I haven’t posted about beer for a long time. My trip to Copenhagen last week, mainly to have lunch at Noma, was also the perfect occasion to visit a few local beer places.

About one million persons live in the Copenhagen metropolitan area, and yet a dozen of bars, brewpubs and specialized shops (at least) seem to play on a level with no equivalent in France, at least to my knowledge. Maybe there are historical reasons to this: when the city’s water wasn’t drinkable, each family could go to the local brewery daily to get 16 liters of beer…

I have thus visited Cafe Plan B, and twice Mikkeller’s bar, and ended with a great shopping experience at Ølbutikken. Let’s start with the first one.

Read more

Photo gallery

When thinking about Japanese gastronomy, one often thinks about seafood first. Yet, another product that has a fantastic reputation, but seldom found in Europe, is the subject of must discussion: wagyu beef, an name under which several beef species are regrouped. They are used in Japan because of their high propension to yield a very marbled meat, rich in intramuscular fat, a highly sought-after quality. If the most often quoted example is Kobe beef, other regions like Matsusaka or Kagoshima are also reknowned for their bovine output.

However, after nurturing the dream of tasting this legendary product, I resigned myself to do that another time, as I was still troubled at the idea of spending that much money for a “simple” steak. Then, during our stay at the Iwaso ryokan in Miyajima, we were served a sukiyaki with very marbled beef. Just after the first bite of this very profound-tasting beef, I realized my mistake: I did not know when I would come back in Japan, so I had to have a steak there before leaving.
As it was not possible to have a reservation for Kawamura, that I discovered through a fantastic post on Gastroville (which may very well be my favorite food-blog out there), I was wondering whether I should go to the illustrious Aragawa, or the less famous Dons de la Nature. After checking a few websites, I settled with the latter. What a great idea that was!
Read more