Whether your mind leads you to the planet or the Disney character isn’t important. The name Pluto doesn’t have a clever anecdote behind it. Every restaurant needs a name, and this one’s is Pluto. But semantics aside, it has to be conceded that Pluto serves a cosmic array of tastes and colours that appear on your plate with the playfulness of a child’s imagination.
The restaurant mixes the best of French cuisine with a bit of Asian flavour. The combination of East and West is something the head chef and co-owner, Bjørn Rosendal Jacobsen, also practised when working for critically-acclaimed restaurants Tetsuya in Sydney and WD-50 in New York. He owns Pluto together with the duo behind restaurants Retour and Retour Steak: sommelier Jesper Marcussen and chef Rasmus Oubæk, the man they call the king of steak béarnaise. But the classic steak frites is not on the menu at Pluto.
The menu is packed with gourmet treats like oysters, foie gras and Iberico Bellota ham, as well as fish, meat, offal and, of course, cheese and sweets. Prices are affordable, ranging from 20-135kr per dish or 450kr for a 12-serving ‘family style’ menu.
Our ‘family style’ evening, with a little bit extra, started with a glass of bubbly and oysters, which in my opinion was the least pleasant part of the evening. To me it mostly felt like a gulp of sea water, but I guess oysters aren’t for everybody. After this a seemingly neverending number of incredible servings took over. All of them were accompanied by wines and passionate explanations from the very attentive waiters.
The first course consisted of no less than five dishes of salad, croquettes and charcuterie served with a glass of orange wine called Pico. This is a special type of white wine that is macerated with the grape skins to add tannins, which turns the wine orange when oxidised. It was a pleasant first-time experience that goes well with the animal fat in the first servings. The croquettes especially stood for being crunchy on the outside with a delicious filling of pork shank and foie gras inside, whereas the tartar with soy was a bit too bitter for my taste.
A small piece of advice: should you go for the 12 servings, cut back on the bread during the first course, as by the second, we were already a bit full. It consisted of three fish servings: cod, angler and scallops. They were all absolutely amazing. The cod almost melts in your mouth. So does the angler, which comes with caramalised carrots and currant berries to give it a sweet and fresh balance. The scallops were served with crisp bacon. If you ever wanted bacon with your fish, this is the place to try it. It is divine.
From fish we went on to meat and offal. Despite not having steak frites on the menu, they do serve onglet, which is perhaps better known to Anglophones as hanger steak. This is the classic frites steak. The meat was flawlessly cooked, and to be honest, at this point, we probably wouldn’t have been able to appreciate chips or béarnaise anyway.
There is, however, always room for a dessert … or three. And yes, we ate them all. For the grand finale we had a brownie with salted caramel, then an almond cake with raspberries and finally what the menu refers to as ‘blueberries, blueberries, blueberries’. A mix of blueberry mouse and ice cream, fresh blueberries and small drops of meringue – or what the Danes like to call ‘kys’ (kiss). The desserts were served with a glass of sweet Zantho Beerenauslese and they were the perfect ending to a lovely evening of 15 servings, six glasses of wine and champagne and two very satisfied stomachs.
Restaurant Pluto
Borgergade 16, Cph K;
3316 0016; info@restaurantpluto.dk
Open: Mon-Wed 12:00-24:00, Thu-Fri 12:00-02:00, Sat 15:00-02:00
Cuisine: French and Asian
Top Dish: croquettes with pork shank and foie gras
Price Range: 12 servings: 450kr
www.restaurantpluto.dk
