Restaurant Aure opened just 2 years ago in an old annunciation storage facility in Copenhagen. Just 81 days after opening it received its first Michelin star, but their ambitions did not stop there. Quickly after they got an investor and the restaurant undergone a big remodel.
Walking into the historic building with its massive 2m thick walls, old wooden beans and the elegant open marble kitchen you see a restaurant with a lot of charm. Clearly the investment was put to good use and the feeling of the dining room is not just historic but also luxurious.
Head chef and owner Nicky Arentsen used to work at both Jordnær and Bandholm Badeholm and on the first menu I tried at Aure the inspiration from Jordnær was very obvious in both flavor and presentation. A normal thing as your experience as a chef forms your own palette. Here two years after what I was most curious about was in which direction the food had evolved?
The snacks is usually a place where the chefs show off their presentation skills and attention to details in one bite wonders. Aure is no different and from the start it was obvious.
The first one marked the start of summer with lots of delicate refreshing flavors. If you look closely you can also spot that the nasturtium leaves had been cut using a stensil. From refreshing flavors and soft textures to umami and crispy texture with exotic flavors such as cumquat. Almost all tastning menues in the Nordics have a tarte with caviar dish on the menu. Aure is no different and with this they would find their inspiratation in Japan. You couln’t know just by looking at it but the tarte was a small technical masterpiece consiting of lots of components starting with the tarte that was made of fried rice. To this smoked soy, wasabi flowers, hamachi and Gastrounika Platinum caviar was added on top. A snack that really shows the development of the kitchen. It was a complex dish which only a chef with lots of skills, confidence and time can pull off. Aure then shifted away from technical precision and instead relied on exceptional ingredients. Danish wagyu, nori and onion purée produced exactly the kind of deep, satisfying umami that needs little embellishment.
The next dish could be considered a palete clenser and what a clenser it was. Lime, elderflower and ginger matched with sweet shrimps and vanilla was a perfect combination. Sweet vs acidic.
The way a restaurant approaches their bread says a lot about them. At this level off course they have to make it them selves, but besides that what type of bread do they serve? Sourdough which is the rustic version with its hard crust, milk bread and brioche is the more delicate and refined version from respectively Japan and France. Aure chose milk bread. It was light and fluffy but packed to the limit with butter and they even took it one step further and dipped it in brownbutter infused with herbes after baking. Dripping with fat it was pure joy to eat and your fingers were so sticky that you almost had to lick them after. Already at this point the conclusion was clear. The investment allowed for the kitchen to devote more time executing more elaborate dishes for even stronger flavors with more depth.
Having established its technical credentials, the kitchen slowed the pace. The next courses were quieter and more restrained, allowing pristine seafood to take centre stage. First raw hamachi layered in a perfect circle with a bit of pear for crunch and coriander and smoked vinegar for depth. Very refined and elegant. Ordered and horseradish snow would be the main elements of the next dish where as shiso leaves and quince oil would provide nice florality to the dish.
One of my favorite ingredients is white asparagues. It always cries out for a buttery sauce which it would get a long with fermenter squid and habanero that had been grown without the heat so that only the flavor was left. A few microforms and flowers was a clear indication of the ambition of the restaurant and statement that presentation really matters.
The biggest surprise of the evening was up. A giant langostine was presented and with the dripping of the sauce even the shape looked like a similar dish at one with Jordnær. The flavors however were very different. The sauce had lots of grilled and pickled tomatoes and fermented chili which was only a small surprise. The big surprise was the addition of a small pure with lots of dry spices. A surprise as it was the first time of the menu where spices were used this way and a happy surprise for the palete.
It’s customary that the last savory courses are more comforting than technical and what is more comforting and delicious than clay cooked turbot paired with an acidic and floral beurre blanc with lots of fingerlimes and salted lemon. This naturally needed balance hence a trufflesauce. Uncomplicated and delicous but it also tasted very similar to a turbot dish that Jordnær serves.
We would finish the meal with 3 very different desserts. My favorite was the first one. Citrus creme , mandarin sorbet and white currant beanies. Mandarin with honey guile and white granite. One was refreshing and acidic the other rich and tarte. A wonderful and innovative combination. The next dessert was refreshing and nice consiting of melon with oolong tee icecream and lavender whereas the last would be out of the box. A very rich but also delicious sticky toffee pudding. The choose was refreshing as all of the menu cosists of instragreamfriendly dishes with lots of flowers and details so it was great to see a brown dish with just two components. The dish was therefore only carried by its flavor and not its presentation.
I am often critical of winepairings at 1 Michelin stars restaurants as the quality of the wine seldom lives up to the food. It did however at Aure where the evenings most interesting pairing was that of Marsala with the spicy langostine. The first time I see Marsala used for actual drinking and not as part of a sauce.
The dining room is beautifull and I still love how you feel and see the historic but now its combined with a new elegant and luxrurious feeling from the open marble kitchen to the center console. I also think that the clothes for the waiters have gotten an upgrade with suits.
Aure has unquestionably improved since my first visit. The investment is visible everywhere—from the dining room to the precision in the kitchen and the confidence of the wine programme. The restaurant now feels considerably closer to two Michelin stars than one.
The larger question is identity. Nicky Arentsen still cooks in a style unmistakably shaped by his years at Jordnær. At times the similarities are impossible to ignore. Yet this menu also demonstrates that Aure is gradually beginning to carve out its own voice. It may not be completely there yet, but it is moving in the right direction. The big question is therefore whether or not you as a guest feel that the similarities are an issue or not? With the rise of social media I generally see that restaurants look more and more a like. It’s invevitable and from a business point of view his style of cooking has broad appeal.
If Aure continues along its current trajectory while gradually developing a more distinctive culinary identity, there is little doubt in my mind that a second Michelin star is within reach. Whether it can eventually compete for three will depend not on technique—which is already there—but on creating a style that diners immediately recognise as unmistakably Aure.
Practical information
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Head Chef: Nicky Arentsen
Menu: 15 course tasting menu 1850kr (280$9
Website: www.restaurantaure.dk
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