Tag Archives: food

Restaurant Review: Curry Leaves

Over the past few months the restaurant scene in Sonderborg has seen some changes. First there was Danish contemporary with the opening of Huset Blom close to the new year. This was followed by the opening of the Japanese Niso Sushi close to Easter. Now that the summer is close, it is the turn of an Indian restaurant: Curry Leaves.

Curry Leaves, Sønderborg new restaurant

Curry Leaves opened on the 4th of July close to the harbour (where there used to be an Argentinian Steak House up to a few months ago). We visited Curry Leaves with some friends of ours on the Saturday to see what the restaurant will offer.

First of all I would say I quite liked the decor. Quite Indian/South East Asian without being over the top in your face all the time. Also, the space was bigger than I imagined the restaurant to be looking in from the outside.

For the first week the offer was that rather than ordering from the menu you could get a free mango lassi welcome drink followed by a buffet of a variety of dishes. I thought this was a great way of introducing the people to a wide variety of dishes they might want to try at a later point, as well as encourage them to be adventurous with their choices; if you don’t like it you can try something else.

Curry Leaves Buffet

Although the buffet worked well from a selection point of view there seemed to have been some problems with supply. It could be that there were more people than they expected, with the restaurant being quite full. This meant that items constantly had to be replenished. They were doing a good job on the replenishment but, we were doing a much better job on the eating.

Curry Leaves Sonderborg buffet

Nevertheless, the food tasted good. I particularly liked the butter chicken and the pallac paneer (a spinach dish). I would have liked the food to be a bit more spicy, especially the vindaloo, which I expected to be super hot. However, considering that they were trying to cater for so many different taste buds (including kids) I think it was a good compromise. They also promised us that when it is a regular restaurant from next week, you can ask for spices to your taste level.

So some teething problems, especially with the buffet concept they had on for this one week. However, we should probably return after they have settled into the serving restaurant concept in a few weeks time and see how they perform then. After all, the food was tasty (if not spicy enough for me). Oh, and if you go, do try the mango lassi! It was an inspired idea to offer them for free in the first week as I am sure many people will have them again and again on future visits… including me!

Skaertoft Molle Bread and Food Festival

Skaertoft Molle is a small-scale organic mill located to the East of Sonderborg owned by Jørgen Bonde and Hanne Risgaard and their daughter Marie-Louise. The special thing about this mill is that it specifically focuses on organic freshly-ground flour with bran and germ that is especially suited for bread-making.

The mill started to mill its own flour in 2004. This required a lot of effort and knowledge on their side in order to produce the best flour they could. Part of this research led the owners to Richard Bertinet in Bath (UK), a well-known name in the bread-making world. It was Bertinet himself who suggested the idea of a Bread and Food festival at Skaertoft, which led to the first festival in 2008, and Bertinet being a guest at this years festival!

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The Bread and Food festival is held on a weekend towards the end of August/beginning of September every year. Each year a specific theme is chosen, with the theme this year being two: Smorrebrod (Scandinavian open sandwiches) and Food waste. During the festival there is a programme of events going on, with presentations, demonstrations, guided tours as well as competitions. On top of that there is a ‘mill market’ with around 25 producers from the German/Danish border region. Oh, and, of course, you can buy the mill’s own flour and other products.

We visited the mill for the festival on Saturday afternoon. There was a real vibe around the place, with many chefs in chef whites and chef blacks happily buzzing around, talking together and appearing to have a good time. We had a look around the stalls, sat in on a demonstration by Bertinet on making dough, and watched a sheep farmer and her dog round up sheep.

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If you’re still looking for something to do tomorrow (1st of September 2013), at 30 DKK a visit to the festival is a good option. Whether you like baking, are interested in local produce, or are a student looking for plenty of free tasters, it should be easy to find something that catches your eye. If you are reading at a time outside the festival, you can always visit the mill on During the rest of the year you can visit the mill on a Mondays at 14-18 to buy the mills own produce. Courses on bread making and baking are also held at the mill on a regular basis.

Skærtoft Mølle
Skærtoft 4
6440 Augustenborg

Taste King Frederik’s favourite dish

I am not sure which King Frederik it is, or how they know that this was his favourite dish. But it is offered at Restaurant Colosseum, one of the restaurants along the harbour front in Sonderborg. The restaurant website doesn’t give much information about this dish besides that it is a house speciality, and an email I sent to the restaurant remained unanswered so I am none the wiser, but wherever it comes from, I am glad it is on the menu!

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The dish consists of ox in a spicy sauce. It is served with potatoes, french fries (yeps: both!) and small portions of chopped egg, onions and beetroot. The sauce is a rich, liberally supplied sauce, making it perfect for dipping your potatoes in it (alas, if I was back home I would love dipping bread, but this is Denmark, so no bread, just potatoes). It comes served as a very generous portion in a pan (yeps: a pan!) with the other side dishes in separate bowls. In fact, if you are not very hungry, or are taking a starter and dessert it may also be possible to share.

And if you are not in Sonderborg? Well, you can also make it yourself! Here’s the recipe:

Serves 4 people

  • 600-700 grams of flank steak
  • 4 tbsp chopped onions
  • 1.5 tbsp curry
  • 3 tbsp edelsüss paprika
  • 0.5 litre of whipped cream
  • 4 tbsp ketchup
  • A good splash of Worcestershire sauce

Cut the flank steak into strips and brown them well in the pan. The chopped onion is fried with the curry and paprika. Let it simmer for a bit. Whipped cream, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce are added. Let it boil for a couple of minutes.

Serve with potatoes and fries and as sides make:

  • One bowl of chopped eggs
  • One bowl of chopped onion
  • One bowl of chopped beetroot

Nordic Cuisine

For a long time, the words ‘Nordic Cuisine’ was not something on most people’s minds. The concept of Nordic food was often synonymous with a farmer’s diet of meat and potatoes. However, this is changing, a change that mainly started with the success of Noma, a restaurant founded by Claus Meyer and head chef Rene Redzepi with the intention of reinventing Nordic cuisine.

The success of Noma was further bolstered by the New Nordic Food manifesto by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2005. This manifesto encourages people to make use of the ingredients found around them and, combined with knowledge on health and well-being, push Nordic food further into the limelight.

Picking berries in the forrest

However, my experience is that this is not a food movement about what everyday people eat. When you think of a Mediterranean diet, or a Thai or Chinese, this is actually what people in these areas eat on a regular basis. However, New Nordic food appears to be more of a top-down process, rather than bottom up where the people living in the land put forward what they eat on a daily basis. New Nordic food is still something that is more closely connected to high-end restaurants than of Mette and Jens Andersen in their home kitchen.

Nevertheless, I decided to learn a bit more about this new Nordic Cuisine. A few years ago I had attended a book launch by Rene Redzepi in London, where my main memory is about ‘shit’ produce (as was most of the publicity afterwards!).

Mashed pea on toasted rye bread

Now I was in Denmark, so I toodled along to one of the ‘New Nordic Food’ courses being held around the country. The course was good fun, but supporting my previous impression, most of the recipes we tried few people said that they were inspired to cook them again at home. I am still waiting to be convinced about it! Maybe some one wants to have a go at this for me? Reservations at Noma could also work!

Valentines Day in Sonderborg

While it is cold outside you might want to warm up with someone special and celebrate Valentine’s Day this coming Tuesday.

We emailed the local cafe’s and restaurants to hear if they had any special offers next week. Here are their suggestions:

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Cafe Figo is the only place we found a dedicated Valentines offer. They have candlelight dinner with a special menu including welcome drink, tapas for two and dessert for 299DKK for a couple. To take advantage of the offer you need to book beforehand 74 44 90 44.

Restaurant OX-EN “is always a good place to spoil the one you love with great food in a cozy atmosphere.” OX-EN has a three course winter menu for 269DKK that looks really good.

Cafe Ib Rehne Cairo recommends their “Burger & Bio” offer. Get a cafe burger, a glass of beer, wine or soft drink – and a ticket for the cinema for 199DKK. Book table and pay at the cafe and reserve your seat in Kinorama cinema.

Jespers Kockkerier is not open on Vaentine’s Day. If you can wait until Friday Jesper has an offer called Nem Fredag (Easy Friday) where he prepares a two course dinner for 159DKK that you can heat at home. Book Friday before noon and pick upbetween 4pm and 7pm.

What are your plans for Valentines? Do you have ideas we have not mentioned here?

Painting heart with light