A Third Michelin Star in 2024, a Commuter Train North of Copenhagen
Eric Kragh Vildgaard's seafood-and-vegetable tasting menu sits in suburban Gentofte, inside the Gentofte Hotel, and is booked online through SuperbExperience, by phone or by email.
Two dishes explain the kitchen at Jordnær: a hamachi with ponzu and wasabi, pure and precise, and a chawanmushi, stunningly plated and multi-layered. One is the restrained side of the cooking and the other the hyper-detailed side. Both come from a tasting menu built on seafood and vegetable produce.
Eric Kragh Vildgaard is chef-owner. He spent three years at Noma before opening Jordnær in 2017, and the name means 'down to earth'. His wife, Tina Kragh Vildgaard, is maître d' and oversees service. The restaurant sits inside the Gentofte Hotel, part of the Arp-Hansen group, in a suburb north of central Copenhagen. It received a third Michelin star in 2024.
Bold, creative dishes run from a restrained hamachi to a hyper-detailed chawanmushi, all built on seafood and vegetables.
Editorial Deep
What survives the end of the meal is a pair of plates from opposite ends of the kitchen's range. The hamachi with ponzu and wasabi is pure and precise, the wisely restrained side of Eric Kragh Vildgaard's cooking. The chawanmushi is stunningly plated and multi-layered, the hyper-detailed side. Putting both on one menu is the kitchen's argument.
The dining room is flooded with light at lunch, and one guide calls it a stylish and sophisticated oasis. It sits inside the Gentofte Hotel, and one writer felt the restaurant far outshines those more modest surroundings.
Book online through SuperbExperience, linked from the restaurant's site, or phone +45 22 40 80 20 or email info@restaurantjordnaer.dk. Jordnær takes its own bookings; it is not on Resy, OpenTable or Tock. Reservations should be made well in advance. The journey from central Copenhagen is by commuter train or taxi.
Some of this bill never reaches the kitchen. It goes on the commuter train or taxi out of central Copenhagen and on a booking made well ahead. The restaurant sits inside a modest hotel, so the setting is not where the effort goes. That leaves the plate to justify the money, and the technical skill across the tasting menu, the hamachi and the chawanmushi supports that case.
Bring the companion who would rather ride a commuter train for a hamachi than eat in the middle of the city, and who will spend the evening on the plate. Anyone who needs to be back in town for a late bar may find the evening ends too far from it.
What to eat
Don't miss.
The tasting menu; within it, the hamachi with ponzu and wasabi and the chawanmushi, if they are on the current menu
“Jordnær, awarded a third Michelin star in 2024, serves a seafood-and-vegetable tasting menu in suburban Gentofte, with Tina Kragh Vildgaard leading service.”
A tasting menu that runs from restraint to hyper-detail, built on seafood and vegetables, and cooked with bold technical skill by chef-owner Eric Kragh Vildgaard.
The Verdict
