On Tuesday 4 April, Restaurant Koan will open with a Korean-inspired tasting menu at Copenhagen’s waterfront after two successful pop-ups. The kitchen at Koan is a reflection of traditional Korean cooking techniques and flavors, combined with Nordic ingredients. For close to three years, Baumann and his team have worked to refine the expression and delve further into traditional techniques and dining concepts to better understand their journey.

Exploring the street kitchens, the temples, the barbecue culture and the royal court cuisine is something that Kristian will take with him for the rest of his life. Through these discoveries, he has found peace in being adopted, and can now share his love of food through memories from travels combined with the wonderful ingredients that the Nordic seasons offer.

“For the past seven years, my curiosity about my birth country South Korea has grown stronger and in this connection I have tried to go on a discovery in the country to learn more about culture, history, people and traditions,” says Kristian Baumann, and continues:

“It has manifested itself in the fact that my vocation as a chef has risen to a higher level in the form of a sincere calmness. I again have an apprentice’s view of all the impressions I have gained through dinners, ingredients and traditional and complex layers that are in the different Korean cuisines.”

A journey

As a guest, for example, you will be able to experience Koan’s white kimchi, with a traditional flavor profile and a visually modern expression, served in a work of art created by a Korean potter who has collected fragments of pottery from China’s Qing Dynasty and combined them with new porcelain.

Baumann has always had a great fondness for bread and thinks it would be fun to share a memory from a trip to Korea, where a small afternoon snack in the form of a Kkwabaegi burned into his memory.

“A Kkwabaegi is traditionally a twisted, sweet doughnut. Koan’s version is slightly saltier, fluffy and buttery, which creates the experience of eating fresh, warm bread,” explains the chef.

Rice has also played a big role in Baumann’s life. So it has been important to be able to present special types of rice prepared in a Korean Gamasot

Baumann’s partner in the restaurant, Lasse Peder Nielsen, is responsible as sommelier and has spent the past few years building an exciting wine cellar. There is a focus on wine that is produced with respect for the planet, and there is something for both the natural wine lover and the traditional wine aficionado. 

“Lasse, together with our knowledgeable team, has put together two different wine menus, a non-alcoholic and a pairing built around Korean Sool, a common term for Korean alcohol which we are very excited to present,” says Baumann.

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