Category Archives: Food

Buy a Seasonal Meat Package at Ronhave Slagteren

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Ronhave Slagteren was opened 2 years ago by Sune Hansen on Kær, the peninsula to the north of Sonderborg. We came across the first time at a flea market where they were selling ringriderpølse soon after they opened. Then we ordered our Christmas duck from there. Recently, however, a friend told us about their seasonal meat packages. We decided to try the summer one out.

The summer meat package for June to Augusts consists of 6 different types of meats (sausages, steaks, stuffed meat) for 399 DKK. If you are interested you can just turn up and one is prepared for you, although we called ahead. All the meats for the summer packages were perfect for barbequing outside.

I would say that each meat type is enough to serve 4 people. It was great to have meat in the freezer already marinated and/or stuffed that we could take out and bung on the bbq grill if we knew we had a busy day ahead. The very generous portions (even for 4, though we were happy to eat it between 2, with plenty of leftovers. But that was us being greedy!) meant that we had plenty to eat every single time.

Would we order it again? Most probably, especially to try different meats. If I had to have on criticism is that the meat was all pork based and pork is my least favourite meat. So maybe I will keep an eye out on future meat packages and keep my fingers crossed for other meats making it in.

Pancake Hut at the Marina

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Up to now if we wanted a pancake we drove to Genner Hoel to the pancake house there. However, now we have one just down the road from our house, in a wooden hut at the Lystbadehavn marina (opposite the Sonderborg Yacht Club).

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The pancake hut was opened on Friday by Emil Thusing. It offers, as is to be expected, pancakes, with toppings including honey, chocolate/strawberry/caramel sauce, sugar and cinnamon. Coffee, tea and juice are also on offer. At a cost of 25 DKK per pancake and 10 DKK for the drinks the prices are very reasonable.

The hut has no set opening hours, but Emil expects to open daily during summer (Except Mondays) from 15:00-21:00. We checked it out today for dessert during our after dinner walk. It did take a while to get a pancake, potentially as the pancake iron was cold, but once it arrived it was pretty good. I am sure once Emil gets more practice he will get quicker as well.

So if during the hot days coming up your are looking for something sweet on your walk along the water don’t forget to check out the pancakes!

Check the Pankagehytten on Facebook for updates. You can pay in cash or with MobilePay.

Fish Buffet at Propperiet

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Propperiet is one of the 3 restuarants next to each other on the harbour. Its focus is mainly on fish and meat. It is open for dinner every day, but on weekends it is also open for lunch with a fish buffet. We decided to try the buffet out this past weekend, and what a difference from the last buffet we reviewed! Both service and the food quality get a big thumbs up here!

We were greeted with a smile and shown to our table as we arrived. We could then help ourselves to the buffet, with drinks brought to the table. The buffet is set up along a long table. As the restaurant is quite small everyone is seated quite close but not on top of each other.

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The website says that there will be at least 20 options at the buffet, and I would say that that was easily present on the day we went. Amongst what I remember off the top of my head there were green mussels to 3 types of salmon, stuffed squid (my favourite) to vitello tonnato. For 19 DKK you can also get a shot of schnapps (3 varieties on offer).

We were very impressed with the presentation, variety and quality of the food. If I had to have one criticism it would be that the items on the top level are not made for short people like me! I couldn’t see inside to see what was in them. But then, at 160 cm not many Danes are my height! At least everything was well labelled so I could ‘see’ what was inside.

Sonderborg buffets have been redeemed! Definitely one to return to.

Review: Castillo & Co. Buffet Restaurant in Borgen

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Update: We revisited Castillo & Co in June 2016. For an updated review check out this post.

As happens every spring, Sonderborg starts getting new restaurants and eating/drinking places. First this year was Kisling’s. Now it is Borgen’s turn with Castillo & Co., serving a buffet lunch and dinner. The name Castillo & Co. is a reference to Borgen itself, since both indicate castles in different languages. When asked for a newspaper article why the ‘& Co.’, the owner mentioned it was to make it a bit softer.

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As always we were curious so we went for lunch there today. On arrival we were quickly greeted with a smile and shown to a table where we could sit with a pram (barnevogn) next to us. We then ordered drinks and were directed to help ourselves at the buffet. A great start – we were hopeful.

The service continued to be good, with a friendly and present server (when needed) and dishes constantly replenished and plates cleared away. Only slight niggle might be that it took a while for drinks to make it to our table, a wait made worse as we were very thirsty. As the place was quite busy we can excuse this.

However, the place is really let down by the quality of the food. Unfortunately, the food is less than inspiring:  it all looks as though it came from frozen and just heated, with the focus being more on quantity than quality. A cold selection with cheeses and cold cut meats, eggs and some fruit. There is also yoghurt and muesli, but I could find no bowls so had to use a flat plate, and an apple cake. On the other side there is the hot selection with fries, eggs, bacon, sausages, breaded fish, chicken and pasta & noodles. There are also pancakes. It would be good, however, if everything was labelled, especially the sauces!

Would we go again? Most probably not. At full price I would more likely opt for a sandwich from Kvickly – cheaper and better quality – or go to another location. If you are still curious maybe try it out in May, when the buffets are half price: 35 DKK for lunch and 45 DKK for dinner. But remember: We tried it so you don’t have to!

Kisling’s: Sønderborg’s new coffee shop

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Spring is here and summer is approaching. As is typical of this time period in Sondebrorg new places for having a drink or a bite to eat are rearing their head. The first to open this year is the very minimal Kisling’s, a coffee shop on Perlegade.

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Kisling’s has been opened by Michael Kisling, a known face on the Sonderborg culinary scene, having been involved in the opening of Brøggeriet a while back. Kisling’s the coffee shop, however, is a different venture to that, focusing more on few, good quality products. Kisling in fact goes to Copenhagen every month in order to roast the coffee himself at Kontra Coffee where he used to be the roast master. So yes, Kisling DOES know his coffee very well.

Options for food are not very abundant: 4 sandwiches, a breakfast platter, and a lunch platter. However, what is offered is good quality, being offered in close collaboration some of the best suppliers in the area, such as bread from Skærtoft Mølle and sausage from Rønhave butcher. The prices are also very reasonable, especially when compared to the cafes further down the road, with the sandwiches costing 35 DKK and the platters 50 DKK.

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Michael first dropped in on a Thursday late afternoon for a beer and a small bite to eat. We then dropped in on a Saturday morning for breakfast. The good thing about the place, especially for us on a Saturday morning having woken up early, is that the place opens at 8:00 Monday to Saturday. This does mean, however, that it closes at 18:00 during the week (and 15:00 on Saturdays).

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It is great exploring new places in Sonderborg, especially when the quality is as it is at Kisling’s: good food, decent prices… and also an outside garden for the good weather we are starting to have.

The Kisling’s website is under construction so for updated information check the Facebook page.

Two Years of Udo’s Fisk

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Living on an island you would expect fish to be abundantly available. However, besides the supermarkets, which sell pre-packaged pieces of fish, fishmongers do not seem to be too abundant here. There is Cafe Brag, at times there is fish being sold from a boat (though not for a long time now) and, for the last 2 years(!) Udo’s Fisk.

Udo Fisk’s is owned by Udo Napierksi, a German who moved to Sonderborg a while back. Udo himself is in the shop every time it is open, offering advice on what to buy, how to prepare it and how to cook what you buy. We have been shopping there for the last 2 years and cannot believe we haven’t written about it. The shop always looks super clean and the selection of fish very decent.

This weekend marks 2 years since Udo’s fisk has been open. For this reason on Friday and Saturday Udo is offering ‘something for the palate’ to customers of the shop. So if you haven’t been there before do drop by. If you cannot make it then you can go any week on Wednesday-Friday 12-17:30 or Saturday 9:30-12:30. Do make sure to have some time to shop as the shop is often busy!

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Oh. And you might wonder, what fish does he have? There is often a variety, but typically salmon (fresh/smoked) cod, herring, mackerel and Udo’s fiskefrikadeller (minced fish balls) are always available. However, every week there is also other fish, including once ‘dorado’, a very common Maltese fish that I miss! If you want to be notified every week of what is available you can also send a text to +45 5183 5323 to sign up to the sms-service where every week you receive a list of what is available. You can also order fish using this same number.

6400 Sønderborg, Denmark

Here’s to many more years of Udo’s fisk!

Udo's Fisk selection

Poshing up Take-Away: Det Franske Hus

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Having had a baby recently time is often at a premium and preparing food low on the agenda. Unless you have friends who bring food over (thanks!) or food stocked in the freezer this may quickly end up in a take-away bonanza. However, quickly you will probably get tired of eating pizza, sushi and/or Chinese.

One place where you can get something that bit different is Det Franske Hus. As the name implies, the place in Broager is run by a Frenchman, Thierry Manane and the aim is to provide good food for its customers. The regular menu on offer is not wide but it changes regularly: a weekly menu (Monday-Friday), a weekly fish menu (Tuesday-Saturday) and a monthly menu are offered. It is mainly for pick-up from Broager, but we were also told that for a charge of 150 DKK they will deliver to Sonderborg.

We opted for the weekly menu on take away last week: warm salmon mousse with fish cream and shrimps as starter, stuffed pork filet with baked leeks and rosti potatoes as main, and apple tart with apricots for dessert. You do not need to order all 3 courses and in fact we ordered 2 starters, 3 mains and 2 desserts between 3 people and got more than full.

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The food came packed in aluminium foil dishes in a polystyrene box. All dishes had clearly marked information on how to warm them up (temperature and duration). It seems that some thought does go into this as the same temperature was required for all dishes, making warming up easy. Warming up times was between 15 and 20 minutes, after which the food was warm through very nicely. This is how the weekly take away offer is served. The other items from Det Franske Hus is offered as catering and is delivered warm and ready to eat with the appropriate china to serve it from.

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We enjoyed all the food. I was particularly surprised by the starter, as it was not something I would have ever picked. The cabbage, in particular, was really nicely spiced probably with cumin, which is not something I would have thought of. The main was a decent piece of pork, though a bit salty, especially for my non-Danish mother who was visiting! The dessert was again really good.

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You can easily order the food by calling them before 10 am on the day and you can agree a time to pick up (or organise delivery). Payment can be in cash or by bank transfer after you collect the food (they have no card terminal).

We were really satisfied with what we got. Furthermore, it is not only for daily food that the place is set up. It is, even more so I would say, set up to deliver food for special occasions. And in fact, that was part of the reason we tried it out: as a trial run for a special meal we have coming up. The trial run went smoothly so we will definitely be ordering more food from there!

Dining at Ballebro Færgekro

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Ballebro Færgekro is an inn right at the edge of the water at Ballebro, where the ferry connecting North Als to the Jutland Peninsula stops. The inn was built in 1729, but only became an inn in 1870. The rooms are located in a building to the back, while the restaurant overlooks the water, just meters from the waters edge. Unfortunately we were there after dusk so could not enjoy the view. However, having been in the area at other times the views would most definitely contribute even more to the dinner itself.

The Menu

The website doesn’t give any information about the food served. The instructions state to call and ask to hear more. However, we took a chance and just called to book and turned up for the surprise.

The menu offered on the day consisted of 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts out of which you can choose whatever combination you want. The price is the same for all dishes in the same course. .

The Food

The starters offered were a venison carpaccio, cod and jerusalem artichoke soup. The mains were beef steak, braised beef and day’s catch of fish. The desserts were baked pear with ice-cream, chocolate mousse and cheese platter. For each plate, we opted for the first 2 options in each section as listed above. Michael also opted for the driving wine menu. The starters also came with bread and butter and the mains with potatoes (we got chips and boiled).

The food arrived at our table at a leisurely but timely pace. It was all very nicely presented and tasted really good. We would say that the quality matched the price. Our favourites were probably the venison carpaccio for Michael and the beef steak for me.

The Service

We were there on a Tuesday evening, which was clearly not a busy day. In fact, there were only 2 other tables: a single woman and a table of three, with some time us being the only guests. The fact that the server wasn’t based in the restaurant room we were in meant that it was all quite relaxed, while the server appeared at regular enough intervals without imposing. I cannot fault the service at all: pleasant, charming and timely without being intrusive.

Overall Experience

Very positive experience for a somewhat special meal out at a decent price. The cost of 2 three-course meals, a 3-glass wine menu and a juice came to a bit under 1000 DKK. Even though the restaurant was empty, do book ahead as the previous time we tried to go there a function on the day meant that we had to leave. Booking also means that they are actually waiting for you. If you prefer to know what is on the menu also do ask in advance; as you will notice there were no vegetarian main courses on the day.

Takeaway Days: Hungry.dk

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Takeaways are very popular in Denmark, especially in university towns such as Sonderborg. The most abundant establishments (by far) are pizzerias (or… pizzarias, as they tend to be called here), offering seating at small tables in the waiting area, as well as delivery.

One of the ways of ordering online is through aggregate websites that help you find takeaways that deliver in your area, select what you want and order. One of these websites is hungry.dk, which seems to be the new kid on the block, having slightly fewer restaurants on the list in the Sønderborg area than similar websites. We decided to try it out one Friday evening when the wind was blowing, the rain was pouring and we were out of food!

Starting with the website itself, it is quite easy to use. I liked the fact that the different menu sections can be collapsed so I didn’t need to scroll down through e.g. burgers if it was pizzas I was interested in. I also liked that at the top they showed you the most popular dishes, as it helps tell you what is good from that place. The rest of the website is, as should be expected, easy to use, even allowing you to very easily select extra toppings for your pizza at the ordering page rather than at the paying page (or just by writing in a text field).

We decided to try Oasen – a couple of friends have spoken fondly of this place. Order through… now you just need to wait. The waiting time given was of 75 minutes, but the pizza arrived with no issues whatsoever within the hour. All in all very good service and I look forward to seeing more restaurants added to the list.

Disclosure: We were offered a voucher for 150 DKK in exchange for trying out the hungry.dk website and writing about it. The opinions on the website are our own.

Eating out: Restaurant Bind

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Ask people in the Sonderborg area to recommend a good restaurant to go out to eat at for some celebration, and you can be sure that Restaurant Bind in Kollund will be one of the top suggestions.

So when we had something to celebrate (new house! But more about that later) we decided to give Restaurant Bind a try.

First Impressions

You find the restaurant by driving along Flensburg Fjord towards Germany and find the restaurant close to Kollund, just before you reach Annie’s Kiosk/Okesøen. The restaurant is not very well marked, having just a small sign, similar in size to a Danish street sign. There is enough parking for the small dining room inside, and from there you make your way to the restaurant by following the signs.

The dining room itself is set out looking on the water, giving you very good views over Flensburg Fjord. On the day we were the first to arrive, so it was absolutely delightful to have the quietness of the restaurant and the view of the fjord all to ourselves.

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If possible I would recommend arriving for dinner before the sun has gone completely down to have the opportunity to enjoy the view. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant, but for even better views I would consider asking for a table next to the window next time.

The Food

First thing you should know about Restaurant Bind is that, unlike most other restaurants, there is a 3-course set menu that changes every 2 weeks, together with 2-3 other dishes that also change depending on what is in season. This does make your choice very easy! You can have a look at the menu online before you go to see what is on offer. It does, however, seem that there is no vegetarian option.

As a lot of people have said, the food is really one of the stars of the plate. Everything complemented each other beautifully. The portions were also, although as to be expected not on the huge size, plenty big enough to make you feel nicely full at the end of the meal. Having bread and water continuously supplied (for free!) to the table when needed also helped make the experience for me (a bread loving Mediterranean).

The Service

Arriving at the restaurant we were warmly greeted by a number of staff. The service remained impeccable throughout the rest of the evening. Considering this, I was very surprised to hear that one of the servers had only been there one week, and for the other it was his first day! So Kasper and Michael I bow my head to the excellent job you did.

Having said all this, if there is one downside to the place is that there is a sort of subtle upselling pressure from the owner that arrives at intermittent points during the evening, namely, aperitifs on arrival and tea after your dessert. This was not something I expected from such a restaurant, but I am sure it works, considering that even though I really don’t like most teas-except British black teas-I was close to saying yes to them! It was also a surprise to see that the alcoholic and non-alcoholic (juice) aperitif cost the same when the bill came. Nevertheless, this was a very very minor blip in an otherwise perfect evening.

Would we go again? When we have something to celebrate and want to treat ourselves, Restaurant Bind will most definitely be high on our list of options! I just need to remember to say no to things I do not like, but I guess that is my problem…