Bellissimo, bellissimo!
At SanGiovanni - the city’s famous ”slow food” restaurant - two generations devote their lives to teaching guests exactly what good Italian food should taste like. The restaurant is located in the city’s very first five-storey building. You can sit back and relax, watching the traffic of Vesterbro zoom by noiselessly as you sip delicious Italian red wine.
In addition to its exciting menu, SanGiovanni has one of the country’s most extensive selections of Italian wine. Just ask and they’ll show you the cellar - but hands off the vintage bottles! Also feel free to ask Giovanni or his son Mikele to tell you about the wines and the history of the restaurant - and the food too, of course!
Ristorante SanGiovanni, Vesterbro 46, 9000 Aalborg,
tel. +45 9811 3755, http://www.sangiovanni.dk/
Inn with a touch of the international
Say “Danish inn” and you usually think
of half-timber and thatch and a menu
offering minced steak with fried onions and boiled potatoes. So a visit to Restaurant Mortens Kro (“Morten’s Inn”) in the heart of Aalborg will come as something of a surprise. The interior is tastefully decorated in cream and white and there’s a view through to the kitchen, where the chef works his magic on his ingredients. The rooms are light and open, and the rather unusual lighting lends an exciting cosmopolitan feel that you’d never find in an “inn”. When the chef Morten Nielsen was a little boy he dreamed of opening his own “Morten’s Inn”. Many years later his dream came true. And what a dream! Exciting, international fusion cuisine with a special personal touch, in a modern restaurant with a champagne bar, vintage wines, great music and an open fireplace.
Restaurant Mortens Kro, Mølleå 4-6, 9000 Aalborg, tel. +45 9812 4860,
http://mortenskro.com
Italian love in a Danish warehouse
Restaurant Rosdahls is located in an old warehouse on Aalborg’s waterfront, right next to the Limfjord. It is a gastronomic gem, where guests sit in really inspiring surroundings. The rustic warehouse environment has been enhanced with Philippe Starck chairs. The restaurant is at once exclusive and laid back. Master chef Carlo Liberati and Sonja Zweidick have put new life into the lovely old warehouse. They love their warehouse and this love rubs off on their guests. The menu is largely Mediterranean in influence, but with excellent Danish produce and a touch of the Scandinavian, and is stunningly presented. The wine bar has everything the heart could desire and there’s a little café area serving tapas - or antipasti, as they’re known in Italy.
Rosdahls, Strandvejen 6, 9000 Aalborg, tel. +45 9812 0580.
For their Danish website go to: www.rosdahls.dk
Gastronomic icebreaker
The old national icebreaker Elbjørn, dating from 1953, is a proud monument to Danish maritime history.
A solid iron ship, which gives nothing away in terms of its surprising interior. So climb aboard and discover what’s in store. There’s an exciting glassblowing studio and a restaurant serving food to die for! Engine parts, pipes and relics of the ship’s past blend tastefully with ultra modern décor - chairs upholstered in cream-coloured leather, white tablecloths, colourful glass flowers from the studio and exciting hidden lighting that always amazes the restaurant’s guests.
The menu is no less amazing with its rich use of Scandinavian ingredients: musk ox and reindeer from Greenland, berries from Sweden, ocean hawthorn from Skagen or zander from Egholm. Just ask Captain Lars Jeppesen, who will regale you with stories of the gastronomic journeys you and your taste buds are about to embark upon.
Isbryderen Elbjørn, Strandvejen 6b, 9000 Aalborg, tel. +45 4342 3434.
For their Danish webesite go to: www.isbryderen-elbjorn.dk
Dine with the princess
It’s not exactly polite to call a lady a harbourmaster - and certainly not a princess - but actually that’s what the good ship Princess Juliana is. This handsome Dutch training ship, dating from 1931, while seaworthy, has no engine, so is always moored in the harbour.
Today Princess Juliana is an exciting gourmet restaurant with tasteful décor that respects the old lady’s history. Try the restaurant’s surprise menu and, if the weather permits, start with an aperitif on deck.
Prinses Juliana, Vestre Havnepromenade 2, 9000 Aalborg,
tel. +45 9811 5566.
For their Danish website go to; www.prinsesjuliana.dk
Worth the drive
Next door to beautiful Nørlund Castle in Rold Forest there’s an idyllic forester’s cottage. It’s here that two old childhood friends, chefs Kenneth Kragelund and Klaus Kalsen, have opened Restaurant Nørlund. They have put a lot of time and money into the cottage’s tasteful restoration and it is now a charming, intimate restaurant.
The menu, testimony to their love of fine food and a desire to give guests an exceptional experience, has been awarded six forks by the food critic of Nordjyske Stiftstidende and the accolade of “Total gastronomic experience.” So don’t give it a second thought: get in the car and drive to Restaurant Nørlund!
Restaurant Nørlund, Nørlund Slot, Roldvej 142, 9610 Nørager,
tel. +45 9865 6611
For their Danish website go to; http://www.restaurant-noerlund.dk/
The castle in the city
Not far from the centre of Aalborg there’s a little oasis. Sohngaardsholm Castle is so well tucked away, that only taxi drivers and those in the know can find it. The castle’s 400-year history is exciting, but its present incarnation is something we can thank the industrialist Isidor Henius for. He’s the man who put Aalborg on the world’s alcohol map, when he founded the Aquavit Factory and started to distil (amongst many other brews) Red Aalborg Schnapps. In 2005 a chef, Stine Marie Pedersen, and a restaurant manager, Anja Rørdam Jensen, bought Sohngaardsholm and renovated the ancient castle with great respect for its history.
Start with an aperitif in the castle’s library and enjoy the view of the castle’s garden from the comfort of a Chesterfield sofa. The cuisine in the restaurant is modern Danish with a touch of France.
Sohngaardsholm Slot, Borgmester Jørgensensvej 1, 9000 Aalborg,
tel. +45 9880 1500.
For their Danish website go to: http://www.sohngaardsholmslot.dk/