Relæ was opened in 2010 by Christian Puglisi, a former Noma chef, and received its Michelin star in 2012. Its concept is simple dishes using only a few ingredients, that are mostly locally sourced and 90-100% organic. They have gone for a really laid back atmosphere which was extremely enjoyable. The maitre'd was in a flanno, the chefs brought your dishes to the table, there were no napkins awkwardly placed on your lap and of course the cloakroom had a drawing of a teddybear with a cock. Built into the table was a secret drawer which contained your menu, napkin and various sets of cutlery to self serve as you went along - brilliant!
On arrival we were asked if we would like an aperitif and snack... Umm, yes! Immediately poured in front of us were two glasses of delicious bubbles from Austria where some of the grapes had been pressed with their skins to give it the delightful colour. Then our snack arrived in a leather bowl - fresh potato bread with goats cheese and herbs. The chef advised us to eat it with our hands... To which I (probably too quickly) responded he didn't need to tell us that! The combination was fantastic and wine pairing spot on.
You have two eating options at Relæ - Herbivore or Omnivore, in the form of four courses. To cover more ground we decided to get one of each, with the wine pairings to match obviously.
Course one
Herbivore - Baked onion, sol and birch syrup, paired with Susucara 5 '12
Presentation of this dish was beautiful. The individual layers of red onion were sweet and filled with seaweed from Iceland. The essence of sea that came through was incredible - it was like the concentration of a thousand shellfish. The wine was really different but worked so well. I must admit I shuddered when I saw the cloudy pink liquid flow into my glass, preparing for some super sweet swill, but it was dry and tannin-y from all the skins, and heightened the natural flavours of the dish.
Omnivore - Razorclam, cucumber and spinach, paired with Opok '08
Brim's dish looked like some alien seaslug that got lost in a forest. Not so sure about the presentation but the mouthful I was gifted was divine. Inside the wafer thin slices of raw cucumber was the meatiest razorclam I had ever seen. It was cooked perfectly, so sweet - similar to a slightly chewier scallop that mated with an oyster I guess. The cucumber provided crunch whilst the wilted spinach inside gave an earthy element to heighten the sea flavours. The wine came from vines grown on clay soils, making it quite an earthy white, adding richness to the sea flavours.
Course two
Herbivore/Omnivore - Mushrooms, grains and ramsons, paired with O2 fruits '10
We were both treated to this delightful next course. A mix of grains had been cooked and added to a dark green garlicky broth, topped with slices of raw mushroom. Yum! Barley, burghal, sunflower seeds, you name the grain and it was here. The broth was indescribable other than we wanted a thermos of it to take home. Simple slices of mushroom took on the quality of meat and soaked up all the flavours. Ramsons are like a wild chive, so added a real freshness to the broth. We tried our best to slurp up every last drop of this one! The wine was amazing. They don't fill the barrels all the way so that the wine can oxidise. This resulted in all kinds of whiskey and calvados flavours and aromas coming through, complementing the earthy flavours of the dish.
Course three
Herbivore - Carrots, hollandaise and oxalis, paired with Roc cab '12
My meatless main. Carrots that had been slow roasted like you would meat, to take on a meat texture and quality. Looking at the photo of the dish, if you were to assume that oxalis must be the purple thing and the carrots are hiding under the hollandaise, then you would be wrong - at least you didn't ask the chef and be responded to with a confused look "um that is carrot", pointing at the purple.
Turns out the carrots are thinly sliced and then stacked back together basically in the shape of a steak (mmm... steak...). Oxalis are the four-leaf clover looking bits that taste exactly like the leaves of some sour plant that me and Pippa used to nom when we rollerbladed down my driveway growing up. I gleefully told Brim about this little blast from the past but he didn't get it, or care for that matter, so I piped down and munched my rabbit food. Tasty yes, but like my course one, I felt it was trying too hard to emulate its meaty counterpart, a goal that can never be reached, and should have been focusing more on the original vegetable flavours. The wine match was a delicious red, again trying to replicate the red meat/red wine combination.
Omnivore - Sodam chicken and celeriac, paired with Navine '07
Brim's main consisted of a pile of chicken, but this wasn't any old chicken... It was slow cooked at a low temperature so the meat was pink but cooked through and retained a lot of the raw meat texture. The celeriac slices on top of the chicken had been fermented, giving a powerful acidity to cut through the chicken. Neither of us can remember what the sauce was exactly... But it was good. A lovely unfiltered chenin was the wine match and its dryness worked perfectly with the rich dish.
Course four
Herbivore/Omnivore - 5yo Parmesan and apple, paired with La Mailloche' 09
This was an optional cheese course, but who are they kidding, when is cheese ever an option? I said to the waitress right at the beginning that we would share the cheese course to which she laughed and said I'll ask you when we get to that time. My brain was just going cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese. So the parmesan was delicious and the apple jelly was a great accompaniment, but we felt cheated. If I wanted 5yo cheese plonked on a plate then I could buy the cheese and plonk it on myself. We like to eat at good restaurants for the purpose of them providing something I can't do myself. Knowing that we were sharing the wine (a crisp Chardonnay), they gave us two smaller pours in separate glasses which was great service.
Course five
Herbivore/Omnivore - Vanilla icecream, dried citrus, paired with Moscato d'Asti'12
To finish was dessert which both menus shared. Out came a plate with a smear of vanilla ice cream, garnished with dried shards of orange and individual frozen segments of orange. Not too much to say about this one, it tastes like you would expect. Good, but again it wasn't anything special or using interesting flavour combinations. The wine unfortunately was my only dislike of the night. I don't care if it's $3 or $300 a bottle, I don't like Moscato. So sweet and light, I understand it's purpose to cut through the cream and enhance the citrus, but it's just gross.
So overall we had a wonderful night at Relæ . The wine was definitely the highlight for me - trying natural wines that all had a little quirk to them was fascinating and something I'd love to get into more. The low-key feeling of the restaurant was really enjoyable and meant you could focus more on what was in front of you (the food, not Brim). The food was delicious however I think the cheese and dessert really let down the whole experience. And I made a mistake by going for the Herbivore option - you don't make friends with salad!
