RASMUS KOFOED

The master of Nordic Cuisine

He is a top chef and widely regarded as a master of New Nordic Cuisine: Rasmus Kofoed. His restaurant, Geranium, in Copenhagen has held three Michelin stars since 2016 and in 2022 ranked first on the list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The luxurious top-level venue is situated in an unusual location – on the 8th floor of the national football stadium, Telia Park, in the district of Østerbro, offering panoramic views over Fælled Park.

Kofoed serves finely balanced dishes with pure, precise flavours and extraordinarily aesthetic presentation, prepared using modern cooking techniques and the finest organically grown ingredients.

We met him at Geranium for an exclusive conversation.

Rasmus Kofoed was born in 1974 in Næstved, Denmark. His first inspiration for cooking dates back to his childhood and youth. He grew up in nature, surrounded by herbs, dried nettles and rosehip blossoms; he gathered mushrooms, caught crayfish and eels, and smoked them with juniper berries, he tells us. The dream of becoming a chef therefore soon became obvious.

Rasmus Kofoed trained at the Hotel d’Angleterre in Copenhagen. After various posts, including in Belgium, he founded the restaurant Geranium in Copenhagen in 2010 together with his partner Søren Ledet, which he has since run with great skill and deep passion. The name, incidentally, refers to the geranium — standing for “sensual and green”.

RIZE: Rasmus, you won the gold medal at the Bocuse d’Or in 2011, you hold three Michelin stars and took Geranium to the number-one spot in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. How do you manage to keep your motivation high?

Rasmus Kofoed: My motivation is not the three Michelin stars or being number one on the Top 50 list. What matters to me is evolving together with my team and continuously challenging myself and them. That was why we closed for a while and reopened Geranium in a new version. We removed all the signature dishes we had created over the past ten years. They were really good — people travelled from far away to eat them — and the easiest thing for me would have been to keep them on the menu. Then I would have more time to go running, drink red wine and meet friends. But I need the challenge; I want to create something new. I believe that only by challenging yourself do you get the best out of life. For me, there is no final award or reward. After ten years, I needed a new challenge — to take Geranium in a new direction together.

So it’s all about progress for you.

Rasmus: Yes, quite literally. I see a parallel with running. When I run outdoors in nature, that’s where I find inspiration. Sometimes I run in the woods, sometimes in the city or by the harbour — and that’s when ideas come to me. I set myself personal goals when I run. When you run, you are entirely with yourself. It is just you — and time. You know, for instance, that a distance measures 100 metres, and you know it can be covered in a certain number of seconds. Trying to achieve that motivates me. I also simply want to enjoy life and enjoy what I do, so I continue in this culinary world full of stories, great moments, colours and creativity. And I do all this with a wonderful team, which is very important to me.

Is the secret of your success also that you have remained humble and still work out of passion?

Yes — and because I have genuinely kept that passion alive for many years. Many people give up at some point; I don’t. And I enjoy what I do. I am also the father of three children, for whom I have a responsibility. I’m a true family person, so it is essential to me that everything works well. Unfortunately, the day sometimes doesn’t have enough hours for all of that — I really wish the days were a bit longer (laughs).

A day has only 24 hours. It must be difficult to balance everything. Considering what kind of culinary institution you’ve created here with Geranium, and then three children at home — what does your work–life balance look like?

I used to be a real party type. I’m not anymore. Today, I prefer being fit and clear-headed. I love waking up in the morning full of motivation and energy. Then I go for a jog along Copenhagen’s harbour and jump into the cold water. That’s when I feel myself. A great counterbalance. That’s part of my work–life balance.

Eating habits have changed a lot over the years. Now we are talking about eating less meat and using less butter. Do you believe this is the future of gastronomy?

I think using less meat will indeed be the future. We need to adapt the restaurant so that it keeps pace with what is good for the world. Beyond that, Geranium is not only about saving the planet — it’s also about going out and having a wonderful experience. I also want to plant a few thoughts in the minds of our guests. We have a vegan menu that is very popular. I want the menu to reflect what I myself like to eat. So it doesn’t make sense for me to offer huge amounts of meat, because I don’t eat it. I don’t need it to live. I do enjoy a good piece of fish from time to time. I feel that this is the right path.

Do you sometimes have the design of a dish in mind first and only afterwards create the recipe? How do you create a new dish? Does it begin with design and the idea, or always with a particular flavour?

It depends. An example: the latest addition on our menu is a dish with brown crab. Brown crabs, simply because they were in season. At the beginning of the summer holidays, I went crab fishing for two days with my children. The place was full of crabs; I brought some with me and had time to study the anatomy — how the males and females look, the differences in the tail, the legs, the claws. And that is how I came up with the idea for this dish. You can actually feel the crab in an abstract way — not just taste it.

When preparing a dish, I like to highlight the ingredients. I like to transform them, too, but in a balanced way. I enjoy playing with ingredients, but sometimes you can “overwork” them and then you no longer sense them in the dish. In the end, we created a truly good and flavourful dish.

And again: change!

Yes — when it comes to the menu, I want it to change constantly over time. And it’s wonderful that we keep managing that. I also believe I feel more freedom when I let go of typical dishes. I sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper and begin composing something new. In the past, I always felt tied to the signature dishes I was expected to serve. I could never remove them from the menu because I felt people would be disappointed if, for example, there was no meat. Letting go of those expectations felt fantastic. I don’t know if we’re taking risks by doing this, but it just feels natural. I never create a dish in the same way — it constantly evolves.

Once, I was inspired by a visit to the Palace of Versailles. The architecture, the beauty of the palace and the gardens impressed me deeply. Marie Antoinette’s garden felt very charming and full of wonderful flowers. The life of the Sun King, Louis XIV, must have been incredibly interesting and full of pleasure — very much in the spirit of “let’s do whatever we feel like doing”.

Why shouldn’t we do the same?

You sound like an artist in life as well.

As I said, I like to challenge myself and simply allow myself to be inspired by what I see. And it is something that comes from the heart and from intuition. It is difficult to describe precisely, but it is about a feeling — yes, this feels exactly right for Geranium. And I am still very happy about that, even after more than ten years.

Before, this was a completely dull, empty office space filled with rubbish. And I remember coming in, being invited to see the location, looking around and thinking: yes, we can create something here! But of course, this is not like Lake Garda or the Costa Brava, not a naturally beautiful landscape. So we need to work more with the space. When people are here, we want them to feel as though they are in our own universe. That is why we have worked especially meticulously on the food, the wine and the service. And the guests who come here truly enjoy being here.