The Most Remote Restaurant in the World

This documentary was interesting for many reasons. It was pretty well put together but the real star was the spectacular scenery in one of the most remote corners of the world. I have been to Iceland and to Finland and also to the far North of Scotland many times in the Summer, and they are also all spectacular but this documentary seriously makes me want to visit Greenland too. But, knowing the cost of living in places such as Iceland (and no doubt Greenland as well) I believe I'll have to win the lottery before ever being serious about seeing Greenland "in person".

What a great idea it was to replicate a successful restaurant on the Faroe Islands way out west in Greenland. However, I am definitely NOT a fan of nouvelle cuisine (to me, generally tiny portions of questionable food in exchange for a large slice of one's income) and most definitely not at the kind of cost that's charged at the Koks restaurants. I see that a "Tasting Menu with Wine Pairing" at Koks Greenland will set you back some $US729. I assume that's per diner. Well, I'm not really short of money but that truly will be the day when I part with nearly 2,400 of my Australian dollars for a meal for my wife and I, regardless of how spectacular the setting is.

But back to the practicalities of preparing the new Greenlandic restaurant for business which is really what this documentary centred on.

First, you give yourself an unbelievably optimistic 12 days to develop and source a comprehensive new menu using local Greenlandic produce, to have built a large new outdoor kitchen which is really nothing more than a tin shed. Then, of course, you've got to have water and adequate electrical power installed, to fit out the restaurant area, to get your staff up to speed and also be able to handle all of the advance bookings from people who'll be coming from all over the world and who are going to be charged that enormous, ridiculous, extortionate amount of money that I've mentioned for their meals.

Now, I ask you. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is, pretty much everything. The manager of the new restaurant, Paol, was a very nice and likeable young man but he really didn't have a clue about what was being taken on in the 12 days that had been allowed for everything above to be organized. Specifically, water supply and drainage as well as supply of electricity would appear to have been a bit of an afterthought. And there was also the matter of the disappearing builders who appeared to quote two days for the building work and then just disappeared for a time. The fact that the restaurant was anything like finished on opening day and also that the diners appeared to enjoy the meals they were served would seem then something of a miracle. But not one involving loaves and fishes.

This was an interesting documentary and the scenery was stunningly lovely. As I say, I'd love to visit Greenland if I had enough money to do so but I sure as Hell won't be dining and Koks.

7 out of 10 from me.

Well another for the niche of gastronomic documentary that I like so much to watch. But this one instead of having a message of philosophy behind the the is just one more curiosity than another thing.

It is more like in the line of "Stage: The Culinary Internship" (2021) curiosity and oddity house for the rich and non food-educated than of the Netflix true documentary "Virgilio" (2023) that really shows what the chefs inspiration and careers are around.

First some background not told in the documentary:

Koks is a 2 Star Michelin's restaurant that circulate around of some of Denmark's self government territories that are deemed as far and adventurous (well, that definition on our days isn't of what they were till the 2000).

Initially it was launched in 2011 at the archipelago of Faroe Islands it were conveniently located at Streymoy, the largest island. First located at Kirkjubøur, 11 km south of Tórshavn, until 2017, then moved to Leynavatn, an area administered by the National Trust, both areas with in common spectacular views.

It was awarded a second Michelin star in February 2019, that were retained in 2021 and in 2023 then in Greenland. All Danish territories.

The documentary shows the implantation on the village of Ilulissat (2022-2023), not mentioning that it after did go a little south to the village of Ilimanaq for 2023 and that it pretends to return to Faroe Islands while they finish a "new house there" (and thus not showing that it was a failure". Well, after that, the review:

The Main Chef of the restaurant, Poul Andrias Ziska is 30yo and natural of the island, and since the beginning his goals were to cooking using natural ingredients of the area. All sustainable and fresh - the restaurant were open only into the most pleasing stations of the year (April to September). A young dude with good ideals and ideas.

It was launched and founded by Johannes Jensen, Owner/CEO of Hotel Føroyar and Hotel Tórshavn who have 12 restaurantes. Obviously the main focus is to drawn usually rich people to wat on those exotic and expensive places.

The documentary focus in the hushed process of the soft-opening of the restaurant at Ilulissat, around 15 before, with unfinished installations and logistics of the flood (that would be frozen and shipped to there).

During the process, with already done reservations we see the issues with the workers to be serious with the process of finalization of the infrastructure (an obviously without any fiscalization) and the frozen stuff, that arrived in parts, so they needed to go after some local items too, and try to do "something" with it.

During this period Jensens just ask thing of some stuff obviously annoyed, uninterested, and Poul tries to do what he can to give something to the guests eat, hopping (in his words) " that they knew nothing about cuisine".

Saying that, that just demolished all respect I had by the chef, going to a place with unfinished structure, following orders, dealing with frozen stuff not of the island (only the local whale that they got lucky to get pieces is natural of the place, and they joke about a specialty of using the "rectum' of it), and giving hope to a 53 person village in the end of the world a it of hope.

The launch end happening with the presence of Jensen and some of his arrogant friends, and some tourists arrive by boat, obviously in sort of an adventure / experience mood (is a far place, but not so of the capital, 500 km south or some other settlements around it). This plus some infrastructural problems with flood of water (that it is at least unsanitary).

Dismalling like today people with no palate and just one can do that to instagrammable experience (just like what I watched into the other doc I cited). I myself have some problems with what Michelin guys really evaluate, some of them are really just for be quirky or "adventurous" instead of real experiences (like Quintonil in Mexico or Central in Peru).

While the cinematography is ok (not to be in in such places), it just showcase that "we can build overpriced places for ignorant tourists that don't understands about food and don't care about how the control quality was.

Ok $651.76 isn't so much (yeah, I know, it depends), but there are the travel cost and plates like the one of the bird wing with a piece of meat on the end are just ridiculous.