Not just a kitchen, but an institution, Falsled Kro on the southern edge of Denmark’s Fyn island has reworked it culinary concept from the ground up, offering clever variations of key ingredients, all served at once.
Long before Denmark had Noma, Geranium, or Alchemist, food lovers would travel to Falsled Kro for fine French cuisine with a rustic soul. When 30-year-old Simon Juel Petersen took the reins as head chef of two years ago, he inherited not just a kitchen, but an institution: The thatched-roof inn has been serving exquisite meals since 1971, and sheltered guests since 1744.Only five chefs have led the kitchen at the Relais & Châteaux inn in scenic Millinge over the last half century; Petersen is the fifth.
But despite constant praise and recurring speculation from the press, a Michelin star has always eluded Falsled Kro. This year, after leaving the ceremony empty-handed yet again, Petersen began to question what his restaurant was truly offering. “I realized that I was doing exactly what everyone else was doing,” he says, referring to the long tasting menus with many appetizers, small dishes, and petits fours.
“These long tasting menus don’t really fit with the roadside inn we’re aiming to be. So this whole Michelin star race, we are breaking away from all that now,” he says. He began counting how many times the staff would interrupt the guests to serve them during a meal. The number - 32 - baffled him. “For me, that’s too much. That’s not how I like to have a meal myself.”
So, he decided to rewrite the experience. Instead of bombarding guests with a cavalcade of dishes, he explores one primary ingredient, working it into three or four expressions, all served at once. Like the lobster feast, starring trap-caught lobster from the Fyn coast. Served tableside as Lobster Wellington, the tail is enveloped in Australian winter truffles, a lobster coral pancake, puff pastry, and served with a foamy lobster bisque. On the side are small servings with all the other lobster bits: Poached claws dressed in a lemon emulsion, crispy legs worked into a lobster croquette, and the trim is made into lobster tartare with marigold, chives flowers, and subtle smoky notes from rygeost, a smoked cheese and Fyn specialty.
“This is how I like to have dinner. Where you can feast your eyes on all the food on the table, and enjoy conversation without being interrupted all the time,” says Petersen.
The half-timbered Falsled Kro sits on a large piece of land with sea views, old fruit trees, fragrant lavender and rose bushes. In 1969, francophile couple Sven and Lene Grønlykke saw the run-down property by chance and decided to create a Danish version of the fantastic rustic restaurants they experienced around the French countryside. Recently, the inn received one Michelin Key, and today, they boast both classic Danish designer furniture and colourful Andalusian tiles in the breakfast room and the bathrooms of their 26 rooms and suites. Guests may enjoy the sauna or the outdoor hot-tub, or take a leisurely stroll in the ever-evolving kitchen garden that provides many of their vegetables and herbs. Seated in the cobblestoned courtyard with a babbling fountain, the scent of roses in the air, and an apéritif in hand, it feels like the Danish countryside doesn’t get much better than this.
“We have this unique place with so much history and so many opportunities. We want to explore that a lot more,” says Petersen, who showcases the kitchen garden with a terrific dish celebrating late summer abundance: A mélange of grilled vegetables like kale, turnips, sweetcorn, zucchini, and baby fennel, many of them picked just a few hours ago. Tied together by a rich sauce aromatique, made from the brine of salted vegetables matured in chicken stock for a year, the result is a thrilling dish, offering both a seasonal impression and a clear sense of place.
The new "less is more" approach has also spilled over to the wine list; The wine pairing now offers five glasses instead of eight, allowing the sommelier to play around with big-name bottles Like Krug ‘Grande Cuvée’, Brunello from Biondi-Santi, and Nebbiolo from Angelo Gaja.
The legendary cheese trolley, offering more than 30 varieties mainly from France, is still going strong. And once it's time for dessert, guests can revel in a smorgasbord of pastries and sweets by 2023 Bocuse d’Or gold medalist Elisabeth Madsen. A stand-out is the twirl of vanilla-flecked Italian merengue olive oil parfait with Discovery apples from the garden, and a mazarine base. However, the rich hazelnut buttercream layer-cake, the crispy and moist Madeleines, and the chocolatey riff on the famous Danish ‘plum in Madeira’ confection also deserve mention.
The new concept feels warmer and more relaxed, the experience more in tune with the old crooked walls and candlelit charm of the old inn. The culinary ambitions remain as high as ever, but for Petersen, the new structure tones down the "chef’s ego" and refocuses on what truly matters: the guests.
“We certainly wouldn’t say no to a Michelin star,” he says. “But we want it because we’re recognized for doing what we do best. Not because we’re trying to imitate everyone else.”
