Michelin chefs bring Nordic summer to Copenhagen Airport

Starting on 20 August, Nordic summer cuisine will be available in a pop-up restaurant at Copenhagen Airport. In the open kitchen, star chefs Thomas Rode, Mikkel Marschall and David Johansen will take turns offering travellers delicious Nordic tasting menus. The occasion is the ninth Copenhagen Cooking food festival.

From 20 August to 29 September, travellers will have the opportunity to enjoy exceptional gastronomy at Copenhagen Airport. As part of the Copenhagen Cooking food festival, the airport will host a specially designed pop-up restaurant called CPH Nordic Dining. At the restaurant, star chefs Thomas Rode from one of Copenhagen’s premier restaurants, Kong Hans Kælder, David Johansen from another premier Copenhagen restaurant, Kokkeriet, and Mikkel Marschall from the Danish island of Bornholm will take turns cooking tailored tasting menus inspired by the Nordic summer.

“Gastronomy is one of the strongest trademarks of Denmark, and we want to use CPH Nordic Dining to give travellers a taste of the latest and very best of what Copenhagen and Denmark as a whole have to offer. This year, also the island of Bornholm has earned a strong position in the world of Nordic cuisine,” said Copenhagen Airport’s VP for Sales and Marketing, Carsten Nørland, referring to Mikkel Marschall, who has been highly acclaimed as chef for the restaurant Kadeau Bornholm.

“I look forward to presenting my tasting menu, which consists of foods from small local producers on Bornholm. I can reveal here that the menu will include Bornholm products like liquorice from Johan Bülow, local potatoes, ham from Hallegård and dairy products from the St. Clemens coop dairy,” said Marschall.

A taste of Danish summer
The three chefs have each composed a tasting menu which they will prepare and serve to their guests from the restaurant’s open kitchen. The three star chefs will be present in person much of the time and do their magic in the kitchen with a team from SSP who is in charge of the service at the restaurant.

“F&B is one of the key differentiators in an airport’s efforts to create an authentic sense of place. Our team works closely with the chefs to give guests an authentic bite of Denmark, prepared with local high-quality food products right before their eyes,” says SSP Denmark’s CEO Tina Grønbech.

The chefs are not yet prepared to tell us precisely what the menus will consist of, but they do give a couple of hints:

“The focus of Kokkeriet is on good Danish seasonal products, and our tasting menu will include new interpretations of classic Danish dishes like the popular Danish dessert rødgrød med fløde,” said David Johansen of Michelin-restaurant Kokkeriet.

Thomas Rode will also be serving food based on local products and cooked in genuine Paleo style.

“Without revealing too much, I can tell you that I focus on ensuring that there is a lot of protein in the food I’ll be serving. When you are going on a long trip, you need good, wholesome food, so that you can relax, whether you are travelling for business or on holiday with the family,” said Rode.

Putting CPH on the F&B map
The CPH Nordic Dining initiative is a natural continuation of the F&B strategy executed at CPH in recent years.

“Over the past two years, we have managed to substantially improve our F&B offer. We have brought in a number of strong brands and focused on creating value for money across categories – and with great success. A Michelin-level pop-up restaurant definitely reflects our ambition for the F&B category: we aim to have one of world’s best F&B offers in an airport, and we aim to continue to surprise and thrill travelers at CPH. Not only does it take time and effort: it also takes strong airport partnerships. In many ways, CPH Nordic Dining is a great example of the trinity at work,” said Carsten Nørland.

To complete the Nordic experience, glassware and crockery from Danish brands Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard and Rosendahl is sponsored for the pop-up restaurant by living, design and furnishing shop Illums Bolighus, and CPH shops such as Royal Copenhagen, Copenhagen Airport Tax Free, Peter Beier Chocolate, Bülow Lakrids, Foodmarket, WHSmith and Fine Food are supporting this extraordinary event with special offers for travelers.

Follow CPH Nordic Dining on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cphairport) and Instagram (@copenhagenairport or #CPHNordicDining13).

Copenhagen Cooking is Northern Europe’s largest food festival. This year, the festival will take place for the ninth time from 22 August until 1 September. For more information on the festival, please visit http://www.copenhagencooking.com/

FACTS ABOUT THE CHEFS AT CPH NORDIC DINING:

Thomas Rode, Restaurant Kong Hans Kælder
Celebrity chef Thomas Rode has run Restaurant Kong Hans Kælder in the heart of Copenhagen for 17 years. In collaboration with the tightly-knit staff, he has secured the restaurant a Michelin star for just as many years.
In recent years, Thomas has shifted his culinary focus, and he now increasingly prioritises that the ingredients he uses and the way they are produced satisfy the body’s need for proper nourishment – without impacting the reputation of Restaurant Kong Hans as a stronghold of hedonism. This shift in focus is the result of Thomas’ own transformation due to physical exercise and a Stone Age lifestyle, all described in his book Stone Age Diet.
You can experience Thomas Rode’s culinary art at CPH Nordic Dining from 20 August to 2 September.
Thomas will be at the restaurant on 20-24 August, 26 August and 28-30 August – from 12 noon each day.

Mikkel Marschall, Marschall Food Event
Mikkel Marschall comes from the island of Bornholm and has gained experience from the finest gourmet and Michelin-starred Danish restaurants; La Rosetta, Henne Kirkeby Kro, Søllerød Kro, Formel B, Restaurant Hermann and most recently as chef at Kadeau Bornholm from 2012 to 2013. Mikkel has participated in several competitions, including the qualifications for Bocuse d’Or – the World Cooking Contest – as well as the Langustine Lobster Festival on the island of Læsø. Additionally, he has won a bronze medal as Chef of the Year 2011.
Mikkel has always been very passionate about Bornholm and the island’s culinary ingredients, which make up a substantial part of almost everything he tries his hand at. At the age of 21, he established the competition Sol over Gudhjem (Sun above Gudhjem) on Bornholm, which today has grown to become the largest and most prestigious chefs’ competition in Denmark.

You can experience Mikkel Marschall’s culinary art at CPH Nordic Dining from 3 September to 16 September.
Mikkel will be at the restaurant on 3 September, 5-8 September and 12-16 September – from 12 noon each day.

David Johansen, Kokkeriet
For almost 4 years, David Johansen has managed the pots and menus at Restaurant Kokkeriet in Copenhagen.
David has previously worked at several premier Copenhagen restaurants. First as chef at Restaurant Els in 2003, then at Restaurant De Gaulle in Kronborggade, the Premisse, Restaurant Ego and Kong Hans Kælder. In 2012, David won The Culinary Festival Bernard Loiseau, and he has recently featured in the new cooking show, Cecilie & The Food Club, on the Danish national channel TV 2, in which eight of Denmark’s finest chefs challenge each other with new and innovative menus. David’s style is playful, bold, curious and patient. The mood in the kitchen is cordial and professional –always with an eye to the guests at the tables.
You can experience David Johansen’s culinary art at CPH Nordic Dining from 17 September to 29 September.
David will be at the restaurant on 17, 18, 20, 23 September and 25-27 September– from 12 noon each day.


FACTS ABOUT CPH NORDIC DINING:

• The pop-up restaurant CPH Nordic Dining will serve food matching the Copenhagen Cooking theme of ’Nordic Summer’ during the period from 20 August to 29 September.
• The restaurant will be open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Breakfast will be served from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m., and the lunch/dinner menus from 11.30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• The restaurant’s Nordic Tasting Menu will be a menu composed of three servings – a starter, a main course and a dessert. The three star chefs will take turns composing the menu.
• The price of a Nordic Tasting Menu is DKK 279, while two varieties of breakfast will be available, at DKK 99 and DKK 149 respectively.
• All the dishes will be served on tableware from Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard and Rosendahl.
• The restaurant will be located airside right outside the duty- and tax-free store after security. Only passengers will have access to the restaurant.
• Reservations can be made online to richardt.landgren@ssp.dk.