This was absolutely the worst meal my friends and I had during our week-long food tour of…read moreCopenhagen. Walking by Kul one evening, we were inspired to make a reservation for dinner after catching a whiff of the delicious wood fire smoke emanating from inside. A quick Google Maps search showed guest photos of grilled prawns and skewered meats akin to a Japanese Izakaya. Mouths watering, we arrived the next evening for our dinner for three.
The place was nearly empty at 8:30pm on a Friday night (that should have been a red flag), and the waitress who served us was shockingly rude. I didn't catch her name, but she had short pink hair in pigtails, and a bit of a punk rocker look going on. She seemed to take offense at our very presence, rushed us through ordering, spoke to us in a condescending tone when we asked questions, and seemed aggravated that we were ordering a la carte and not tasting menus. My friends are Chinese and Turkish, and her attitude toward them reeked of racism. There was a table of Asian tourists next to us as well receiving the same horrible service from this woman.
For a mostly empty restaurant, the food took ages to come. Charcoal grilled meat does not take that long to sear! The pacing of the plates was incredibly slow and both the waitress and the busser (tall guy with a mustache) completely ignored our attempts to ask for updates. The saddest part was, after waiting over an hour for 6 small plates, the food wasn't even good. I could at least excuse the bad service if the food had been delicious!
Not a single one of the dishes had even the slightest taste of being cooked over a wood fire, the only hint of charcoal was in the various black aioli's. Everything was pan seared, fried, sous vide or poached and about as bland as could be. When we asked the waitress what dishes were actually cooked on the grill, she said everything was "finished on the grill" - an obvious lie. On top of the lack of charcoal flavor, the beef, guinea fowl and monkfish were all horribly overcooked. The beef was tough and well-done, the chicken dry as a cube of styrofoam, and the monkfish rubbery and indigestible.
The three of us shared the following six dishes, as well as a bottle of wine:
- Monkfish with dashi fumet, golden spelt & sakura cress
- Beef bernaise with charred tomatoes & confit potatoes
- Squid in tempura with Iberico ham & black aioli
- Razor clam with fermented carrots, oyster stock and dried rosemary
- Guinea fowl with saffron, peas, fried sage, pickled beets & bouillon
- Salmon & garlic ash with mayo, radish, crispy bread & spinach emulsion
This food, with tax, came out to around 1,700 krone, or about $250 USD. And the waitress had the nerve to harass us for a tip, after her disgusting service to our table- telling my friend that tips are required for good service, and I had half a mind to tell her that's exactly why she wasn't getting one. Seriously, she should be fired. We're accustomed to the high prices of fine dining in Copenhagen, after enjoying so many world-class meals at other restaurants throughout the week, so we can confidently say this was an appalling waste of money.
Shit service. Shit food. Shit ambiance. Spend your money literally anywhere else.
