You can only get there by boat or helicopter, but Michelin-starred chef Poul Andrias Ziska hopes his restaurant in remote Greenland, well above the Arctic Circle, will be worth the trip.
The 30-year-old chef relocated his restaurant KOKS from the Faroe Islands in mid-June, leaving his relatively accessible address in Ilimanaq, a hamlet of 50 residents hidden behind icebergs at the 69th parallel north.
Housed in a narrow black wooden house, one of the oldest in Greenland, the restaurant only seats about 20 people per service and experiments with local produce, including whales and seaweed, with fresh produce almost impossible to find in the harsh climate.
“We try to focus on as many Greenlandic products as possible, so everything from Greenland halibut to snow crab and muskoxen to rock ptarmigan, various herbs and various berries,” the disheveled, bearded chef tells AFP.
The young chef previously ran KOKS at home in the remote Faroe Islands, where he won his first star in 2017, his second in 2019 and the title of the world’s most isolated Michelin restaurant.
He plans to return there for a permanent installation, but explains that he has always wanted to stretch his gastronomic legs in another area in the far north, such as Iceland, Greenland or even Svalbard.
He finally chose Ilimanaq, which is an hour’s boat ride from Ilulissat, Greenland’s third largest city and famous for its huge glacier.
– Local products –
“We just found it more fitting, more fun to do something completely different before we move back to our permanent restaurant,” he tells AFP from his kitchen, which is set up in a trailer in front of the house with the dining area.
With 20 courses, the extensive tasting menu will delight the taste buds for around 2,100 kroner ($280), wine and drinks not included.
“The menu is exquisite and takes you up north and back,” Devid Gualandris, a delighted visitor, told AFP.
“From the whale bites to the wines, from the freshly caught fish and shellfish to the curated desserts, everything is packed with flavor.”
While whale meat is a staple in Greenland and Ziska’s native Faroe Islands, whaling is banned in most parts of the world and activists have called for an end to the practice.
Ilimanaq – Greenlandic for “place of hope” – is an unlikely location for a gourmet restaurant. It’s home to a small community living in quaint wooden houses alongside hiking trails and, more appropriately, a luxury hotel, making it an ideal stopover for wealthy tourists looking to explore new frontiers.
For Ziska, customers in Greenland are different.
“There are many people who put Greenland first and then they come to our restaurant,” he says.
“In the Faroe Islands we mainly had people who were interested in coming to our restaurant and then of course visiting the Faroe Islands as well,” explains the chef.
In addition to the adventurers already enticed by the arctic landscape, the Greenland Tourist Board hopes the restaurant will also help attract foodie travelers.
“The unique combination of high quality gastronomy, the inherent sustainability of North Atlantic cuisine and Disko Bay’s distinctive nature and resources appeals to all of our senses,” said Hjortur Smarason, Director of Visit Greenland, in announcing the arrival of KOKS.
A long-overlooked tourist destination, Greenland – an Arctic island area nine times the size of Britain – welcomed more than 100,000 tourists in 2019, nearly double its population before Covid limited momentum.
Smarason said the presence of KOKS is “exactly what we’re striving for to reach a certain type of guest.”
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