Copenhagen: Manfreds – Relæ’s ambitious younger brother

Poul is only in Denmark a couple of days this year, so I wanted to take him out for dinner at one of the good Nordic restaurants in Copenhagen. My first choice was the much hyped Relæ, but it is closed in July, so I made a reservation at Manfreds instead. Manfreds is located just opposite to Relæ, and is often referred to as Relæ’s younger brother. It was founded by the same group of people and shares the same suppliers of organic produce.

The wine list is the size of a phone book and contains lots of organic wines. A highly entertaining Norwegian couple, whom we had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with (at Manfred’s the tables stand very close to each other), managed to send their organic and slightly cloudy wine back 2 times. When the waiter explained to them that this is how some organic wines look, they just shook their heads in disbelief and ended up ordering a more traditionally looking wine, while wondering for themselves: “Isn’t red wine supposed be red?”

For 250 DKK (2019: 325DKK) you get 7 different dishes selected by the chef. The 7 dishes are served on small plates, and size and composition roughly corresponds to a starter and a main course.

Poul and I didn’t have to deal with evaluating the color of the wine since we went for a Kølster beer. The beer is specially brewed for Relæ and Manfreds and it was also the only beer available. It had a beautiful, golden brown color and the taste was crisp and round with a touch of honey. Manfreds has certainly made an excellent choice, selecting their solo beer.

The food was really good and crunchingly healthy with exciting elements such as summer cabbage in beer sauce and cauliflower with anchovy crème. Though, when Poul and I were expecting course no. 6 and 7, the waiters were getting ready to clear our table. It turned out that due to a misunderstanding, they thought we’d already had our 7 courses, but I showed them the pictures I had taken of the food we’d had, and they apologized and served us the rest of our meal.

I have also tried Noma, which is another nice Nordic restaurant >>

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Manfreds, Jægersborggade 40, 2200 København