The restaurant Udtryk is one of Copenhagen’s overnight success stories right now, nabbing a coveted Michelin star just five weeks after opening. Falstaff caught up with chef-partner Edward Lee to hear the story behind his rapid rise.
When Edward Lee opened Udtryk on Copenhagen's Teglgårdstræde 8 in early May, expectations were high. Yet he met them with ease: Within weeks, the restaurant earned its first Michelin star – an achievement few could have predicted so soon. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Australia, Edward moved to Copenhagen eleven years ago. His résumé includes a stint as assistant head chef at three-starred Jordnær and running his own restaurant, Gaijin.
At Udtryk – meaning expression in Danish – he joins forces with his partner, restaurant manager Regitze Maria Jense, as well as Bjarke Just Nielsen, CEO and owner of the Norrlyst Group. True to its name, Udtryk is a space for unrestrained creativity, offering only an omakase menu.
”I draw on my experience with Cantonese and Japanese flavors, combined with French culinary techniques,” Lee explains. ”It’s freedom of expression – and in art, anything you call food is food.” His first restaurant, Gaijin, reflected a similar philosophy, though with a more accessible style. Moving into fine dining felt natural after connecting with the Norrlyst Group. ”It was the easiest decision I’ve ever made,” Lee says. “Udtryk was a name I had in mind long before Gaijin – it’s been the name of my and Regitze’s dream restaurant.”
During his time at Gaijin, Lee kept a notebook of advanced ideas and concepts, which later came in handy as the foundation for Udtryk’s menu. He describes his approach as building a library of flavors – drawn from travel, dining, and culinary experiments – which he weaves into his new creations.
”The Nordic terroir is very green and vegetal right now, which I combine with pork or seafood,” he explains. “Fermentation and acidity are essential, interlaced with the punchy dynamics of Asian flavors.”
Signature dishes include turbot with ten-year-old Shaoxing wine and aged tangerine from Xinhui, and Mangalica–Linderöd pork with fava beans, plum koshu and a homemade vegan XO sauce made from pickled, unripe gooseberries.
Although raised in Australia, Edward’s palate was shaped by the flavors of home. ”I grew up with my mum cooking things like steamed fish, Cantonese style. My parents wanted me to keep that heritage alive – Chinese barbecue, roast duck, dumplings, steamed ribs, steamed fish. My dad worked in wholesale Chinese groceries, so my flavor tapestry is more Hong Kong than Australian.”While a Michelin star was always an aspiration, receiving it within five weeks came as a shock. Copenhagen is a city filled with acclaimed restaurants, and the competition is fierce.
”For me, the main pressure was delivering the best experience to my guests,” says Lee. “There are so many great places to spend your money – if someone chooses to spend two or three hours in my restaurant, I need to make sure I deliver.” And while his first star came quickly, Lee’s ambitions are far from fulfilled: ”I want guests to feel we deserve two stars. If we get two, I want them to wonder, ‘why not three?’. And if we get three, I want it to be the best three-star restaurant in the world. The day I achieve that is the day I open a bistro and sail into the Mediterranean sunset with Regitze.”
Until then, Lee will remain firmly behind the stove. “For me, a chef belongs in the kitchen,” he says with a smile. His advice for young chefs chasing a career in top tier dining?
”Persistence and hard work are the key – cliché as it sounds, there’s a reason it’s a cliché. For every success, there are 99 failures. You’ll make mistakes. As Rocky Balboa says: ‘It ain’t about how hard you get hit. It’s about how hard you can get up and keep going.’” With elegant flavours, Nordic precision, and a chef who knows exactly what he wants to say, Udtryk has quickly become one of Copenhagen’s most exciting new restaurants – and this is only the beginning.
