A guest at Malling & Schmidt will be part of a food experience beyond the ordinary because our guests are the key ingredient. The feeling in our restaurant is intimate and easygoing yet not like eating at home.

This restaurant creates feelings in the twilight zone between the public and the private resulting in a very unique atmosphere. Just like the food the rough white walls and interior are strongly inspired by the Nordic identity which is a mixture of light wood, steel, stone and animal skins. In the kitchen the Nordic ingredients are scrutinized thoroughly creating multi sensory gastronomy. There is a sincerity to the way the ingredients are composed, prepared, arranged and served that almost lead your thoughts to a laboratory. Horseradish cooled with liquid nitrogen carefully lifted between two fingers and observed in a way that one would think it was a priceless diamond being appraised before it is tested and approved.

At Malling & Schmidt you should not be surprised when presented to a jellyfish in a tank or ice cream in a plastic bag as this most likely will happen. The strong passion and scientific curiosity of the kitchen is openly exhibited to the guests seated at the prime table. From here they are able to see how the various dishes are thoroughly arranged on specific plates before the Chefs themselves carry the dish up the stairs and present it to the guests. Small stone plates covered by smoking coals and a hunting knife for carving. All of this is supposed to intensify the food impression for the guest, turning this into something more than just taste.

 To experience the complete food impression all five senses must be stimulated. Thus sounds, images, odours and touching all are important elements within the universe of Malling & Schmidt. Through this sensory interaction uniqueness is created. The challenging and boundary pushing gastronomy of this kitchen is supported and counterbalanced by the physical contact to the guests, which is complete rinsed from all snobbishness and only focusing on friendly and informal security.

It is all about opening a universe of food and wine to the guests, which they specifically need told in a language they understand. This gives the guest the feeling of not only being presented to a food experience but also that he has contributed to this experience himself as a guest. The guest becomes a part of the experience. This involvement of the guest is a conscious and important part of Malling & Schmidt’s philosophy and is essential to the conclusive aim to create a memorable moment.

The basic idea for a dish cut be, that I think, it could be interesting, if one could create something, where the guests could decide for themselves, if it was a salty or a sweet dish, they were having and how you could implement it in a way that is a bit funny, witch could make them think about it and what have happen if I had chosen the sweet one? And the discussion that follows- you take the sweet one, and then I will take the salty one - because I have to see what happens. Then you create a moment, which for some could become a memorable moment, and that is actually sort of what I am after:

Those moments where some social happens with someone you have been out to dinner with and experienced something unique together whit – not just that the food tastes good, it smells good but all that other stuff that just happens in the moment. Something you take with you home.

I am typically inspired from raw materials, aromas, feelings, a quick thought, a memory from my childhood or from my progressive curiosity for what can be done gastronomically. The important question to be asked is why, how… and why not. I was confirmed in my thoughts by what started to happen in the international gastronomic world in the early year 2000. “Thorsten Schmidt & Rikke Malling”