03-09-2013

In Anita’s cottage

In Copenhagen, an interesting bucolic location with a Nordic concept and a female touch

Anita Klemensen, a chef originally from Jutland is

Anita Klemensen, a chef originally from Jutland is now at the helm of Den Røde Cottage in Klampenborg, close to Copenhagen, in Denmark, tel. +45.39904614, 1 Michelin star (photo politiken.dk)

Leather jacket, blonde hair tied in a pony tail and a determined attitude. Upon first meeting Anita Klemensen we have some doubt she is indeed a chef, in fact one with a brand new Michelin star conquered last year. She looks more like a young amazon, ready to jump on a Harley-Davidson and zip through the roads of the Danish capital.

You can easily reach her restaurant in the centre of Copenhagen with a trip on the urban underground that starts from the city centre. You get off at Klampenborg, walk half a kilometre and then come cross a yellow cottage called Den Gule Cottage. This is not in fact the restaurant itself, but a nice bistro-cafeteria, also owned by Anita and her business partner, chef Lars Thomsen, and it is on the edge of a park in which you have to go to get to the red cottage (Den Røde Cottage, that is to say) which is the gourmet restaurant. The location is unforgettable, perfect for a bucolic and relaxing break (even a romantic one, if you’re in good company) surrounded by nature and her clearly feminine touch, with a Nordic approach and an inclination for smoking processes that emerges in the menu together with that for desserts, the latter being the true passion of this chef originally from Jutland.

Anita and chef Lars Thomsen

Anita and chef Lars Thomsen

The two cottages have opened in 2010, at the same time, after the many experiences Anita Klemensen acquired starting from 1998 in Søllered Kro, where she worked as pastry chef and then as of 2002 first at Commander (a restaurant which has now closed but which was the first to receive 2 stars in Denmark) and then at First on the Right, which used to be close to Kongens Nytorv square. The red cottage has 28 seats and is only open in the evening and also offers a small room on the first floor for private dining.

As often the case at this latitude, the food is represented in only one menu with 8 courses and clearly highlights the strong link between the local farmed and wild produce. Two famers supply Anita with herbs, carrots, potatoes and strawberries while mushrooms are simply picked in the woods surrounding the cottage. However, the chef doesn’t share the extremism of some of her Nordic colleagues: here she uses the best available products, even when they arrive from afar, so products are local only to a certain extent as the Danish lobster tartare with capers reminds us. The menu creates a sequence of sensations and delicate notes that are capable of elegantly mixing Nordic flavours with an uncommon aesthetic taste.

Dessert Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

Dessert Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

It’s no surprise that this year Anita was invited to the Festival Bernard Loiseau in the Mauritius archipelago, a very French event with international chefs. If on the contrary you happen to be in the surroundings, don’t miss one of the house signature dishes, namely the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate dessert, which the chef has always brought with here, in all the restaurants she’s worked in. Den Rode Cottage is closed in January and February.


Spotti e mangiati

The establishments, tastes and cooking personalities in Europe, as seen by Gualtero Spotti

by

Gualtiero Spotti