Within the last couple of years Tivoli has opened their doors for a series of restaurants to do a popup in the Japanese Tower. Some of these for 1-2 months and some for just a few days. Un till now it has however been the standard that the restaurant would move in with their existing menu.
The current popup is different. 3 great chefs got together to create a unique menu reflection each of their personalities into a common and coherent menu. Those chefs are Reifo Kee who has a series of restaurants in Dubari, Kristian Baumann from Koan and head chef Youngijn Kim from Juju and together they are Modu.
The menu starts with an incredible seafood platter. At first sight it might look simple and be all about the product but its really not. For all of the items the sauce plays a big part of the flavor from a yuzu and sesame sauce with the oyster to the most delicious makgeolli with the scallop and naturally a shiso leaf carries a powerful flavor that can match the mackerel.
Following this impressive start would be one of the most delicious dishes I have had all year. To me it just ticked all the right boxes. It was a simple dish but with complex and balanced flavor and naturally the products such as Gastro Unika Caviar was incredible.
Following an elevated dish we would have a simpler and comforting dish in the form of cold noodles with different fresh vegetables and naturally it would be topped with a few flowers for both flavor and presentation.
The menu switched back and forth a little between elevated and beautiful presentations to the simpler ones. This one looked both simple and stunning at the same time and so was its flavor. Sweet and delicious langostine was matched by a spicy soy sauce with lots of yuzu. Another great combination.
I mentioned already on the first dish that sauces play an important part of the dishes as they usually have the spicy elements and this would be the same again. The first dish with just a bit of heat and the combination was delicious.
A courgetti jeon (crispy pancake) was next and in reality the only dish that I didn’t love. It was topped with havgus cheese and looked nice and just didn’t tickle my tastebuds I the same way that the previous dishes had.
As a main we would have a delicious piece of grilled duck to be served with a variety of different sweet and spicy sauces and put on a piece of salat. Comforting and delicious.
Before moving to the desserts we would naturally have a rice dish. This is something which I really started to appreciate having travelled around Southeast Asia. Here it was served with a mushroom and seaweed broth and the super crispy tempura fried mushrooms. Naturally the bowl was licked dry.
The first dessert would be an almost Danish summer dessert but created from a Korean point of view. This means that freshstrawberries and a strawberry sirup was paired with a floral red shiso sorbet.
We would finish our incredible meal with a dessert of chocolate in 4 different textures and preparations. It was a nice but chocolate desserts will never be my favorite.
With Modu being a collaboration between 3 restaurants and a long +10 course menu for just 1350kr I didn’t quiete know what to expect. Was it going to be a long casual experience and would it be an incoherent menu from 3 different chefs?
Its safe to say that it was neither casual or incoherent and most importantly it was very delicious. Yes you could naturally see some different approaches in the dishes with some being more casual than others but not at all to the point that they felt out of place and the menu. In addition to this the tofu dish was one of the best I have had all year. I generally loved the flavor combination with delicate use of spicy flavors where a lot of these were new to me which happens less and less. At the end of the evening we also found our self talking about when we should go to Juju when the popup ends. This is usually a very good sign to me. After all your desire to go back is the best barometer for how much you liked the experience.
I was also very positively surprised the pairings. For the pairings you have 3 options and the non alcoholic pairing is based purely on Muri and why wouldn’t you when they are this great. The regular alcohol pairing included two Korean drinks in the form of Takju and Yakju which for the untrained palete can be compared to different variations of sake. The exclusive pairing were filled with incredible wines from big names and 1’er Cruwines. I was lucky enough to try a bit of everything and lucky is a good word to describe the experience because the wines were outstanding.
With just 3 weeks left of the popup a trip to Tivoli to try Modu is a great recommendation for anybody visiting Copenhagen these days
Practical information
Duraction of popup: august 23- September 22
Location: Tivoli, Copenhagen
Menu: +10 course tasting menu $200
Booking: Modu (nimb.dk)
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