Personal adventure in Nordic-inspired fare
Nordic-inspired food has quickly gained popularity in Shanghai in the past three years thanks to Danish chef Kasper Pedersen’s fresh philosophy of cooking.
A former resident at the Pelikan, Pedersen and his team now occupy a swanky Anfu Road location at BOR. Unlike the playful, colorful Pelikan interior, the dining space at BOR is more relaxing, simplistic and fresh with an open kitchen at its center.
It exemplifies a personal dining experience as BOR has completely removed the traditional barriers between kitchen and dining room.
The award-winning chef Pedersen and his team are right in the middle of the restaurant, cooking, plating and serving guests.
BOR comes from the Danish “Jeg bor her” meaning “I live here.”
Hot smoked salmon, with sweet mustard, dill, pickles and grilled jiao zi pi
“Dining is moving beyond geographical labels to become more personal,” Pedersen said.
“At BOR, I’m simply cooking what I love to eat, distilled from my culinary experiences and without boundaries.
“There are influences from foraging, farm-to-table and nose-to-tail cooking, from working in the fine-dining restaurants in Denmark, also from popular street food and my time in Shanghai — but the essence of BOR is cooking with love and fresh local ingredients.”
The chef loves all food and doesn’t want to restrict himself.
“We still use the best we can find. For example, the hot smoked salmon was a dish we made for a chef table dinner at Pelikan and we loved it right away and decided that had to be on the menu,” he said.
Grilled radicchio with burrata cheese, olive paste, toasted buckweat, black garlic and serrano ham
The dish was one of my favorites. Pedersen plated it with the jiao zi pi (dumpling dough) that comes from working with some amazing Chinese chefs.
The creative dishes on the seasonally evolving menu, include grilled baby corn with brown butter and corn dip, grilled sardine with almonds, parsley, lemon and mini Danish hotdogs as appealing starters, which proved the chef’s skills to elevate classic ingredients or recipes to more sophisticated creations.
The smoky charred flavors of the prized Josper grill infuse top-quality cuts of dry-aged beef, whole fish, king prawns and even BOR’s house-smoked salmon and house-made hams.
“The base of the creations at BOR is food we like to eat. It’s open to all ideas,” Pedersen said.
Info
Opening hours: 1am-2pm (weekday lunch), 11am-4pm (weekend brunch and holiday), 5:30pm-midnight (dinner)
Tel: 6266-7909
Address: 2/F, 322 Anfu Rd
Average price: 300 yuan (US$43.57)
