience. My favorite dishes were the pork and asparagus soup. Not to mention the high end wines! For the 4 course meal + wine pairing & appetizers with sparkling wine, it was about $ 180 USD per person. Pricey but cheaper than than NOMA. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are in Copenhagen.

Relae is overshadowed by the famous NOMA, but it has earned its own spotlight and deserves more recognition. The chefs have worked previously at NOMA and bring the same precision and innovation to their food.
For a fraction of the price of NOMA, you can have amazing food and experience the Nordic food movement.
Food: ⁵⁄₅
It is a 4– course chef’s menu, and it comes in 2 versions: vegetarian and normal. They also offer a wine pairing as well. The menu changes according to what is seasonal and everything is very fresh and delicious. We had both versions of the menu and preferred the normal version (meat is just so delicious!), however, the vegetarian dishes were equally delicious.
All the dishes were delicious and you can’t go wrong! Also, they make this sourdough bread which they serve before the courses begin and it is AMAZING! Do not let a single piece of it go to waste, eat all of it and then continue stuffing yourself as the food is so good.
Service: ⁵⁄₅
The staff were attentive and informative. They explained each dish, wine pairing and were attentive to our needs.
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₅
It is a much more casual than Geranium/​NOMA and I prefer it actually. It has the feel of a cozy rustic restaurant where the chefs prepare the food with love. You can see them preparing food but without it seeming like a theatrical show.
Value: ⁵⁄₅
As mentioned before, this is a great way to sample Nordic cuisine. It isn’t cheap, at around 150 euros for the 2 of us (includes apertif and snacks) but it is an amazing good meal and one of the best I’ve ever had.

Kim Rossen and Christian Puglisi are two of my favorite restaurant people in Copenhagen. My first night in town after a year absence, the first meal I had was at Relæ. Taking advantage of the long summer sunset, I walked all the way from city hall to Nørrebro. This time without my party of 4 I dined alone at the counter. I originally wanted to do the new Table Zero they have up near the open kitchen, but it’s a bit pricey if you’re rolling solo. I’ve noticed many of the staff are different now, however I saw Kim shortly after walking in and made myself comfortable at the farthest seat to the left being able to watch both front and back of the house service. We chatted for a bit and I let them take me where they wanted with the cuisine, I think I glanced at the menu only a couple of times. This was going to be a wine and food blowout…
And it went like…
–New Radishes and egg
–Potato purée, olives, buttermilk
–Danish oysters, cucumber, dried lemon
–Steamed Danish enoki mushrooms and sand leek
–Pork fron Hindsholm, Jerusalem Artichoke
–Bla kornblomst, green herbs
–Milk, kelp, caramel
— A few other surprises that I didnt write down
My meal here last year was stellar and it was no different this time. Christian had come to cook in San Francisco a few months after I had left Copenhagen, and that meal was stellar too. Well guess what? Let’s make it 3 for 3. The amazing thing about this is when you already have expectations going into a meal, the bar has to be raised or changed somehow, and every time they’ve done it. The sparse number of ingredients paired in ways one normally doesn’t think about flavor profiles together continues to amaze me. Im equally comforted and surprised when I eat this food. Of course Kim and Christian’s teams do a great job taking care of you too. So this will always be a go to place for me. Perhaps one of my favorite restaurants anywhere in the world. Im already looking forward to the next time I eat here. From what I understand, they’re going through a remodel now. Im sure things will change but the food will be stellar as it always has been

If the thought of a Michelin star restaurant makes you groan over the pretense, come here for a very different experience. Frilly fine dining, this is not.
The relaxed atmosphere combined with the inventive new Nordic cuisine and stellar service made Relæ one of my more memorable dining experiences in Copenhagen.
You’ll choose from two set menus: meat/​fish and vegetarian. I went with the vegetarian menu and was delighted with the number of curious combinations and vegetables that appeared on my plate. From sunchokes to rye bread ice cream to some of the best olive oil I’ve ever tasted, dinner at Relæ was nothing if not an adventure.