The meals based on indigenous ingredients and sustainability at the forefront. Project managers are soon faced with problems ranging from sourcing ingredients to staffing a high-end restaurant in a location inhabited by only 53 people.
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.