12hrs In Copenhagen - A 3 Michelin Star Chef Shows Us his Hidden Gems, Luxury Bites & Local Faves

You don't have to cut this, that was not the point of it. That's what I really think. Welcome to Yes 3 Chef, where we take you with us to meet some of the best chefs in the world as they show us where to eat in their city. We are finishing each other's sentences. In this episode, we have 12 hours in Copenhagen with the notorious chef Erik Vilgaard from 3 Michelin star restaurant, Jorner, along with his business partner and wife, Tina, and right-hand man, Mattis. We'll discover his hidden gems, eat some of the best ingredients in the world, and explore this city the way only a top chef knows. This is Episode 3, Chef Erik Vilgaard's Copenhagen. We are starting a coffee collection. We also use their coffee beans in the restaurant. The best way to start your day is with a croissant and a coffee. There's no better way. The worst dining experience is the one when you feel like you're an extra in your own night. Everything needs to be correct, also within yourself. They're like that old-school fine dining. It's not something we are very intrigued about. We have six kids combined, between the two of us, so we're never not busy. So today, to have a relaxing day with you guys, showing you the best spots of Copenhagen, in our opinion. We want to start here in Soggehallene, showing you where we normally go and buy our ingredients. So we go here if we want to have fish at home, you know. And you can see they have beautiful, beautiful stuff here. Like we say, fresh is best. This one is trying to escape. It's making a Houdini. Small-sized lobster. It's around 400-450 grams. But two coppers at home for a starter would be perfect. I always buy lobsters between around 600 grams. Because for me, that's the perfect size towards the density of the structure of the meat. This is 1.2 kilos, probably, or something like that. I wouldn't appreciate eating this. It would just be show. But it's not always that bigger is better. Especially when it comes to lobsters. With many other things, yes. Yeah, I called my supplier. I said, Hjalte, can I get this on a regular? He says, what do you mean, a regular? I want to have four king crabs a day. Like, fresh and alive. He said, are you insane? I didn't ask to be insulted. I'm asking, can you do your job? I really got in a fight with him. And he's like, you're fucking crazy. Yeah, of course, everything is possible if you're willing to pay. I never asked the price. I asked the quality. This is the best quality king crab there is in the world. I want this. First shipment came. Then I came with the invoice. I think they did a typo. It's like four times as expensive. Hi. All chefs who are a little bit interested in their trade, they are here. They're handing in their knives here to be sharpened because they do it by hand. And they're very good at what they do. When you work with experts, you don't need to know everything yourself. We're Foodbeer. We have existed for 13 years. And we source knives from all over Japan. We have some of the most sought-after, some of the most rare. And we're really proud of our collection. This brand is called Kunuske. One of our favorite brands. That's quite tough to get a hold of. It's sold out basically immediately. We only get a few a year. You wanna ask a lot of the knives from... It's out of the past. They're here quite regularly. Almost every Sunday. That's incredible. You've got your card. Best of the best. The best of the best. No, no, no. That's you. Yeah, I know. I was talking to myself. My favorite lunch spot in the city center. For many reasons. It's number one delicious food. Beautiful ambience. Beautiful restaurant. Beautiful wine list. But the most important part is my best friend here, Gabriel. He's like my brother from another mother. You know, he's one of the best chefs I know. Making exceptional, affordable food in the heart of Copenhagen. And it's really magical. That's why we need to be at this place. Junmai Daikinju from the house Masumi. Ricey flavors, but also a bit of lecce flour. You have a rice cake. Mazzara shrimps from Sicily. Marinated with a little bit of lemon from Amalfi. Amachi. Halibut. Cold shrimps with the use of koju. There was one night with only Danish guests. We love Danish guests. But they were only like old pensions. You know, didn't speak English. And Gabriel was like coming in. He was like, It's so fucking frustrating, chef. I went to the table and explained. I was like. They look at me. Masierto? I was like, what are you saying? Masierto? I explained that it was a lamb dish. Like for two and a half minutes. Every detail and everything. And they were looking like they understood everything. Two Tanya glasses. Masierto, chef! I think that was the joke for the next six months. Yeah, our knives are the tools. But the ingredients are probably the most important tools that a chef has. Philosophy that Chef Eric and Jorne are big inspiration. You don't have to cut this. That was not. We talked. That's what I really think. I know. You made me almost cry. No, no. But you know. Now you don't have to cut this. It's what I really think. Lovely. Thank you. I am really against waste. And we always try to find a second purpose. When we were having the hamachi in the house. We were always thinking what to do with the head. What to do with the color. The signature dish. An arancino. On top we place a slice of A5 aguna gold. I love to eat this dish by taking the arancino. You fold around and then boom. In one bite. I think it's the best way. Pistachio ice cream. Seriously, just pistachio water and a little bit of sugar. Then we put olive oil from Sassicaia. And a little bit of pistachio bronto on the bottom. Just to have a little bit of crunchiness. I don't think we're going to try any. Grappa di Barolo. Romano Livi. The best grappa in the world. Yeah, I lived just around the corner for a long time. But back then they were not here. This for me is the best Danish food I ever had in my whole life. They very often also have a small party. Run by this amazing couple. It's like coming into one of these holiday homes. It's very Danish. Frank is one of the best chefs in Denmark. On top of that, perfect service. And you have the perfect experience. What you did for my friends the last time was spectacular. Sometimes it ends up being a party. Like a real alcoholic. Copenhagen has become the food capital of the world. And people are traveling in from all over the world to eat. But it's never been like that. 20 years ago when Norma made the breakthrough in the world gastronomy. All of a sudden there was this talk of town. Norma in Scandinavia, what is going on in Copenhagen. And I think that the narrative for Danish gastronomy is becoming broader and broader every day. Why is it so important for me that we go here? Because this is actually the food revolution we need. They take Danish classics, which we all grew up on. Go for quality before they start cooking. But all Danes know it. You can get it at any Danish restaurant. So you don't have to drink the whole thing. But I like to pour it this way with what we call overflows. Just explain to them, it's not very Danish to leave stuff. This is real. This is what chefs eat. And this is what makes me proud. We arrived to one of my favorite fish places in Copenhagen. This is Fish Market. And they do absolutely astonishing seafood platter. Like the freshest, the best in Copenhagen. That's why we're here. Good wine is good seafood. It's like fish market for real. Anton is the king. We are a Mediterranean inspired family run fish restaurant. We've been here for 12 years. And we're doing our best to show what mostly local fish and seafood can do. We fill the platter with all the best things the sea has to offer. Three different kinds of oysters. We have Danish lobster and langoustines. Roasted prawns. Crab salad with sauce grebiche. And a bit of toast with that. And then the huge Norwegian hand-dived scallops. Simply served raw with a bit of lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper. Pretentious without being pretentious. You know, it's like fine dining. Seafood platter, like good quality ingredients. You sit here, you have fun. Like us, we're laughing, having champagne. What's not to love? Basically all the ingredients here could be transformed into a three star meal. What time are you flying tomorrow? 9 a.m. That's nice. Sleeping and flying. It's a three hour flight. We're like brothers. We're finishing each other's sentences. Let's go to Hamburg. Hamburg is actually a pretty good food city. Let's go check it out. We're going to visit Rosetta's, a former chef student of mine. When he worked with us, he had some friends. They had a little bit of money. They wanted to take over this iconic place. Because this has been run for like 40 years. The boys used to come here, put together all their savings. And then they bought the place just to keep it running. We have two very good sliced places in Copenhagen. And this one is for me the best one. This is our childhood pizzeria. They wanted to sell the place. Four years later we're here. Trying to get all the Italian products in. We stop from Italy once or twice a week. Start making sourdough pizzas the same style. It's always folded, so the pizza is like a sandwich. This is our pumpkin slice. The cured salami together with the pumpkin. It's like magic. Creamy, sweet, spicy. It's everything in one bite. And the beautiful bread. I think it's the best sandwich I've ever tasted. I agree. It's very unique. You have many great slices, but this one is the best. Don't change this one. You can call it a fat fuck and name it after me. You have to take it away from him. The bread is amazing. True friends make you smile when you're at your lowest. But true friends always smile when you're at your top. This is why we're here. You saw me at my lowest. Thank you. I love you. The shisha is by far the best I've ever had. I am Roza. My name is Shayan. I'm from Kurdistan and we make Kurdish food. This one is coming directly from my village. Sumac onions is one of the best things. Simple. Not so much spices or no spices as we make it here. Kurdish kitchen is still hiding. We want to bring it to the daylight. That's amazing. What we have in common is that we work on different levels on the plateau. But we have the same common mind. It's quality and love for what we do. My name is Sumac. I'm the executive chef here at Nymph. We're in a five star hotel. I think we should dig in. I can explain to you why we do it on the hand. Actually there's a reason to the madness. Why we always see professionals or people pretending to be professionals doing this. Majority doesn't know why they eat it from their own body. The caviar is on ice. It's probably one degree, zero degrees right now from the bottom up. You need to let it get in contact with your own temperature. So when you can't feel the caviar on your hand. When it starts to feel like it's not there. It takes 30 seconds. Yours is probably there. That means that the fat inside the caviar reacted to your fat in the skin. You can't taste yourself. You can have a bite taste of salt from your sweat. But that is not something that affects the caviar. So when you do it, you take it. You bite it. Straight after, you smell. And if you have a fishy after smell. When you have the caviar in your mouth. That means that the KMI number, the bacteria count in the caviar is too high. Which makes it a bad caviar. That's why professional tasters do like this. It should leave a tangy, seaweed-y, oyster-y sea taste. Of course it is a product from the sea. But you don't have that fishy smell. Which you wouldn't catch if you just ate it. The way the salt removes itself from your teeth. That's how you measure the acidity in the caviar. Osetra Imperial. This one particularly is one of the best Osetras in the world if you ask me. It has like a nutty flavor profile. More mild. But the way it moves up in the mouth. Like goes back into the back. Behind the bitterness. You have like full umami salt. And it seems light. Like whipped cream instead of cream. And then you have this one. Where you really can see what I'm talking about. Because this has the full body dimension of the acidity. Why I saved this for last. Because this for sure has the strongest acidic profile of all of the caviar we tasted. That is incredibly acidic. Yeah, like the way the salt reacts. Chinese traditional restaurant here in Copenhagen. Our go-to place. Very tasty food. They have a long tradition for supplying industry people. So come in and have good fun with us. My legacy hopefully will be one that will impact the industry. For me, the most important part of my journey is to build a future for my family. And give them something I never had as a kid. Secure platform for them. As a chef, some rumors has it that I'm very tough to work for. I'm not tough, I'm very fair. And I want to be helping changing the work culture that we have in the industry. Because many kitchens are run by fear. Translate people into working for their ambition. Not for the chef's ambition, but for their own ambition. Just the family and friends. Thank you for the day. Thank you so much. Unbelievable. And this with the promise of not being strangers, yeah? Absolutely.