Smushi

The Royal Café in Copenhagen, albeit tucked in a small alley in Strøget, is famous for serving food / drinks with their beautiful china serving sets made by Royal Copenhagen (hence the name). Recently the café has given birth to a new culinary phenomenon - Smushi, traditional Danish smørrebrød (open faced sandwich) with a contemporary sushi twist.

Entrance to the café

Buildings surrounding the café

I love the concept and the pictures from the café's website is so luring, I just have to try it. Finally on a one fine weekend with good weather, I paid my visit to the café targeting the smushi. Picking an open air garden seat beside the running water 'fountain wall', ordered a platter of my favourite 3 smushi selections, a pot of coffee with warm milk, I'm all set for the first encounter of smushi.

Table decó, courtesy of the florist next to the café

The beautiful chinas never fail to impress me although I think it's a bit weird to use what is typically liquor pot in China is used as coffee pot in Copenhagen. I could have sworn it'll look much nicer in one of those chubby tea pot :)

And here comes the main character, tada....and aren't they wonderful looking? Small yet delicate, filled with nice finishing touch, they look so beautiful. There's only one more thing to find out - the taste. Experience says that a lot of time, restaurants / cafés focus on making food looking nice and neglected the taste. How's this one?

Smushi platters

Surprisingly, they tastes good. Not Michelin good but they taste of what they're supposed to (these descriptions explains why I can be food critic). The fish fillet is freshly fried, still steaming hot, the rye bread taste fantastic (I normally don't fancy them). If I must pick something to critic, I think the liver paté is the low fat type; albeit healthier, the taste is being compensated.

Smushi with shrimp and egg

Smushi with liver paté and roast beef, topped with 'sky' (the wiggly black jelly)

Smushi with fried fish fillet & tartar sauce, my favourite

I love love love Royal Café now. Their cake might not be the best but never bad. Now with tasty smushi, topped with their impeccable seating / settings, the always beautiful china and friendly service, I'll definitely bring all my visiting friends there if possible. I'm even starting to think about having similar business in Penang, unfortunately a lot of Asia's retail groups are already lining up to get a piece of smushi action (:s) Any potential business partner out there?

Celebration

To celebrate the successful launch of my previous project, the department figure head hosted a company wide celebration tea party with wonderful strawberry tarts and sparkling wine (champagne is a too high on budget for so many people). Who doesn't like a small token of recognition eh? :D

sparkling wine & strawberry tart

Hyponatremia

Hyponatremia occurs when one has abnormally low amount of sodium in the body (or excess water in blood), new important term that I've learnt this week.

It all begins with my sister's text message a few days ago telling me that our dad is in ICU (Intensive Care Unit). I was shocked, panic and don't know what to do. My dad has always been healthy and we had video stream just last weekend but all of a sudden he's in ICU? I'm not prepare for any of this and I actually felt slightly helpless. Heart aches (for not being able to be there) and cold fingers, praying hard nothing bad happens.

I felt the sudden fear of losing one of my parents, never was the threat feel so close & real. Even if I purchase ticket instantaneously the next day & fly home, it'll take me another day before reaching home. At this point, I can only make phone calls home & rely on my sister's emails and text messages to keep my updated with the situation.

Apparently my dad has been vomiting for 3 days and did not get better after consulting doctor twice. He stopped eating / drinking (even just water) on the last day and looked absolutely pale when a family friend visits. He was took to the hospital & upon arrival, fell unconscious. What follows were a string of checking, blood test & hospital transfer to perform MRI scan, having the fear that he might suffer stroke.

My mother has been brave through all these, she called my sister home and stayed with my dad as long as she can before being chased out by the nurse from ICU. He's diagnose with low blood sodium (about 110uM), was unconscious for a day and can finally manage to open his eyes on the second day. After 3 days, he's finally being released from ICU into normal ward now and luckily, didn't suffer any stroke.

I truthfully thank those who have helped in the process and pray that he can be discharged soon & come back to normal again. Why is there no Doraemon door where I can just open & go home? Dad, wait for me, I'll be back in November, make sure you're healthy & smiling then. Maybe I should try to talk to my boss to send me back on business trip? hmm...

Fu Hao Dim Sum

Dim sum, heart touching if directly translated from Cantonese, used to be one of my favourite brunch during weekend back home. Living in Copenhagen strips me off this luxury but not anymore. Previously I've tried the dim sum at Royal Palace but it's not exactly a very good one. Fu Hao, was recommended by colleagues from work, so I decided to give it a try.

Char siu fried noodles

Tucked in the corner of a side street right behind the central station, this newly renovated restaurant has a lot of Chinese customers, even some Thai & Vietnamese. I made an appointment for dim sum with my colleague, so more varieties can be tried out. Started with the roast pork fried noodle, bit oily but that's what gives it a great taste, Fu Hao score 1.

 Following with some assortment of typical dim sum: siu mai, radish cake, roast pork cheung fan & prawn dumpling; not to say great but they're all good. And some sweet dishes: water chestnut cake, red bean cake, read bean bun & malay cake. Normally I won't order the first 3 sweet dishes but that's part of the fun about eating with someone else, you get to try something out of the norm. And the malay cake is great!

So, a wonderful Sunday brunch for 4 with pot of chrysanthemum tea, DKK432...my purse is getting slim but the experience is worth it. Fu Hao, mark my word that I'll be back ;)

What to do with 80 Kroner

I was out shopping today (hooray~~), set to buy a nice rain coat (yeah, the rains have started) which I never really get to do it since summer. Being easily distracted, I didn't manage to get what I intended to buy but that's not the point. The point is: I manage to get a cute Hello Kitty T-shirt & very nice bangles from H&M for only DKK70. DKK70!!! I still can't believe it. Love those sales days. I left the shop with a huge grin on my face :p

My cute Hello Kitty T & bangles from H&M, DKK70!!!

Having spent DKK350 for a nice lunch at the post museum's restaurant...yes, post museum's restaurant in Copenhagen serves wonderful food with good city view on the fifth floor (which tells how 'high' the rest of the buildings in city centre are); the H&M purchase must be my best move since years.

Feeling good for a great purchase, I march down the street to LaGlace, the oldest confectionery in Copenhagen for some French macaron. I still remember the great ones from Paris 2 months ago, can't bake it but I can at least buy it ;). 

Macarons are expensive in Paris, about €2 each and apparently the price trend is well maintained here as well. Squeezed myself through the crowded confectionery entrance, stuck in between a couple who's yelling to each other over my head (am I transparent?); I finally made my order to a box of 6 macarons which cost DKK78. 

Box of 6 macarons from LaGlace, DKK78!

DKK78...it's 8kroner more expensive than my H&M purchase & I know very well that they'll be gone at a very fast rate. Gosh...the macarons are worth it. I won't say it's better than LaDurée's but they certainly taste good. Coffee, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, oat (with hint of liquor) & pistachio...they were gone in minutes following the sequence, and I'm still craving for more, hehe...

So, 2 way of spending DKK80 in Copenhagen, which one is better? Hard to say. I'm just glad I don't have to choose between them :D