M/S Amerika is located in an old warehouse by the waterfront on America Quay. Named after one of the large passenger ships that used to transport emigrants to New York during the first half of the 20th century, it existed as a quality French-Danish bistro-style restaurant from 1995 until recently. From September 1, the restaurant has altered its gastronomic course with the hiring of California-born Adrien Norwood as head chef, and it is now serving American gourmet food.
The change makes perfect sense given the historic location and the name of the restaurant, but it is an unusual direction in a time and place dominated by New Nordic Cuisine. “New Nordic Cuisine has been a phenomenal success, one that has resonated across large parts of the planet,” explains Norwood. “But if we are to continue attracting tourists to the city, something new must occur.”
Norwood was hired by Maria Berntsen, a designer who has brought a new perspective to the place. Apart from changing the food concept, the restaurant has been radically renovated, making room for an outside terrace by the water.
Inside, M/S Amerika is characterised by contrasts: it is an open, spacious restaurant that somehow also feels intimate. The walls and furniture are dark, but the large windows allow plenty of natural light. The design is modern and classy yet cosy, and the overall ambiance is relaxed.
Seated in a corner by the window, my companion and I chose four courses each along with a bottle of Macôn-Solutré-Pouilly from Domaine de la Chapelle – a lovely refreshing, fruity and dry white wine.
First up for me was the Gazpacho soup with confit shrimps, avocado, cucumber and turnip. It was beautifully presented: the shrimps, avocado, cucumber and turnip were lined up on one side of the soup plate and our waiter poured the cold tomato soup onto the other side of the plate at the table. While not normally a fan of gazpacho soup, I quite enjoyed this one. It was fresh, delicate and creamy. My companion had the Dirty Martini Tuna, which was raw tuna served on cream cheese with fried capers and green olives. It had nicely balanced textures – soft, creamy and crisp – and a nice smoky flavour.
As my second dish I chose the Chicken wings with grains, grain jus, crispy grains and herb puree. It was like a gourmet take on KFC! The three chicken wings were very crispy, the grains had a nice nutty flavor, and it was generally a quite tasty dish, although personally I found it a little bit dry. My companion had the Roasted plaice with baby leek, spring onions and black garlic and squid ink sauce. It was a subtly flavoursome dish with melt-in-the-mouth spring onions and a piece of perfectly cooked fish.
For the third course, we both went for the Braised pork neck with smoked bone marrow, pink pepper corns, parsley and pommes Anna. This was our favourite dish of the night. The pork was rich and succulent and – together with the topping of crispy bone marrow, pepper corns and parsley – it created an explosion of flavours in the mouth. The pommes Anna, which are basically sliced, layered potatoes cooked in lots of butter, were likewise very tasty. According to my companion, they were “excellent spuds” and, coming from an Irishman, that is pretty good! With the pork we had a glass of the 2010 pinot noir Duckhorn Decoy from Napa Valley, which was superb.
For dessert I went for the dark chocolate mousse with pear, hazelnut ice cream and biscuit crumbs, which was very nice. The Irishman went for the pickled plums with sponge cake and sake granite, which was an unusual but very tasty dessert. Both desserts were a nice way to finish the meal as they did not leave you feeling heavy and overfull.
The only thing to be aware of when visiting M/S Amerika, is that the dishes are quite small, so you will need to order at least three or four. All in all, however, M/S Amerika was a lovely experience: the ambiance was very pleasant, the service was irreproachable and the food was tasty, so if New Nordic Cuisine is starting to bore you, you could do a lot worse than heading to America Quay and exploring this exciting American gourmet kitchen.
M/S Amerika
Dampfærgevej 8, Cph Ø;
3526 9030, info@msamerika.dk
Open: Mon-Sat 11:30-24:00
Cuisine: American
Top Dish: Braised pork neck
Price Range: Set menu options (excluding wine) available for 425 & 625kr
