Beau Clugston, Chef at Iluka

“I love watching a customer taste sea urchin for the first time in their life...”

“These sea urchins were caught in the Faroe Islands, that remote archipelago between Iceland and Norway that’s part of the Kingdom of Denmark. In my opinion, that’s where the most delicious sea urchins on the planet are to be found,” says Australian chef Beau Clugston, with eyes as blue as the pure waters of the North Atlantic. His Iluka restaurant – open for dinner only – addresses an astonishing deficiency in Copenhagen: though the capital is surrounded by salt water, it is hard to find establishments that have seafood on the menu. “Denmark was built around fishing and the fish trade. The country has access to incredible seafood, but it’s exported to the major European capitals that are willing to pay a higher price for it,” laments the chef. Iluka’s menu bucks that trend: shellfish, fish served raw or lightly cooked, toothsome crustaceans: all caught through responsible fishing practices. The salty, almost sweet, sea urchins are a particular highlight, bursting with oceanic aromas. They are served whole atop slices of toasted bread, on which the glistening, feather-light flesh is delicately arranged. Though the product is Danish, the country’s inhabitants are not yet familiar with this delicacy.

“For our local customers, it’s often the first time they’ve ever eaten sea urchin, and some had never even seen one up close in their entire lives,” laughs the cook, who grew up in a fishing town in New South Wales, Australia. “I love watching a customer taste sea urchin for the first time in their life,” the aptly named Beau chuckles. “What’s great about the Danes is their open-mindedness. They have their own gastronomic culture, but it’s not as old and vast as the ones in, say, France or Italy. And that encourages them to try these Nordic ingredients that are gaining recognition.” However, though the big steps are being taken, Beau’s experience suggests that there might still be a way to go: “I have a dish on the menu that’s made from herring. People have been eating this fish for several centuries: pickled, fermented, salted, dried – it’s an inexpensive fish you can find everywhere. But no-one eats it raw! We serve it tartare-style at Iluka. Fortunately, our customers from the neighbourhood trust us, because they couldn’t believe you could eat it that way. Even René Redzepi, with whom I worked for ten years at Noma, had never eaten herring in this form before having it at Iluka.”

Iluka, Peder Skrams Gade 15, Copenhagen