Koks Greenland (**): a 24 hour experience at 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle

I boarded a ferry one afternoon in Ilulissat with a duffel bag of belongings, and began the final leg of my journey to the world’s most remote Michelin starred restaurant. This was the height of summer, in July, and the temperature was a balmy 44F/7C. The ride to the small town of Ilimanaq (population 50) took over an hour. I ogled at the endless icebergs floating in Disko Bay, while freshly harvested iceberg ice floated in my drink.

Upon arrival, I was welcomed by the staff with snacks and hot drinks, and I settled in my bungalow. When you book the restaurant online, you also have to book a one night stay at Ilimanaq Lodge, which hosts the restaurant while it’s temporarily in Greenland. The cost of food and lodging with free breakfast and round trip ferry was 8700DKK (about $1267, for just myself), drinks excluded.

At 6:30PM, dressed in my finest winter hiking clothes and muddy hiking boots, I walked the short distance from my bungalow to the restaurant. It was raining. The hostess took my Arcteryx rain shell as if it was Max Mara and this was a fine dining restaurant in Manhattan, and I gladly changed into the comfy sealskin slippers provided by the restaurant. At my table, sitting in a sheepskin covered chair, I could see the icebergs outside. Oftentimes, if you are lucky, you might even see whales in the bay.

The tasting menu at Koks Greenland is truly one of a kind. It’s a gentle introduction to Greenlandic cuisine, with a few dishes paying homage to Koks’ Faroese roots. The ingredients are of course all seasonal and mostly locally sourced, made more palatable and easier to accept for the strangers visiting this strange land. Here are some highlights:

– Mattak: (minke whale skin and blubber): Traditionally, Greenlandic people eat raw cubes of whale (can be minke, narwhal, or others) skin and blubber with the layer of ligaments in between. This middle layer is chewy like gum, you just have to swallow it. At Koks, the gummy middle layer is removed and cooked into a glaze with sugar kelp and soy, and then this glaze is placed back on the cube of skin and blubber. The taste was nutty, fatty, and fishy, and it was balanced by an accompanying fresh salad grown in a greenhouse.
– Sea snail and fermented green gooseberries: Tastes very New Nordic
– Capelin with Arctic roseroot and whale blubber in squid ink shell: Cwispy. Hyperseasonal fish, only available for 3 weeks in July every year.
– Capelin (or known in Greenland as ammassat) with mountain sorrel: tender and acidic
– Ptarmigan, black currant, reindeer lardon: Very tender, gamey, tasted like pheasant to me, or a more flavorful duck.
– Suaasat: Koks’s interpretation of the Greenlandic national dish. A delicious and comforting stew made of potato, onion, minke whale meat, and barley. The taste and texture reminded me of New England clam chowder.
– Snow crab, kale, dashi, mushroom, with truffle seaweed on the side: the crab was made into an umami bomb, and the fragrant seaweed smelled and tasted like the earth and the sea at the same time, think of truffles but briny.
– Reindeer neck meat ravioli
– Razorbill in blue mussel glaze: Razorbill meat was milder than the ptarmigan. This was one of the most popular dishes at Koks.
– Musk ox and pickled celeriac: A lean meat that reminded me of braised beef shank in Asian cuisine.
– Sheep’s wool (you read that right) with cream and crowberries: A dessert from the Faroe Islands
– Blue mussel: A candy made from mussels! It tasted like licorice but waaaaaaaay better.
– Reindeer blood meringue with smoked pear and barley caramel: Arctic desserts are metal.

I never wanted this meal to end, because I knew very well I won’t be able to replicate this experience anywhere else. This was something special, like sitting in the Richard Rodgers Theatre with an electrifying crowd in 2016 and seeing the original cast playing Hamilton, like hiking to The Wave and seeing a rainbow there. The food was as delicious as it was unique. Many Michelin starred restaurants later I’m discovering new things again, at 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. I could not sleep that night. It didn’t help that the bungalow had no curtains at all against the ever-present midnight sun. I watched the iceberg outside for a while and suddenly it calved with a thunderous sigh. And then I watched it turn and slowly drift away.

Next morning after breakfast I walked around the tiny village. A puppy rolled over at my feet and begged me to pet her. We are really not supposed to pet any of the dogs in Greenland because they are all working dogs, but I would commit crimes for this puppy if she asked, so I did pet her. I also met the little boy whose family owned this puppy and a dozen other sled dogs. He made friends with a young restaurant guest, and we all ended up chilling with the dog behind the kitchen. I ordered a salmon sandwich from the restaurant for lunch and then killed time by learning how to make Greenlandic earrings from the lodge staff. All the guests either went on a guided hike or attended some arts and crafts session. The once daily ferry would come again in the afternoon to pick up the diners and return to Ilulissat.

by Current-Ant145