Eating Really Well
The previous weekend, me and my family was in Ribe for a weekend stay at Hotel Dagmar. My dad’s aunt wanted to get the family together while my sister was in Denmark to celebrate her birthday.
Hotel Dagmar is on the main square of Ribe, right next to the cathedral. As most of the old town it is from the 1500’s and is protected. A great plus is that you’re allowed to bring dogs to the hotel, and although they officially don’t allow dogs in the restaurant, they will happily bring you a doggy bowl with water and pet him if he is brought.
The subject of this entry, however, is not the hotel. The subject is the food. The weekend stay we were on was a “Gourmet Stay” which includes a 6 course dinner.
You know the food is going to be good when one of the “instruments” layed out before you is a “gourmet spoon”
The menu for the evening was:
3 Types of Salmon
Raw Salmon mixed with different herbs, Salmon roulade, and warm Salmon mousse. Served on a cold asparagus creme with slices of green asparagus.Calf sweetbread (the thymus gland or pancreas of the calf) in a pointed cabbage roll, together with grilled sweetbread on a brioche with port wine sauce.
Steamed lemon sole in a lobster consommée.
Champagne sorbet
Guinae hen in serrano ham in ratatouille with pommes gallet and basil sauce.
A selection of cheeses
Nougat tureen with ginger creme brûlée, strawberry sorbet in an almond basket, served with fresh strawberries and poached apple and pear.
This was the first time I’ve tried a 6 course dinner of this caliber, where I’ve actually liked everything. Actually, it was the first time I’ve had a 6 course dinner of this caliber. The food was simply excellent.
To start off the dinner we had the salmon starter. It was simply excellent. The raw salmon was chopped finely, and tasted great. The mousse melted in the mouth. And the asparagus creme finished off the dish brilliantly, suitably sweet and cremy to complement the salmon.
I wanted to photograph all the food, but with the eating and all, I simply forgot. I do have some of the dishes on film though. The first was the sweetbread, kalvebrissel in Danish.
The grilled sweetbread seemed to have a thin flour or batter coating, and was extremely tender. The taste had a hint of liver, without being overpowering (as I feel liver often is). The pointed cabbage seemed like it was in stiff cream sauce that had been set around the sweetbread. Very delicious.
The sole in consommée wasn’t that great. The sole was tender and tasted good, but it wasn’t salt enough to offset the sweetness of the lobster consommée. The consommée had the characteristic taste of lobster soup which is a fatty sweetness. I don’t care for it much, but for those who do this would also be a very good dish.
The champagne sorbet was a refreshing little break from the real food, and served very well to cleanse the palate. It had the distinctive champagne taste, and wasn’t too sweet.
On to the guinea hen (or fowl). It was beautifully laid out with the pommes gallet — essentially a backed slice of roughly mashed potatoe — in the background. The serrano ham worked very well to salten the meat and complemented the other flavours in a fork-full wonderfully. This dish was very close to the flavours having a party in your mouth.
The second to last dish was a selection of cheeses. There was two types of goats cheese, a dubliner or mature cheddar, as well as some blue cheese and other types I didn’t even want to come near. Those that like cheese say the cheeses were all good.
Finally, the nougat tureen, which was essentially a roulade with nougat and some kind of cake, was served. The creme brûlée is right up my alley, and was devoured quickly. The strawberry sorbet also had the right amount of tartness to sweetness. I don’t care much for almond baskets, and the tureen was a bit dry, but it worked well together.
To round off the meal, petit fours were served with the coffee. Normally I don’t hold back on the chocolate, but having eaten those 6 dishes I couldn’t really get excited for chocolate filled with marzipan, and went for a walk with Susan, Simon, Malene, and our dog Toby.