Tag Archives: Frederiksberg

A very girly affair: Rosé wine and chocolate tasting

Posted in Around Copenhagen by

I love wine! And I wish I knew more about it than “I like this one” and “that one has a lot of tannins”. Therefore, I’m beyond thrilled that I’ve found a small wine import company here in Copenhagen (O.M. Nielsen Vinimport) that regularly hosts wine tastings in Frederiksberg. I’ve written about my first tasting focusing the color of wine, and last week I attended a second one. When I read the announcement, I knew I had to go: a rosé wine and chocolate pairing! I love rosé wines, especially in the summer I find them so amazing and versatile, to fish, a light salad, or some pasta on the balcony - my choice is a crisp and chilled rosé. I have to admit that I know shockingly little about them, so I went in the hopes of learning more, and, of course, taste it in combination with chocolate!

Impressions

Impressions

The setup was to taste seven different rosés, three of them sparkling (a champagne, a prosecco and a crémant). To each of the wines, we were to taste a hand-picked and hand-made-for-the-occasion chocolate - some were plain, others were filled, all were delicious! They were made by Chokolade-Hex who really did work some magic! You can also find her on Facebook.

I won’t go through all the seven pairings, but will highlight some of my favorites!

On top of the list and at the start of the tasting stood the Champagne Brut Rosé, paired with a simple milk chocolate. I loved the champagne. It was so elegant and refined, and it was not as complex as some champagnes can tend to be. It had a lovely peach color and was very fresh and light.

The next one was the Prosecco Brut Rosé Spumante, which was as girly and soft pink as they come. Unlike a lot of my fellow tasters, I didn’t think it was spectacular in itself, but I really did like the pairing with white chocolate, it fit very well with the sweet, soft, girlish theme.

Prosecco and white chocolate

Prosecco and white chocolate

I realize I said I wouldn’t go through each wine in detail, but I need to name the third one as well - a Crémant de Bourgogne, paired with an exquisite white chocolate praline with Campari filling. To be honest, I don’t like Campari, and I am a bit on the fence about chocolates with liquor filling, because I often find the liquor to be completely overwhelming, so it almost feels like you’re taking a shot! But these ones were amazing. You could definitely taste the bitter notes of the Campari, but the white chocolate amazingly balanced this out with its sweetness. It complemented the Crémant very well.

"Sensation" with milk chocolate and caramel

“Sensation” with milk chocolate and caramel

Three of the “flat” rosé wines were from the same wine maker, called “Seduction”, “Sensation” and “Prestige”. My favorite was the one above, “Sensation”, which was paired with a lovely caramel-filled milk chocolate praline. On of the wines came with glass corks, which everybody was dying to get their hands on (I have two of those from other wines, they are SO practical to re-seal bottles when you put them in the fridge!).

My absolute favorite chocolate was a delicious white chocolate triangle filled with elderflower - in Denmark, there is just no getting around their beloved “hyldeblomst”, especially in the summer. It can be a bit too sweet for me sometimes, but in this case the sweetness was offset with some tangy lime, which worked amazingly well. We paired it with the “Prestige”, but to be fair, I could probably eat an entire case of those babies on their own!

rosechocolate5

“Prestige” with white chocolate, elderflower and lime

The final wine was a complete eye-catcher, as it had a much deeper, almost red color, whereas all the previous ones had been soft peach/ rose/ pink colors. It was also the oldest one, a “Tavel” from 2010, and we fittingly paired it with a dark chocolate (50% cacao). It was quite spectacular, although not an everyday kind of wine. But if you want your guests to really remember an outstanding wine you served with dinner, this one is for you!

Tavel Rosé with dark chocolate

Tavel Rosé with dark chocolate

I find myself really enjoying these wine tasting events, and I’m already planning to go to the next one in 2 weeks! They have a number of events upcoming in June, including a Wine and Cheese Pairing and a Blind Tasting, so if you’re interested, check out their Facebook page. All tastings are held at Café Monellies in Frederiksberg and cost 250-300DKK.

(Note: I am not sponsored by O.M. Nielsen nor am I getting paid to attend the tastings or write about them. I pay for my attendance and what I write is my honest opinion. I did swipe one of the glass corks though.)

A weekend treat: Spicy chicken burgers with avocado crema

Posted in Recipes by

Confession: I love burgers. Yes, there’s that little voice inside my head saying “you know, salads are much healthier!” and “you probably shouldn’t order fries with that!” and “you’re going to regret that tomorrow!” but I will always, and that is ALWAYS!,  be up for a good burger! (and to you, little voice: YES I should order fries with that and NO the only way I’ll regret this decision is if the burger turns out to be un-yummy!)

There’s a number of great burger places in Copenhagen. Halifax, for instance, is the obvious answer, but I’ve also written about a great burger place in Vesterbro and, most recently, Café von Fressen in Frederiksberg. If you’re looking for a good burger in Copenhagen, chances are you won’t be disappointed.

But why not make a nice burger at home? If you’re looking for a slightly different recipe, here it is: A nice juicy patty of ground chicken with some chili and sharp red cheddar, topped off with a nice avocado crema - delicious! You can of course feel free to add any other toppings or condiments to the burger, for example I imaging that some crispy bacon would be AH-mazing!

burger 1

Spicy chicken burgers with avocado crema

(for 4 persons)

400g ground chicken

1 small red onion

50g grated red cheddar

1 egg

2 tbsp. bread crumbs

1 ripe avocado

2 tbsp. yoghurt or creme fraiche

4 burger buns

salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin

tomato and cucumber slices

if desired, other condiments (e.g. ketchup, mustard)

if desired, other ingredients (e.g. bacon)

Chop the onion into small cubes. Mix with ground chicken and grated cheddar, add egg and breadcrumbs and season with salt, pepper and chili powder (you can also opt to finely hack a red chili and use that instead). Form four burger patties and grill or fry in a pan. Ensure that they are done all the way since it’s chicken!

Cut avocado into cubes and put into the blending container of a stick blender. Add the yoghurt or creme fraiche. Season with salt and cumin. Blend until smooth. (Side note: Avocado and cumin is possibly one of my favorite combinations ever. They just go together so well. If you haven’t tried it, do so immediately!)

Toast the burger buns and cut in half. Put a patty on each bottom bun, top off with the avocado crema, tomato and cucumber slices as desired. I also used a little bit of sweet mustard and some ketchup on mine (because I LOVE ketchup. I will put it on anyhting. Seriously. If it’s not dessert, I might just put ketchup on it. Don’t judge me!).

Ignore the little voice in your head and serve with fries or potato wedges. You’re having a chicken burger. That’s healthy!

Spicy chicken burger with avocado crema

Spicy chicken burger with avocado crema

A feel of home: Two German spots in Frederiksberg/ Vesterbro

Posted in Around Copenhagen by

Who doesn’t know the feeling of being a bit homesick? Yes, no matter how lovely Copenhagen is, sometimes I just miss some good old German stuff. Sometimes I ask my mom to send me a care package of things I can’t buy here. This usually includes Gemüsebrühe (German vegetable stock), because the Danish “bouillon” just doesn’t taste the same to me. Other things include a curry-lentil sandwich spread (I’m planning to try to make my own though, so if and when I succeed, I’ll post the recipe) and German Remoulade, which is significantly different from the Danish remoulade not only by pronounciation!

Anyway, in the recent weeks I’ve been led to discover two German-inspired places in the hip Frederiksberg/ Vesterbro border area:

The first spot is Berlin Bar, self-described as “Copenhagen’s German beer bar”, with over 140 different German bottled beers and more on tap. Located on Gammel Kongevej, it’s a cozy dimly-lit, no-frills sort of dive bar - the type of spot you end up in late in the night, since you probably started out somewhere more fancy. The walls are decorated with German plaques, posters, signs, soccer scarfs etc. and behind the counter you can see part of the selection, which includes regional specialty brews as well as some well-known brands. They get major plus points for mixing me a “Berliner Weisse mit Schuss” (i.e. wheat beer with raspberry syrup). Some minus points for not having my home-town beer Krombacher (even though it’s one of the most popular and most sold beers in all of Germany!).

 

Wall decorations

Wall decorations

Berliner Weisse (slightly wrong glass, but tasted fine)

Berliner Weisse (slightly wrong glass, but tasted fine)

Never heard of this brand, but would love to try

Never heard of this brand, but would love to try

 

The second place is located on Vesterbrogade, right on the border between Frederiksberg and Vesterbro. It’s called Von Fressen and the owners proudly produce a lot of what they sell themselves, including for example the Ginger Ale. I went there for dinner and cocktails. The menu is very German-inspired, including classics like Wienerschnitzel (I saw one being served to some other guests, and it looked very good!). They also do brunch, which sounds quite nice as well from the menu alone.

Menu at Von Fressen

Menu at Von Fressen

As a pre-dinner drink, I chose a cocktail called “dasein” (impossible to translate), which had gin, cucumber, sours and ginger - definitely recommended, but only if you like ginger, because there’s a LOT in there! They have some signature cocktails which have names like Schopenhauer or Karl Marx, which are also very tasty. During happy hour, there’s a 2 for 80DKK offer which is a steal. I think happy hour starts at 6pm, if I’m not mistaken.

"dasein" cocktail

“dasein” cocktail

For dinner, I chose one of their burgers. Mine had goat’s cheese on it and was simply delicious. All burgers can be selected on rye bread or a bun, with classic beef, chicken or falafel. Choose the potatoes as a side, they are baked golden brown and melt in your mouth. They also come with a very nice dipping sauce.

Goat's cheese burger

Goat’s cheese burger

All in all, Von Fressen is certainly a hip place, and not on the cheap end of the scale, however, not on the super expensive end either. I would also simply go there for a coffee and maybe sample one of their desserts. There were of course also cakes and cookies available, café-style.

So if you’re a German in Copenhagen, next time you get homesick, grab a Wienerschnitzel or an “Opa’s morgenmad” (grandpa’s breakfast) at Café Von Fressen and then head a couple of streets over to Berlin Bar to drown your sorrows in one of their many, many beers - Prost!

Wine tasting “The Color of Wine” at Café Monellies, Frederiksberg

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Hello and happy weekend!

Yesterday, we had the great pleasure to attend a wine tasting at Café Monellies in Frederiksberg. I didn’t know Monellies before, but it certainly wasn’t the last time I went there. It’s one of those cute little places where the tables and chairs don’t match, and they have the most adorable colorful pictures with birds on the walls. The shelves are full with wine, coffee, chocolates, tea and other gift ideas, such as Jack Daniels whiskey fudge (must try this some time!). It’s a very cozy and friendly atmosphere. If you want to know more check out their homepage here: Café Monellies, Frederiksberg.

But now, the wine! I had found out about this event on MeetUp, and I was immediately interested. The idea was to learn more about what a wine’s color can teach you about the wine itself. There’s a reason that wine experts often do “blind tastings”, because the color of the wine can tell them almost everything they need to know! So the setup was that we were going to test two wines from the same region and the same grape, but of different ages and flavors, so we could dierctly compare the colors and what they meant for the wine’s age and taste. The event was hosted by the lovely Annai, who works for a Danish wine importer and is an absolute wine expert.

The event started out with a welcome drink, a rosé prosecco that had just arrived in Denmark - we were basically the first people in Denmark to taste it! We learned about the difference between proseccos (spumante and frizzante) and champagne (it’s all in the bubbles!) and were amazed at the fact that even though the prosecco was made from red grapes and therefore was a rosé, this didn’t show in the color at all! It looked like a regular white sparkling wine, but the smell (sorry, the nose!) and the aromas showed it actually was a rosé.

The Chardonnays:  Pouilly Fuisse Tradition 2011 (left) and Vielles Vignes 2008 (right)

The first comparison we had were two glasses of Chardonnay from Burgundy, France. They were even from the same vinyard and producer, but from different years (2008 and 2011). Their colors showed very nicely the spectrum for white wines: the 2011 was a typical yellow-ish color, while the 2008 shimmered golden, almost orange.

The 2011 was very fresh and had notes of minerals and citrus, whereas the 2008 was probably one of the most spectacular white wines I’ve ever tried. When I smelled and tasted it, I was initially reminded of red wine, and later Annai confirmed that they must have exposed the wine to the grape seeds, stems and skins, because it actually did have some tannins. It was absolutely delicious, and all participants were sad to hear that we had actually gotten the last box of this wine and that it is no longer available!

Pouilly Fuisse Vielles Vignes 2008 Chardonnay

Pouilly Fuisse Vielles Vignes 2008 Chardonnay

Next, we tasted a pair of reds, Pinot Noir, also from the Burgundy region. The younger one was a 2011 Gevrey Chambertin “Les Jeuns Rots” (left), the older one a 2008 Hautes Cotes de Nuits “Cuvée Maelie” (right). As the picture quite nicely shows, these two were very different in their colors as well:

The two Pinot Noirs from Burgundy

The two Pinot Noirs from Burgundy

While Pinot Noir is normally not a dark grape variety, the 2011 had a very saturated, purple-ish/ magenta color. We were taught that the older a wine gets, the easier it gets to read your paper through it - it was almost impossible with the 2011, but the 2008 was clear enough that you could actually read through it. Its color also went more towards a brick type of red. Both wines were delicious, but the 2008 was more my taste.

Finally, we sampled two different Tempranillos from Ribera del Duero, Spain. The first one was a 2011 Alidis Roble (left), the second one a 2009 Alidis Crianza. As you can see in comparison to the Pinot Noir, the Tempranillo grapes are much darker. These two wines were probably the most similar to each other in both color and taste.

The two Tempranillos from Ribera del Duero, Spain

The two Tempranillos from Ribera del Duero, Spain

We learned that the Spanish appelation is much simpler than the French one and is based on how long the wine has aged in the barrel: for a Roble, it’s at least 6 months, a Crianza has to age at least 14 months, a Reserva 18 months, and a Gran Reserva ages a minimum of 24 months in the barrel. While I did enjoy trying these two wines, I preferred the other reds - maybe Tempranillo is not my grape.

All in all, it was a great event, and I’ve been told that Annai frequently hosts these themed wine tastings. For example, there have been events on how to pair chocolate and wine in the past (can’t believe I missed that!), and there will be an event with tapas and Spanish wines coming up. If you’re interested in wines, check out the Copenhagen Wine Lovers’ Group on MeetUp!