I don’t often find myself at a restaurant that truly surprises me. I write about food for a living, and in my experience, there are only so many ways to cook an egg or make a salad. Even when I go somewhere great, I’m usually reacting to the quality of the ingredients, like the steak at Le Severo, or to the exceptional execution, like at Frenchie Bar à Vins.
That was before I visited Höst.
Image care of Höst
I was already falling head over heels with Danish food by the time I made it to Höst. There was a unique play in flavors — combinations of sweet and savory, and always so much freshness and life in even the simplest smorrebrod. But Höst was something else.
Image care of Höst
Höst managed to combine the hygge of its award-winning Nordic design with incredible, fine dining cuisine– and at reasonable prices (DKK 295 for three courses plus a few little extras).
Image care of Höst
Each course was exciting and enticing, offering new and intriguing flavor combinations, textures, and colors — even the serving dishes were surprising. A beef dish was served with thin slices of pickled beet over the top that looked like a velvet blanket covering the steak, which was seasoned with a berry jam.
This terrine was served with not a garnish but a veritable pile of fresh dill on top, and it married soft and crisp textures perfectly.
Perhaps my favorite dish — though I was nearly too full to eat it — was a blueberry ice cream served with a cheese topping: two flavors I never would have thought to combine, and yet the marriage was sensational.
When I was still in Copenhagen, I bought a Scandinavian cookbook. While I don’t imagine I’ll be able to live up to the experience I discovered at Höst, but I hope to recreate at least some of the flavors at home.