Cafe Riz Raz, Copenhagen

I think some foodies are naturally suspicious of vegetarians. Apart from health and religion reasons, there always seems to be a loophole in their logic of why they chose to go green. I mean what if scientists suddenly discover that sweet potatoes and carrots feel immense pain when they are plucked from the ground or that broccolis and cauliflowers are besieged with utter humiliation when their florets get hacked off?

Replay shark's fin video.

On a couple of occasions, I've met hardcore vegetarians who made me guilty of even letting a meatball-related thought enter my mind. I know they don't mean to but some of them, like some treehuggers and activists, do exude this I'm-Better-Than-You aura. Under such situations, I feel like a Peta activist has caught me with mink underpants.

Shudder.



In Copenhagen, it isn’t easy to find affordable restaurants to dine out but I know about Riz Raz because the school took us there during our orientation. Riz Raz boasts of a ‘Mediterranean' vegetarian buffet, which includes different salads made up of and/or with feta cheese, hummus, tzatziki, garlic dressing, green dressing and garlic, lentils, pasta, onions, potatoes, beetroots, aubergines, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, corn, barley, quinoa etc.

It totally fed my recent fascination with grains. Ah, I'm so into grains right now. Sorrowfully, the grains culture hasn't caught off in Singapore yet.



They also serve hot food, pita bread, pizza, spaghetti, lasagna with spinach and ricotta and falafel.

I went back for the lasagna many times, which is odd because I don’t normally take lasagne. I didn't touch the spagetti because it looked plain sad. The pizza was good enough- thin and cheesy, with little toppings though. Oh yes, the falafels were a-maz-ing! Falafels are crunchy balls of grounded spiced chickpeas that have been deep-fried. I ate more than my fill because I don't think I would be able find any in Singapore.=(

For the falafels alone, Riz Raz is really a peace offering between vegetarians and omnivores. Carnivores, stay far far away.

Riz Raz
Kompagnistræde 20 (4/D4)
1208 København K
Phone +45 33 15 05 75

Paradis Gelato, Copenhagen

Two years ago, the Frederiksberg neighborhood welcomed Spring in Copenhagen with the opening of Paradis Gelato. I became an addict, with constant cravings for their freshly-made gelato and I wasn’t even a chilly-cream-ball fan. What an irony for it was almost as if I celebrated the warming of seasons by chilling my insides.

We strolled by Paradis on Vesterbro but reeling from our Sunday brunch, we made a pact to return the next day. I had my unroving eye on Skilpadde, which was made with Toms Skildpadde chocolates, a Danish chocolate with a creamy rum caramel filling. Sing it, Deborah Harry!

One way or another I'm gonna find ya
I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha

On Monday, we lugged back to the same Vesterbro outlet and to my bad-haircut-horror, the flavour ‘Skildpadde’ was nowhere to be found! On the surface, I was cool as gelato but inside, I was in distress, “How can that be?! You had it yesterday and the tub was only half empty (or half full) but whichever way you see it, it should still be around the next day!”



Alone, I might have trugged up to their Frederiksberg just to track it down but I think my sister would have disowned me on the spot. As any relationship counselor would advice, I had to “move on”. I had Bacio (chocolate and hazelnut gelato) and Basil. Surprisingly, chocolate and herb make a good duo. Ha, who knew?

Now I do.

This article from International Herald Tribune describes it best, “sinfully indulgent... soft-serve, silky feel in the mouth”


She's smiling now

I’m quite sure some would find this gelato good but not exactly raveworthy (I can see my sister nodding). Remember, this to me isn’t just milk and sugar but Spring served on a cone. These two scoops of gelato coupled with the memories have me committed not to love but to a mental institution.



Ice cream and gelato unleashes my inner camera whore. With a cone in my hand, I feel entitled to be silly. What a natural! Not. I apologize for that trying-hard-to-be-sexy look. I will not be attempting to pose like that till... my next ice cream / gelato.

It would be a while before I find myself a gelato packed with so many memories but to misquote Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

“We’ll always have Paradis”

Danish Street Food "Polser", Copenhagen

Danish sausages and I go a long way back as I grew up eating Tulip cocktail sausages. Though not exactly the ideal growing-kid diet, man they were good. Along with smorrebrod (open-faced sandwiches) and frikadeller (meatballs), the polser (sausages) is quintessentially Danish and Pølsevogn (polser wagons) are peppered around the city, making it uber-convenient to grab-and-go a snack.

The hot dog sausage is steamed, then grilled and the bread is warmed in either an oven or toaster. Yeap, all that steaming, toasting and grilling all takes place within that cubicle-sized cart.






I personally prefer the "French Hot Dog" so named because it is similar to the French variant. The bun is hollowed into, leaving enough room to stuff the sausage and dressing. To me, this is the best way to eat a hot dog: fuss-free, no worries about dripping sauces- who ever thought of this is genius!

You can get as complicated as you want -ketchup, mustard and remoulade sauce, topped with either raw or fried onions, cucumbers, but I liked to keep it simple so it was just mustard and ketchup for me.





It’s seriously tempting to linger at the cart and go, “gee I wonder what this tastes like” and work your way through the menu. I probably wouldn't go bananas over hot dogs anytime soon or anywhere esle, but in Copenhagen, one can't help but feel in the mood for pølser.

Pug Video, Copenhagen

Pug Video here, just in case it doesn't work in the spot below

Copenhagen

Before we begin

I know the food blogging community and non-food bloggers usually get their knickers in a twist when Chubby Hubby blogs about somewhere new. I'm usually quite indifferent to most places but White Rabbit looks very very interesting.

* *

All this while, I feel like I have been carrying the torch for Copenhagen. Two years again, it was a life devoid of the finer material things in life but full of hope and the feeling of "anything was possible". Though it wasn’t love at first sight, I did eventually fall in love with the city and after a brief 6 months affair, I left that life behind and rejoined Singapore's corporate congo line.

Things were off to a bumpy start. We took the 7am flight from London Stanstead, which meant sleeping at the airport the night before (well barely since I had to watch our bags) and suffering from any possible aches in the back and legs.

Upon touchdown, it wasn’t exactly war-hero-returns-home-and-collasps-into-the-warm-embrace-of-pining-lover too. At times, it was too chilly to feel anything else as the wind and cold pierced through my trench coat in sporadic bouts. However, when the sky cleared up and the sun shone briefly, it wasn’t difficult to get all sentimental again.

It’s not a foodie town too, as my sister can definitely testify to it. Ham, sausages and gelatos later, I think she was ready to call it quits. I didn’t have much of a problem since I basically lived on pumpernickel bread and corn (and later sushi) back then; in fact, I would have just been happy with pumpernickel slices, smoked salmon and Paradis gelato.

The weather was beautilful on most days but insanely windy too. I'm looking through my pictures now and in most of them, my hair was in such a state of mess, it looked as if a drunk Cousin IT had crashed on my head after some crazy partying. We basically walked around the city centre, Vesterbro and Frederiksberg; there wasn’t enough time to visit Malmo. Oh and I finally visited The Little Mermaid.



To TLM: It was somewhat of an anti-climax meeting you, especially I’ve heard so much about you. You seemed a little forlorn too but I’m sure it can’t be much fun strapped to the rocks, entertaining busloads of tourists. By the way, that sad look of yours could really teach us a thing or two about the fickle-mindedness of men. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Disney totally misconstrued your story and gave it a ‘happily ever after’ ending. You have my condolences.

We stalked an old lady and her pug. Er, it sounds worse in print but we just couldn’t resist tailing the cute-as-hell pug and we even took a video. Sex tapes are so er, last Hollywood flop?



If you were thinking, "this blog is getting from bad to worse! First she doesn't update as often, next she makes me watch a 45 second video of a pug's butt"... Aww, don’t be such a surly sop. Here's the pup.



Now isn’t that a face that would make you go, "ooo... let me huggg youuu, kissss youu..."

london + copenhagen

Original Image by Jennifer Ramos at MadeByGirl