When Trine and I were in Kolding last time, we had dinner at Restaurant Nögen. The restaurant focuses on sustainability and primarily cooks with ingredients that would otherwise go to waste, taking a very active role in reducing food waste.
There’s no fixed menu, as the kitchen works with whatever ingredients are available that particular week, so you don’t know in advance what will be served. There is, however, a vegetarian option, and when we visited, the kitchen handled Trine’s many food allergies impressively, tailoring the entire meal to fit our restrictions.
That evening, the staff mentioned that they had received a lot of kale and pork, but the dishes were varied and thoughtfully put together, with a wide range of techniques and flavor combinations. In addition to pork, the menu included, among other things, a really good ceviche made with greater weever, as well as braised lamb and several meat free dishes.
We had ten courses including snacks and dessert, which sounds like a lot, but the portions were well balanced, and we ended up finishing almost everything.
My favorite dish of the evening was the dessert, a delicious plum compote with coconut sorbet, while Trine’s top pick was the ceviche.
Other highlights included pork neck marinated in a smoked paprika dry rub, served with a root vegetable purée and chimichurri, as well as a tortelloni filled with carrot cream and topped with grated Vesterhavsost.
Considering the limitations of working with whatever ingredients happen to come in, the overall level was impressively high. I think it’s a fantastic concept, and Nögen deserves a lot of credit for turning ingredients that might otherwise have been discarded into a really good dining experience.
Read more about Nögen and book a table on their website
My blog about The Heart of Jutland
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Nögen, Jernbanegade 13, 6000 Kolding, Denmark
