Everybody has places they dream of going to. I have a long list of those dreamy places, like the Moon, Cambodia and Kenya, just to mention a few. And then I have a list - long too - of want-to-go-to places in my hometown Copenhagen. Being passionate about gastronomy, many places on this list are, of course, restaurants. Era Ora (meaning ‘about time’) has always been one of them.
25 years ago young Italian banker, Elvio Milleri, came to Denmark and opened his first restaurant. It started as a humble family trattoria, but unlike the other – at that time few - Italians in town it quickly evolved to be a place for jet-setters. It introduced Copenhageners to slow-food in the early 1980’s showing that Italian food is so much more than the pizza-pasta-tomato-cliché, and taught Danes to really enjoy and appreciate a well-prepared, exclusive meal.
With quality that has earned Era Ora a Michelin-star and with quite a pricy menu (well, at least compared to my local pizza pusher) I had not - until recently- had the chance (meaning wages) to go there. So imagine my joy when I had to interview Elvio Milleri, for the magazine ehere I work in the occasion of the restaurant’s 25th anniversary this month.
The restuarant is situated in Christianshavn, a charming and exclusive part of central Copenhagen with small townhouses along the canal. Era Ora blends in side by side with the other Danish houses, but when you enter, you step into, what can best be described as, a goldenlicious stimulation of your senses.
Milleri’s wife, a former Brazilian model, has decorated the small place in a typical southern European style with stone floors, chandeliers, simple table setting in white, while the rest of the restaurant is kept in warm sandy colours topped of with gold arty installations. She keeps the looks of old restaurant updated, and with her husband she develops news business ventures. The family has two other restaurants in Copenhagen (Il Altro and Aquamarina) and a huge bakery factory (Il Fornaio).
While listening to Elvio Milleri telling his fascinating story, their 23-year old son Michel, served us a small lunch. In Era Ora language that means six dishes accompanied by an outstanding wine menu (picked out from the huge white cellar downstairs).
The food is inspired by the Umbrian kitchen, which is very light. For example you will not get creamy and cheesy dishes, which are especially popular in northern Italy. Everything is ecological and handmade from scratch, which make the different tastes even more unique. I was served six dishes I was mostly impressed by the ritorti pasta with wild mushrooms and the white sturgeon with cardoon in a light tomato sauce and herbs.
I can still sense the taste here a week after, and I will never forget the fact that I ate a dessert with 24-carat gold in it!
I guess, some dreams do come true.
ERA ORA, Overgaden Neden Vandet 33b, 1414 København K.
Written by Karen Pallisgaard, 28-year old Copenhagen local, loving her city to the extent that she has made it her living writing about it. Karen is a journalist working as managing editor of WHERE2GO, a Copenhagen cultural – and lifestyle magazine. She writes about everything from fashion, trends and culture to features from the city, interviews with famous profiles and whatever else of interest to modern urbanites.