Scan Magazine | Restaurant of the Month | Denmark
The interior of Restaurant PMY combines modern Latin American art and strong colours with warm and simple Scandinavian design. Photo: Rasmus Kramer
Restaurant of the Month, Denmark
Three Latin American kitchens and a dash of ‘hygge’ With its authentic taste of Latin America, warm atmosphere and modern interior, Restaurant PMY has had no problems finding its place on Copenhagen’s buzzing food scene. Behind the restaurant’s menu of everyday Latin American dishes are three top gourmet chefs: Diego Muñoz from Peru, Emilio Macías from Mexico, and Karlos Ponte from Venezuela. By Signe Hansen
Named after Papa (potatoes), maíz (corn), and yuca (yucca), the most fundamental ingredients from each of the founders’ native countries, restaurant PMY represents the diversity and unity of the three nations’ food cultures. “PMY is a restaurant where three similar Latin American cultures with each their own identity and unique personality converge,” says Mexican chef Macías. “We are three chefs with a lot of passion for what we do, and we want to bring the best of our gastronomy to the table.” 118 | Issue 109 | February 2018
Like Muñoz, Macías is a co-founder of PMY but will mainly be in Denmark for the creation of the menus. Behind the everyday running of the restaurant are Venezuelan Karlos Ponte and his head chef, Chilean Jaime Moreno.
From gourmet to everyday food Having first arrived in Denmark as a young exchange student 15 years ago, Ponte eventually went on to open his own restaurant in the capital. First, however, he honed his skills in among
other places two of the world’s best restaurants, El Bulli and Noma. In 2015, he set up Taller, a modern finedining Venezuelan restaurant by the Royal Danish Theatre in the heart of Copenhagen – the space where PMY is now located. “The idea for PMY originated as Diego and Emilio visited Taller as guest chefs for a collaboration dinner. We had a very nice event; people were super happy, so we decided to invite them again six months later,” says Ponte. “My sous chef Luis and I had always thought about opening a more traditional Venezuelan restaurant and then, one night after the collaboration dinner, we went out for a beer and started talking. We were saying how it would be amazing to create something that connected the