Ferment

En cherchant une restaurant recommandé par notre guide de voyage qui malheureusement était fermé, nous sommes rentrés par hasard dans ce restaurant pour nous réchauffer.
Et quel beau hasard nous à amener dans ce restaurant!
Il est tenu par un danois qui fait des ramens à tomber par terre. De vrais ramens comme au Japon avec de la racine de lotus, de l’algue, de l’oignon rouge mariné… Bref on est loin du ramen vite fait, comme on en trouve si souvent loin du soleil levant! Le tout est très abordable et assez copieux: comptez 110 K pour le ramen!
Les Wontons (ravioli) sont top aussi! Fondant au centre, et croustillants sur les bords! Un maîtrise parfaite de la cuisson!
Si vous salivez déjà, n’hésitez pas et foncez!!!

Went to Ferment today with a lot of expectations to have sour, fermenty food, but was completely disappointed. My boyfriend and I started with a bao, where the bao it self was yellow looking, uncooked piece that stuck in our teeth. The filling was flavorless and even though the menu said kimchi, we could no taste any kimchi in it. For my main course I got a tofu ramen. I have to say that the broth was something even I can make at home with miso paste and the veggies were all raw, even the onion. The tofu had a gamey taste and was completely inedible. My boyfriend felt the same with his pork ramen. Lastly, I got a kimchi mary, which was nothing like expected. The menu said it would be kimchi juice with vodka and some ginger. Instead it was just ginger ale with a dump of vodka with NO kimchi flavor. When the drink was served the owner/​chef said to me «Oh, yeah it does no look or taste anything like bloody mary, but we had to call it something, so there it is.»
I have not been this disappointed in a restaurant in Copenhagen and I particularly feel angry because I love all things fermented and I felt offended even being at that place. Sorry guys, but you need to find another business because your food is pretty inedible.

Fairly priced, also very nice and friendly service. The ramen was really authentic, super tasty and filling. The place was cozy and, luckily enough, not too busy.
I’m definitely coming back another time to try the baos :)

Finally the day has come where there is a dedicated ramen place in Copenhagen. Not only that, but they serve bao! With KIMCHI! Taking advantage of the great weather, we opted to sit outside in the sunshine that was left for the day. I got a kimchi mary, which was VERY strong but tasty and definitely got my appetite going. This drink is only for the most hardcore kimchi lovers.
The bao was excellent. I got the one with anchovies, which were deep fried to crispy perfection and added to the bun with fresh coriander, spring onion, and kimchi. The bun itself had a nice consistency and wasn’t too sweet. Very nice flavours! The ramen was not traditional but rather a spin on it with local products. Mine came with three GIANT slices of pork, pickled red onion, pickled celeriac, spinach, nori, an egg cooked sous vide, and katsuoboshi which waved in the heat from the soup. Great presentation and good flavours. Though I missed shinachiku, the egg made me forget all about it. Next time I will try to order an extra egg, it was perfectly cooked with a semi-​solid yolk. The broth was also very nice, made with a blend of pork and chicken, and I drank most of it.
I really appreciated that the chef came out and explained each dish to us, and even gave us some lovely beetroot and carrot-​daikon pickles. I don’t normally enjoy carrots, but those pickles were great with the perfect balance of sweet-​sour-​salty. He explained that they use mostly organic ingredients and make their own pickles. I make kimchi at home myself and I thought theirs was good. I am so happy that a place like this has finally come to Denmark and I look forward to returning many times.

Ferment — that little place that could.
I have been wanting Copenhagen to have more spice in what cuisine delights the city has to offer, but that would definitely take some to accomplish. When a small place like this boasting to offer «ramen and bao» in a Scandinavian city so far north, it must be «investigated» properly.
To start with the review, the ramen they serve here isn’t the Japanese ramen you’ve probably had or seen somewhere else. It’s a twist of what original ramen is, but it doesn’t mean that it’s bad. Homemade noodles? Check. Good broth? Check. Everything else can be improvised.
I ordered a pork ramen that came with three huge slices of pork — I just hope that they don’t go down on quality once this place is popular.
We also ordered pork bao on the side. Unlike the most common bao form where the fillings are inside the bun, they go taco here by putting the filling right outside. No harm done, the bao still taste like bao (albeit a little on the thin side) and the fillings portion can actually be bigger this way.
The bao is so good that I might just visit this place just to get some baos to go. The fact that I could actually order baos to go instead of smørrebrød or pizza or kebab gives me the shiver.
Service is perfect and since it’s such a rarity in Copenhagen to have a nice service in restaurants, you know when you see it. The guy (waiter /​cook /​owner (?)) cared enough to take our order patiently, made sure that we got everything we needed, explained the content of the ramen and gave us extra pickles and asked to hear whether the food was ok.
I hope this will never change.
Until then, I would have to add this place into my list in town.

First of all, this was an accidental find. We were actually trying to find a café, then stumbled upon this one. We were not sure whether this was a new restaurant or if it had been around for some time.
Let’s talk about the dishes. They serve Ramen and Bao mostly (the chef said that the menu changed from day to day, depending on what ingredients he can get).
First of all the snack (there were only one meal choice).
It is deep fried batter covered anchovies. The batter itself mixed with crushed chilli and honey, which gave this lovely sweet taste. Now I know what you are thinking, it is weird to eat a sweet flavored dried anchovies, but trust me it works. It got a nice heat to it, the perfect snack. The only thing was that it was a small portion hehe.
Second it was a bao.
The bao itself was a traditional Chinese bao (bread like bun). Which was very soft and warm as well. The fillings were chicken, coriander leaves, chilli, onions and pickled cucumber (there were no crushed nuts, it was finished the guy said). Okay, I usually don’t like the western type cucumber pickles. But for some reason I like this combination they have put together. I didn’t even need to ask for extra salt (which was a good sign), and it was just well balanced and fresh tasting. I thought the thinness of each slice was perfect, nothing was overpowering.
Third, came the ramen (One of the reasons we decided to eat at this place). The ramen itself was not a Japanese ramen but a Chinese ramen. The way they prepared the food was using two style, Chinese and French There were 4 different ramen menus you could choose from, chicken, pork, tofu, vegetarian. The tofu one can be made vegetarian style, all they have to do is to use different bouillon for it.
Ok so mine was the tofu one, and my husband ordered the pork one. Now this was where you could see the Asian fusion the male chef mentioned. The way they prepare the ramen was a Chinese cooking method, but the egg… omg have you tried sous-​vide cooked eggs? It was wonderful. I thought for sure the egg yolk would be runny, like those soft boiled egg (I was afraid it will crack open when I lifted up with my spoon, lol). But nope, it stayed intact. I was so surprised by this experience. The male chef (a former chef at a Michelin star restaurant in London) told us that they were doing lots of trial and error, until they reached the perfect degrees for cooking the egg. (bravooo!!).
There were also shaved tuna… yep you heard me right, shaved tuna. It looked just like onion peels lol (don’t judge me please, yeah that was what I thought). It was «dancing» as the steam from the warm broth evaporating and touched the tuna. What a sight ^^.
The other ingredients were (that was memorable as well) pickled purple onion. Splendid. She (the female chef, wife of the male chef) know her ingredients so well and that pickled onions was sweet and not even disturbing the broth whatsoever. There were some greens as well, savoy cabbage, spinach, green onions, and dry wakame. I asked the chef about all the ingredients they are using in their restaurant. He explained honestly that sometimes depended on the economy they would use all organic produce, sometimes not. But the main ingredients such as the egg, pork, and chicken are always organic (good for them, for such honesty). The broth was all homemade, but (for my taste) there was still room for improvement. But it was nice enough for a Copenhagen standard. The noodles were also not as perfect as I would have imagined, but we hardly noticed it. You could tell that both of them were very passionate about their creations.
Go and experience it yourself :)