For many people, New Year’s Eve is the biggest party night of the year. Whether you celebrate at home with dinner guests or go out to a restaurant, it requires a great deal of planning. Everyone has great expectations and want to start the new year off in a good mood and with a slammin’ party.

At home

If you’ve ever had guests on New Year’s Eve, you know that stress builds up easily. What to wear, where to seat the guests, and what to serve – and did you remember to buy decorations, party poppers and fire works?! Several of the restaurants around town offer a simple solution to one of the problems, the food. Catering has gained in popularity as a means of guaranteeing a successful feast even at private gatherings. . You order a few days in advance, pick up the food on the day of and then just follow the detailed instructions on how to heat and serve the meal. Bon appétit!

For example, Cofoco le Marché offers a New Year’s menu consisting of pie with crab and lobster butter, Danish beef tenderloin with pommes anna and for dessert a gateau au chocolate made with dark Belgian chocolate and served with pistachios and braised pineapple. The entire menu costs 275 kr and it’s also possible to order wines, that go with the different dishes. You can either pick up your order at Le Marché on Værnedamsvej 2 or have it delivered for an additional 200 kr.

Michelin menu and luxury sushi

The Michelin restaurant Kokkeriet also offers a New Year’s Menu to go. Scallops with lemonpuré, almonds and foaming cauliflower, cod with celery, horseradish and garden cress, beef with leeks in browned butter and dark chocolate with vanilla, toffee and crunch, are some of the dishes included in the full menu. You can choose between three dishes for 375 kr or 5 dishes for 450 kr. The menu can be made even more exclusive by adding luxury ingredients such as French caviar.

For the sushi lovers, the obvious choice is to order their menu from Umami’s catering- and take away restaurant, Umami GO. For 465 kr you can start your meal with a seafood salad with lobster, scallop foam and nobashi shrimp and continue with veal tenderloin with teriyaki braised veal and pomme dauphine with baked shiso mushrooms. Then it’s time for a selection of sushi and finally the dessert, which consists of a waffle coated with Manjari chocolate accompanied by white chocolate mousse, passion fruit, mango foam and raspberry coulis.

Eating out

If you’d rather get dressed up and celebrate the new year out on town, there is still plenty to choose from. French, Italian or maybe Japanese – you can find it all in the restaurants of Copenhagen. But don’t forget to reserve a table. The restaurants’ booking lists are filling up quickly.

If you don’t want to get ruined just because it happens to be New Year’s Eve, Riz Raz offers a generous New Year’s buffet with beef tenderloin marinated with rosemary and chipotle chilli, Norwegian salmon baked with a herb crust, Moroccan lamb braised with saffron and much more. As always there are also several good vegetarian alternatives. The buffet including a welcoming drink costs 299 kr. That should leave a little cash for a glass of champagne too.

For those, who would like something more classic and who don’t mind spending a little more on their dinner, Aarø & co is a great tip. Their “sensory” New Years menu contains cod as well as lobster and foie gras – both classic and classy. The 6-course meal costs 800 kr. Not too bad for a New Year’s menu at the restaurant, that promises an experience out of the ordinary.

Three restaurants – one party

Custom House’s three restaurants also offer New Year’s menus in their respective characteristic style. The evening begins with a welcoming drink and snacks at the Cocktail Bar. DJ Ian Bang will also be playing here all night until 02.45, so you can dance and party into the new year.

In the Italian restaurant Bacino, dinner itself starts off with lobster “Sardinia style” with oysters and balsamico, followed by scallops with fennel- and saffron cream. Then it’s time for risotto with white Alba truffle, veal tournedos with pancetta, sage and marsala sauce and finally chocolate Torino with champagne sabayon. The entire party, including a wine menu, coffee and avec and champagne and the traditional “kransekage” as 2009 turns into 2010, costs 1695 kr.

If you find Danish/European cooking and a more informal setting more appealing, Bar&Grill offers a lobster salad with fennel, avocado and chimmi churri, fried scallops with salmon roe, veal tournedos with peas and Madeira sauce and a chocolate temptation for dessert. Here you pay 1195 kr for the evening, all inclusive.

If you want a New Year’s dinner that stands out from the classic menus, you might book a table at Custom House’s Japanese restaurant, Ebisu. Here the five-course menu offers such dishes as tuna and hamashi sashimi and robata grilled beef with teraiaki-, yakoniko- and miso sauces. The price here is 1395 kr.

Photo: Tivoli, Cofoco, Sticks'n'Sushi

Published 2009-12-22 10:41