Høst — Restaurant in Copenhagen Municipality

Overall a bit dissppointed. This restaurant has received too much hype and we simply went with too high expectations I guess which is a mistake.

Food

1. Bread & Butter (Was not explained what kind of butter it is, no biggie, we asked)
2. Smoked salmon in cream on a crisp pie bottom, Karl-Johann crème (That’s a mushroom mayo), and some fried dough balls (æbleskiver). All tasted pleasant, no surprises, ok-ingredients with lots of fat combined. (Lets not forget that this is a 395kr menu and not a star-kitchen). I will say: Here starts the crème
3. Scallop in skyr+walnut oil, white currant and pear Nice dish. For people who like a bite with a lot of acidity this is for you. I wish the currant would have been cut at least in half to allow bites with less acidity and let the walnut oil come through more.
4. Crème Mushroom Soup Fresh thyme branches in a cup with a plastic straw and soup is being poured over (I thought that’s a nice idea). We were advised that the soup would be “very hot”. Well it was “still a bit warm” at best. I dislike to write this, but it did give me a resemblance of a 5-minute mushroom soup out of the bag presented in a bit nicer way. I have a self-made dried mushroom powder at home and any reduction I made was stronger in taste than this.
5. Cod with a vegetable crème reduction+green sides Recommendable. The cod was very good and presented in a very nice way. Again heavy crème based sauce – here I would have of course expected it.
6. Tenderloin with a crème thyme sauce+green sides Not recommendable. Very nice sauce in colour and taste. Coating of the tenderloin was very nice and really invited for what I thought would be a nice umami experience. But the meat piece had so much tendon in it, I chewed on half of it and had to put it back to the plate. While some is natural, this here seemed a particularly unlucky piece.
7. Pre-desert Crispy Liquorice Crème brulee with a forrest fruit marmalade and some dried fruit powder on top. Pleasant
8. Desert: Lime ice cream, frozen apple juice, meringue pieces This was a good ending. Arriving on the tonge, felt like eating cold air and when starting to chew, there is creaminess, crunchiness from the meringue and a good balance of acidity and sweetness

Other: Waiters very nice attentative Athmosphere equally pleasant, definitely for the people who don’t like cubic, sterile restaurants We had a table at 6, they started dimming the lights from 7:30 onwards and it was a much nicer light athmosphere so id recommend going a bit later than we did

Wishing Høst...

Høst was one of the restaurants we were excited to visit in Copenhagen; We had heard so many great things about this place so we made sure to book in advance.

The restaurant is part of the Cofoco group, who are known across Copenhagen for their modern Nordic restaurants that focus on sustainability, local produce and beautiful design. Høst embodies all of that; it’s stylish yet relaxed, with lots of natural light and greenery throughout, which gave it a calm and stunning atmosphere. The greenery actually reminded me a little of Vækst, and even the way the sauces were poured over the dishes- I love sauces, so that definitely doesn’t bother me!

The menu showcases modern Nordic cuisine, focusing on what's in season seasonal with lots of creative combinations. We went with the five course menu; every very dish was fresh, beautifully presented and for me, delicious! I loved all of the surprise dishes and palate cleansers that came out in between courses. The only dish that didn't blow my mind was the lobster; lacked the wow factor, but that is just my personal taste.

My personal highlights were the scallops and the hake; both were cooked perfectly and absolutely delicious! They also offer matching wines or wines by the glass, but since we’d had a few too many the night before, we went with their local kombuchas, which were amazing and paired beautifully with the meal.

They do cater for food intolerances and have a vegetarian menu, which is great if you’re dining with a group. Compared to their sister restaurant, I found the experience here to feel more elevated; nothing felt rushed, and the service was spot on. Unlike some others experiences, the team explained everything with care and made sure we always had enough water and were enjoying ourselves without ever feeling over served.

I’d absolutely recommend booking a table if you’re planning a trip...

I’m sorry to say that the entire 5-course menu (w/lobster) was a complete let down for us. We felt it was overwhelmingly heavy and extremely unbalanced, for what on paper should have been a light, refreshing and more varied seafood menu. The ingredients of butter and/or heavy cream made an appearance in every dish, with several of the sauces being over reduced to the point of tasting over salty and leaving our lips/tongues burnt by the amount of salt. There was a lack of freshness such as citrus or acid to breakup all of the heavy fats, so the dishes were unbalanced and soon became very heavy. The scallops were overwhelmed by cream sauce, the “halibut” was a mere shaving of fish also covered by cream sauce and the lobster portion was outsized by a simple salad that took up half the plate. We also didn’t understand the logic of starting our meal with bread and butter, as well as a “free” dish of waffles topped by a rich creamy mayo, other than to fill the stomachs. Or why you would think it a good idea to have potatoes, followed by celeriac, then potatoes again in 3 dishes back to back. We were relieved to see the simple salad of microgeens/beetroot appear on the 4th dish (the main) with the lobster, because we expected to finally have a fresh, lightly dressed salad as a savior to all of the heavy previous dishes, but the salad was completely undressed! It took up half of the plate without any salad dressing and only served as an out of place plate filler. The only real respite came at the very end with the dessert, a bitter mandarin orange sorbet, where atleast bitterness was a new exciting taste to cut the fat. However it did not pair well with the salted caramel sauce. I have no doubts the kitchen executed each dish skillfully with minor mistakes (i.e. sauce over reduction), but sadly the menu and recipes are flawed from...