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Korean-born Danish chef Kristian Baumann is back in business and has opened his new restaurant Koan in an historic waterfront location in Copenhagen after two successful pop-ups.
The former Noma and Relæ chef closed the doors of his 108 restaurant, which occupied the original Noma space, as one of the first high-profile victims of the pandemic. After testing the water with the pop-up concept and several years of research and development, Koan represents a real passion project for the chef, who has returned to his roots with a considered and accomplished Korean-inspired tasting menu with Nordic ingredients.
"For the past seven years, my curiosity about my birth country South Korea has grown stronger and in this connection I have tried to go on a discovery in the country to learn more about culture, history, people and traditions," said Baumann in a press release.
"It has manifested itself in the fact that my vocation as a chef has risen to a higher level in the form of a sincere calmness. I again have an apprentice's view of all the impressions I have gained through dinners, ingredients and traditional and complex layers that are in the different Korean cuisines."
The menu represents the fruit of Baumann’s culinary journey, imbued with creativity but respectful of tradition like the white kimchi, which is served in ceramic artwork by a Korean potter, who has integrated fragments of pottery from China's Qing Dynasty into the new porcelain. Rice, of course plays an important role in the offering and is cooked in a traditional iron pot, a Korean gamasot.
Baumann’s partner in Koan is Lasse Peder Nielsen, a sommelier, who has curated a broad and interesting cellar.
Get a taste for Koan, below.
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