It’s hard to look past the culinary headliners of Noma. But man can not live on one meal alone. Even if it includes 12 appetisers.
The morning after our feast at Noma we woke up in need of food, and coffee. Good coffee we found at The Coffee Collective in Nørrebro.
Yes, it really is that good. But a piece of tart and a croissant doesn’t always cut it in the morning.
Luckily, a sterling breakfast can be found just 200 metres up the road.
It’s breakfast so good, that I’m questioning whether it’s the best eggs benedict in the world.
Christian Pugsili and Kim Rossen are Noma alumni. They’re now the forces behind both Relæ and Manfreds. From all appearances Relæ dwells in the tribe of Matbaren/ Momofuku Ssam, St John; it’s a nieche that’s about great produce, cleverly used and served in a space that’s marked by minimal fuss.
Sadly, we didn’t have enough meals up our sleeves to make it to Relæ. I think we would have liked it. But luckily, its cousin across the street follows a similar tune- as well options for take away and being open for brunch.
Manfreds is a slightly austere corner building, grey from concrete. The floors are tiled, the benches wood. The main features are the large blackboards which spell out the menu in Danish capitals.
Drinks first; bio dynamic blood orange juice is a bittersweet jolt of sunshine in a glass, lurid fuchsia and thick like a shake.
Then food: there are options of fried eggs, sausages, bacon and sourdough, or organic yogurt with muesli.
But it’s really about the eggs benedict.
When done badly eggs benedict appears as a doughy putty of muffin, with dry ham, turgid eggs with a sopping of acrid hollandaise. It’s fat sandwiched with fat, with rivers of salty gloop that run across a plate. I often find a film of saturated stickiness has taken up residence on the roof of my mouth for hours afterwards.
I don’t often order it at breakfast. There’s not enough texture. There’s not enough sweetness. There’s just not enough life
This is an eggs benedict I would happily order most days left in mine.
The carbohydrate is a thin slice of gutsy dark danish bread, toasted until it cracks when you break it. It’s generously glossed with butter. Over that are thin slices of salt baked celeriac instead of bacon and baby spinach which still has all of its structural integrity.
Over the top are two eggs which have been gently poached so the whites are consistent but the yolks run like energetic six year olds after an ice cream truck. The hollandaise is lighter than a sabayon- the perfect combination of fluff and fattiness. But what really takes it over the top is the salad on the side. It’s a considerate and pretty inspired stack of crisp red apple, herbs and nuts. Crunch, sweetness and contrast.
It’s a gobsmackingly good.
It’s also packs a punch. So unless your wife affectionately calls you The Hungry One on the internet, my advice would be; share.
Or perhaps time your visit for an occasion that isn’t the morning after you made your way through 24 courses at the best restaurant in the world.
I told you there was plenty of good things to eat in Copenhagen.
Manfreds
Jægersborggade 40
2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
3696 6593
http://manfreds.dk/
Brunch, Sat-Sun, 10:00-14:00
