As an islander, Nicolai Nørregaard (Svaneke, Denmark, 1979) grew up with what the earth and the sea had to offer there. That purity can be found on the menu of his restaurant Kadeau, with branches in Copenhagen and Bornholm. MASTERS sought him out in the Danish capital.Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert
Upon entering Kadeau Copenhagen, one immediately notices its cozy character. No weddings and parties here, but lunches and dinners in an intimate setting. Weather permitting on the patio and otherwise at one of the wooden tables inside. What also stands out: the amount of glass jars with juices, vegetables and fruits displayed in a huge cabinet that separates the kitchen from the entrance: the fermented treasures of Bornholm, where Nicolai Nørregaard comes from.
In the Nørregaard household, food has always played an important role. "My mother was raised growing vegetables and fruits herself, and on my father's side, good food is in the genes: my great-grandfather was a butcher and always threw big parties on Saturdays with lots of meat and booze; my grandfather was a letter carrier, but spent every minute out there cooking, growing, preserving... He loved it! He was the one that put everything in my head. He became my mentor and taught me how to taste, the importance of ingredient quality, how to ferment, brine, pickle and preserve to stock up for the winter. Only at that time I still wanted to be a musician. My grandfather also never pushed me to make cooking my profession. At sixteen I went to the Music Gymnasium in Copenhagen, where regular education was combined with high-level music lessons."
Music turned out not to be the fulfillment he had expected after all, so he saw no reason to stay in grammar school any longer. His mother gave him permission to drop out of school, but then he had to find a job. "I was able to work as a bellhop at Hotel d'Angleterre, the most famous hotel in the country, in the center of Copenhagen. There I was introduced to the restaurant life. I found it exciting to walk through the kitchen and experience all the hustle and bustle. I stayed there for a few years. Then I returned to Bornholm to work in Svaneke Pakhus restaurant during the summer months. I ended up managing that restaurant. Summers I worked on the island, winters at restaurants in Copenhagen. Together with my friend Rasmus Kofoed (not to be confused with the star chef of Geranium; ed.) I made plans for my own restaurant."
In 2007, the two friends bought beach pavilion Strandhytten, in the south end of the island. "When that location came up for sale, we were ready. The thesis broadly became our business plan, which we used to knock on the bank's door. They gave us the green light. A few months later we opened Kadeau Bornholm. That was the first time I had worked in a professional kitchen. Why the name? Cadeau is Danish for 'respect'. In our case, respect for nature, the ingredients ... respect for Bornholm! That we write it with a K is because only that domain name was still free, haha. It's a weird name. We hesitated for a long time whether we shouldn't change the name. Now it is what it is. Still, to manage a restaurant in practice was harder than we expected. It was hard work: seven days a week, fourteen hours a day. But we had that going for it. The season ran from April 1 to November 30, and we spent the other months in Copenhagen, where we both had an apartment and a girlfriend. Coincidentally, Rasmus and I both became fathers in 2010 and we could no longer spend two-thirds of the year as bachelors on Bornholm. So in 2011 we decided to open a second restaurant in Copenhagen, together with Magnus Hoegh Kofoed."
The Copenhagen branch was the first to receive a star. That was in March 2014, shortly after the move. "We didn't think for a second that we could have been awarded. It wasn't even on our mind, we had no idea. At the time, a press release announced which restaurants had received a star. We were called - "you have a star! -, television crews were at the door. That was a big suprise. But the star we got for Kadeau Bornholm was an even bigger surprise. That was in 2016, when the first Michelin Guide for Nordic Countries was published. I had just returned from vacation in Thailand: we landed at seven in the morning and I was expected at the presentation two hours later. I was tired, jet-lagged. I thought the guide would again cover restaurants in the big cities of Europe and that only restaurants in Copenhagen and Aarhus were eligible. No one knew that Michelin was coming out with a new guide. Suddenly I was on the stage! It was great to bring a star to the Mother Island. That was a big, big, big thing. We did celebrate that!"
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