Around 2 weeks ago, I dined at the Koks pop-up restaurant inside Copenhagen’s famed Tivoli Gardens amusement park while on a short food trip to Denmark.
A few months prior, Koks had announced that they would be hosting a pop-up at Tivoli from Oct 10th to Nov 3rd after their final season in Greenland. This was not their first rodeo, as they have already done a pop-up here around 2021, back when they were located on the Faroe Islands.
Koks is one of my dream destination restaurants, but due to its location (Faroe Islands and Greenland), it is extremely hard for me to travel there. So, when I saw the announcement of the restaurant unfortunately only being able to reopen in 2026 and the news of the pop-up being in Copenhagen, I knew I had to come here.
On the night of the dinner, I arrived at the wonderful Tivoli Garden, which was full of Halloween decorations. In order to get into the park and eat at the restaurant, you need to pay an admission fee. I got the entrance pass, which was priced at 180 DKK I believe. The restaurant was operating inside the Japanese Pagoda, a beautiful structure that Tivoli has been using to hold pop-up restaurants since 2021. The Japanese Pagoda was also adorned with Halloween decorations, matching the festive vibe of the entire amusement park. The dining room was very modern, warm wood tones and black carpet, decorated with plants and paper birds hanging on the ceiling, with a view looking out at Tivoli Lake depending on where you are seated. Quite stunning tbh
For the dinner, they offer one dinner tasting menu priced at 2100 DKK, and two drink pairing options: Alcoholic pairing for 1350 DKK and a Non-Alcoholic pairing for 850 DKK. I opted for the dinner tasting menu and one Non-Alcoholic pairing. The NA pairing was very good, including house-made kombucha, infusions, kefir, and even a mocktail. Definitely one of the best NA pairings I’ve had but also very expensive.
The service here definitely was at a Michelin star level. The front-of-house was professional, friendly, and quite attentive. My water glass was never empty and the food came out at a steady pace. As usual with most New Nordic Restaurants, chefs came out to present and explain majority of the dishes, all of which were understandable and detailed. My only criticism would be the explanations from the servers on courses and drinks could be slightly better, but considering the front-of-house does not include any members of the Koks team, I believe they still did a good job.
Onto the menu: This was basically a shortened version of the menu they serve at Ilimanaq, Greenland. Consisting of 12 courses, each dish was made with ingredients from the Faroe Islands and Greenland. I would describe the food here as super New Nordic in both preparation and presentation, but more experimental and creative than your regular New Nordic restaurant. The plating here is very pretty but also quite simple, besides the bird feather dish. The execution from the kitchen was impressive, the cook of all of the meat courses were great and the plating was tight, this surprised me quite a bit since this was a pop-up and the entire Koks team was not present. Overall, this dinner was delicious and is one of my favorite tasting menus I have had in Denmark. I would love to go to the main restaurant or pop-ups in the near future.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend people to go try Koks when they reopen, as well as the pop-ups at the Japanese Pagoda (Hiša Franko is coming up next). The meal was ~3100 DKK or 415 € per person, including the admission fee, very expensive but not bad compared to the two Michelin Star restaurants in Copenhagen. This was one of my favorite restaurants on this trip and Tivoli is worth visiting even if you don’t come eat here.
Menu details and description in the comments.
by therainmkerr
4 Comments
Menu:
1/ Herbal bouquet with Whale blubber – 8/10
A bouquet of herbs, the primary flavor here was dill and kelp. The whale blubber was quite mild and worked well with the fish friendly herbs.
2/ Capelin, Gooseberry and Wild Coriander – 7.5/10
Capelin, a small bait fish eaten by the Greenlandic people, is dressed with a medley of herbs and flowers, in a sauce of fermented gooseberries. Flavors were very New Nordic, quite acidic and fresh, and the capelin was quite tasty, not too fishy or saline at all. Eating the capelin was a bit of struggle and I rate it lower because of that.
3/ Greenlandic halibut, Sea Lettuce, and Horseradish – 7/10
Greenlandic halibut is smoked and topped with sea lettuce, and the sauce is made with buttermilk and horseradish. I was not impressed by the halibut, which was little chewy, juicy and quite tough. The sea lettuce added a nice textural contrast and saltiness, but both components were completely
overpowered by the horseradish sauce, which was quite spicy and a bit pungent.
4/ Sourdough bread with salted butter – 7/10
Bread was chewier than most sourdough I’ve had but it was still yummy. Butter was alright.
5/ Arctic char, Fermented Sweet Potato and Carrot – 9.5/10
This was such an interesting flavor combo. Arctic char is cured in pine salt (?) and paired with fermented sweet potato and carrot sauce/foam, garnished with trout roe and Greenlandic thyme. Arctic char was flavorful, tender, and worked perfectly with trout roe. The acidity in this dish from the sweet potato and carrot was on point, with both flavors standing out but ultimately working well with one another. Fantastic
6/ Shrimp, Milk Skin Tartlet and Caramelized Cream – 10/10
A fried milk skin tartlet filled with raw shrimps, smoked cream, charcoal oil, and topped with a fried shrimp head filled with a shrimp emulsion. The tartlet being milk skin made it much crispier and sweeter than a regular tartlet shell, which is a nice switch up compared to other tasting menus I’ve had. The shrimps were fantastic, not slimy and super fresh, the best raw shrimp preparation I have eaten. The smoked cream and charcoal oil added a delectable smoky aroma to the shrimp, and the shrimp head was an explosion of shrimp flavor, adding richness, umami, and saltiness to this bite. Outstanding
7/ Snow Crab and Mushroom – 9/10
Beneath the foam, there is snow crab swimming in a mushroom sauce. This dish was so meaty and rich, with notes of brown butter and mushroom, it was hard to think I was eating crab. The snow crab was superb, very sweet and succulent. The mushroom sauce is rich and umami, but I don’t remember all the ingredients unfortunately.
8/ Ptarmigan, Reindeer Fat, and Berries from Gizzard – 9/10
Ptarmigan is a bird common in Greenland, which is served here on a skewer with reindeer fat and a sauce made with berries present in the bird’s diet. The ptarmigan is similar to pigeon, juicy and tender, with a little gamey taste. The reindeer fat adds fattiness, and the berries are tart and sweet, balancing both meat and fat, and removing the gamey flavor. The feather attached to the skewer is from the ptarmigan itself.
9/ Guillemot, Beetroot and Black Garlic – 10/10
Guillemot is a seabird common in Greenland. The guillemot is cured in shio koji overnight and then cooked, alongside the meat is a sauce made from beetroot and black garlic. The cook on the meat was perfect and the fat rendered very well. Guillemot meat is so hard to describe: it looks like beef, but tastes more akin to duck, while having notes of liver and seawater. The sauce served had hints of licorice, and was very deep and rich, though the sauce tasted more black garlic than beetroot. Overall, this dish was phenomenal, with the fatty and intense guillemot, elevated by a deep and savory sauce. So simple but so good.
10/ Reindeer, Bone Marrow, Rhubarb – 9/10
The final meat course: Reindeer fillet with a sauce made from reindeer marrow, alongside rhubarb cream and cooked beetroot. The reindeer was also cooked great, tender and lean, while barely having any game flavor. The bone marrow sauce was rich and flavorful, and you can really taste the marrow. The rhubarb and beetroot adds a lot of vegetal sweetness to this dish, cutting through the richness of the reindeer and marrow. This course was less intense than the last course, but still very tasty and the beetroot present offers a nice contrast between the two courses.
11/ Bog Labrador, Angelica and Sorrel – 8.5/10
Bog Labrador Tea is a flowering shrub from Greenland used to make herbal tea. Here, they make a Bog Labrador sorbet, sorrel jelly, and garnished with angelica. The sorbet is aromatic and herbal, while being quite pungent and slightly bitter. Both flavor and smell of the sorbet is similar to pine and spruce or even eucalyptus. The angelica adds a pleasant floral note and the sorrel has a nice fruity and almost matcha taste.
This dessert is refreshing and not too sweet, but I was hoping for more.
12/ Blue Mussel Candy – 7/10
Blue mussels cooked for a long time and the turned into a candy. Hard exterior, soft gummy interior. The taste was sweet with flavors of mussel and seaweed. Good but I didn’t enjoy the mussel taste.
13/ Limpet Cream – 8/10
Limpet is a kind of aquatic snail, that is cooked and then ground into a powder, which is then added to cream to make a caramel. No utensils to eat this one, the caramel was sweet with great consistency, the limpet provided shellfish flavor that is barely noticeable.
14/ Really bad menu picture
Wow, what an incredible dining experience! I’ve been really into cooking lately and watching a ton of YouTube channels for inspiration. I’m curious, have you tried recreating any Nordic-inspired dishes at home? What kitchen tools or appliances do you find essential for that kind of cuisine? I’d love to hear about any tips or tricks you’ve picked up from your foodie adventures!
Looks fantastic. As contemporary as it gets. Bummer I missed it.
Thanks for sharing this. Great pics and review.