Scan Magazine | Special Theme | A Taste of Denmark
‘Seafood and bubbles’ is one of the popular events arranged by Chef’s Table.
‘We’re taking social dining to the next level’ A famous guest chef, seafood feast, or spring celebration – a dinner with Chef’s Table is about much more than food. It is a chance to sit down in a homely setting, talk to fellow guests, and interact with the chefs; it is a social dining event taken to the next level. By Signe Hansen | Photos: Tommy Swede
Centred around a striking five-metre oak table in a grand, historic Copenhagen flat, Chef’s Table offers guests the chance of an out-of-the-ordinary dinner experience with top chefs from Denmark and abroad. The flat is the home of former chef and greengrocer Ronni Højer and his girlfriend Dorthe Hummel. With almost a lifetime of relationships in the restaurant business – from either cooking, supplying for or dining at the best restaurants in the world – the couple decided to create Chef’s Table to bring people together in a casual and so72 | Issue 109 | February 2018
cial celebration of high-level gastronomy. “Everyone who gets in here and takes part in one of our dinners walks out the door having had an epiphany. It doesn’t matter if they’re used to eating out all the time, because it’s not just fine dining,” explains Højer. “The special atmosphere makes everyone relax and behave in a way that means that everybody involved gets a truly special experience; everybody chats and interacts with the chefs and each other.” With events taking place once or twice every month, Chef’s Table presents an
array of original ideas. Upcoming events include a spring celebration, with all the best produce of the spring season; a seafood and bubbles evening; and dinners with guest chefs such as Karlos Ponte from the Venezuelan gourmet restaurant Taller, and Kamilla Seidler, former head chef at Restaurant Gustu in Bolivia and winner of Best Female Chef of South America in 2016.
Social dining With 20 people seated around the impressive hand-sanded table and the large open kitchen next door, an evening with Chef’s Table is guaranteed to be full of life, food, and new encounters. Indeed, it was the desire to create the kind of casual encounters and chats that Højer and his partner found missing in today’s Denmark, which first spurred the idea of Chef’s Table. “Usually, when you go out to