Madklubben

Store Kongensgade 66, 1264 Cph K; open Mon-Sat 17:30-24:00, kitchen shuts at 22:00; one course: 100kr, two courses: 150kr, three courses: 200kr, four courses 250kr (some dishes cost extra); 3332 3334

Successful restaurants can mark their territory in many ways.  If they stick to the simple mantra of satisfying the customers’ favour for a familiar ingredient whilst presenting it in an exhilarating new way, it’s as sure as hellfire. Look at ‘the Fat Duck’: nitrogen ice cream, snail porridge - these dishes go down well because of the fact that, intrinsically, they are ice cream and porridge. Yes elaborately vamped, but also true to the ilk of grub we as humans prize.

Actually, they haven’t got as carried away with the uber-creative side at Madklubben, though that’s not saying they’re uncreative. The word ‘experimental’ suggests a certain note of risk, but head chef Kasper and his small team (five, with two students on the job) are hard at it producing plates with the knowledge that there is self-assurance in their ingenuity.

The kitchen, hidden yet with its orderliness clear to the punter, lies towards the back of the restaurant. Beyond, there’s a room for larger parties of 80-100. Here, stern, rustic benches are partnered with dignified, executive conference-like chairs.

Monday night in the front room and not a single chair top is visible. We dumped our coats in a great walk-in cloakroom, and were led to our table, through a wooden hall between the two rooms by chirpy head waiter Andreas. On our raised platforms, I felt a little uneasy at first. Soon though, coaxed by the class of the food and a growing fondness for the furnishings, my black, designer chair became as comfy as a ball pit.

My friend’s starter was an intricate salad of crab, shredded pickled onions and cottage cheese; mine, Jerusalem artichokes, sweetcorn and sensational little pickled mushrooms. With chicory lettuce, there was a slightly less inoffensive and peppery twang to it all. The crab and cottage cheese duo was rich and creamy and both salads were smattered humbly with dressing. This with glasses of Lantana Shiraz, a crisp, fruity Australian red picked out with help from the waiter. The wine list here is somehow idiot-proof without being an insult to the expert.

Then came the pork cheek. Soaked in water, then slowly braised in lamb fat, its colour, flavour and softness would shatter most of our perceptions of the meat. It was topped with capers and lemon zest and came with a medley of sprouts, carrots, potatoes in parsley in a silky white sauce. With this, a tasty side salad - one from a colourful menu - of cos lettuce, pickled onion and natural yoghurt.

My friend’s lamb cutlets with roasted parsnips, lamb jus, muesli and a candied pear and blue cheese puree was an inspired re-tweaking of classic tastes and textures: crunch, creaminess, fruitiness and deliciously medium-rare grilled flesh.

To cap it off: raspberry jam tart with homemade ice cream, lemon pudding, a viscous lemony pool in a jar under a layer of whipped cream - and a chocolate brownie executed to cuboidal, cocoa perfection. Madklubben’s ice creams, flavoured traditionally yet with lustrous, cutting-edge texture, are made with produce from the Osted Dairy outside Roskilde - a studious look beyond Copenhagen.

With coffee came our realisation of the price. Two hundred and fifty kroner for the full, four-course shebang - though some dishes do bump up the value - more than supports the idea of Madklubben being a ‘Noma light’, as Kasper describes it. He could have said ‘Noma streetwise’ or ‘Noma of its very own’ and been equally as right.

Noma shouldn’t even feature in any comparison though. By law of restaurant realism, Madklubben can’t have too many peers based on taste versus value. Tidily priced, ingrained with its own style and with its clientele’s interests at the top of its manifesto, it also serves cherished and rural Danish foods that are brought into a new decade in a manner of nifty new ways.

The menu changed the day after we’d eaten there. Now you can find the likes of the Scallop tartar with pickled mushrooms, dill, apple, fish roe and dark rye bread, and Panna cotta with camomile, raw liquorice and raspberry muesli - and you just know they’ll be top-quality. As the affable Kasper syncs his foods with the seasons at his Store Kongensgade restaurant, he also matches the more renowned with the rarer - and does so exactly to the customers’ favour.