As I've mentioned before, I stopped eating meat about a year ago, but even before that, Kiin Kiin's vegetarian sister restaurant, VeVe, had been on my list for a long time. When my sisters - both vegetarians as well - came to visit this March, I finally got to try it out.
VeVe is located in Østerbro, near Østerport station. It’s an open concept restaurant, where the lounge and dining room aren’t physically separated. The interior is modern and clean, and even though this is a white tablecloth place, it still feels approachable. Decorations are simplistic in different shades of grey, with an emphasis on fresh flowers and green plants.
VeVe does not have à la carte dining, so you have to go for the full menu. The experience starts out in the lounge with an aperitif and a couple of snack servings, before you’re moved into the dining area.
The snacks
We started out with a glass of bubbles along with our snacks. There were six servings in total, spanning different cuisines and regions. Even though VeVe is part of the Kiin Kiin family and thus inspired by the Thai cuisine, VeVe itself takes a broader approach and plays with flavors and dishes from all over the world.
Some of the snacks were familiar either in flavor or presentation, such as the meringues that emerged from a glass bowl filled with coffee beans, or the horseradish cream that was frozen with liquid nitrogen, as Kiin Kiin is famous for using in their signature frozen red curry.
Bubbles to start Eucalyptus iced tea “A slurp of the ocean” Soy meringue Beetroot with frozen goat cheese and horseradish cream Bourguignon Yuzu salad
The dinner
The first serving was VeVe’s interpretation of a Waldorf salad with green apple, celeriac, and walnuts, covered by a layer of frozen green apple juice and decorated with fresh herbs and flowers.
Next up was a serving of fennel with star anise and a foamy lime dressing. Normally, I am not a fan of fennel or star anise (or licorice, for that matter), but this was absolutely delicious!
The third serving was a take on gazpacho with grilled peppers and a parmesan crisp. There was also a little vial with an infusion you could squeeze into the soup for some extra flavor.
Following the gazpacho, we were served baked celeriac with ginger, chives, and miso sauce, garnished with a celeriac crisp.
The next serving consisted of puff pastry with mushrooms, served under a dome of smoke (no puff pastry for my sister, who had ordered the vegan menu). This dish was super intense and rich, which goes to show that you don’t need meat to get that umami flavor!
Before dessert, we squeezed in the cheese course; a blue cheese panna cotta with macadamia and lemon jelly.
And finally, dessert was an ice cream dish with basil and fresh herbs - really refreshing and delicious.
The petits fours
We decided to go all in and finish up with some tea, coffee, and petits fours, which are a real experience! They are built as a sort of treasure hunt, where you have to find the edible parts in each of the six different servings. This was a really unexpected, fun way to end the dinner.
Jelly legos Cinnamon coated chocolate Popcorn Chocolate chilis
After the dinner, you even get a little paper bag with yuzu and other citrus fruits, with the menu card printed on the bag, as a little keepsake. This was such a cute detail, I really loved it.
Dinner at VeVe will set you back DKK 750 for the full menu, DKK 1,100 with a non-alcoholic pairing, or DKK 1,200 with the wine pairing. This is excluding any drinks you order in the lounge, the cheese course, and the petits fours. In my opinion, it is absolutely worth it for the fantastic experience, and even if you are a dedicated carnivore, I would wager a bet that you won’t miss meat for a single minute!
