 Calm down people, please You make me feel like Eminem in that movie but with the music and all this all this action going on Thank you very much, Renee When planning this I was like, okay, I'm in late On the on the Monday, it's you people have one foot in Alex Attila's presentation on the next and the after party So I don't want to spend too much time thanking people, but obviously Renee need a big thank you I have a set of balls. That's true. One is Italian. One is Norwegian. That's that's true, too I'm an Italian immigrant and in the theme of thanking I just want to really quickly Say that as an Italian immigrant in these Boonga Boonga days It's not always easy, but Yesterday Dario Shakini made me proud. Thank you. So what's what's going on? I put a picture up there. I just want to To show the state of mind in which I went into opening a restaurant. It's a I Didn't play much guitar, but that was more. That's what I was thinking When we open relay, I open first of all money was Christian. It was said I Open a restaurant called relay three years ago and Basically, we just wanted to open a space where we could simply cook food That could somehow please the palette and they challenge the mind at the same time Why was it so that every creative kitchen was set up in that same fine dining environment? There was there was our dear why would we have to bear with the cost of a guy pouring water? 50 times a night just because we wanted to cook high-end food Speaking of water if I can get some I would really appreciate it. Thank you That was the Italian ball sorry Does sitting in a super uber design chair putting expensive cutlery in your mouth make the super dining experience for you? Well the restaurant we wanted to create would not be the place for you We wanted to strip down the grape meal to its essence leaving only what would matter to us in focus Food wine and and having a good time We wanted to create a small Revolution for ourselves. We wanted to make a restaurant of our own a place where everything would be exactly as we wanted it Like our home a place where luxury would not be forced upon us where the thickness of the tablecloth would matter Where we are so many of our colleagues in the last few years could grow a beard if we want it We would put Johnny Cash on the playlist He was be strumming his guitar while we would serve our interpretation of what really great food is we would liberate ourselves from the obligations Imposed by people's expectations of a great restaurant is about what you can do with high-end food and Most importantly where and how you you you are allowed to enjoy it We wanted to make culinary adventures accessible for the people people just like us. We want a liberty and rock and roll Every every Krona dollar euro comes with a price a price of liberty and creativity We wanted to start off with nothing As much liberty as possible meant having having nothing no Krona no euros We didn't want an investor to tell us you need to put steak on a menu or do more that Nordic stuff Anyways, we're talking 2009 2010. So let's be let's be real people were not really throwing money at us The bank really liked my CV the great ideas But they just wish me good luck with the project With no money at hand We had a look for some alternative spot for our big adventure a way out of the city center something Something cheap close to my own apartment in the popular district of of Narbo I heard about these creative forces Trying to clean up a street by offering low rent to creatives. I had to be the right spot for us. I thought The street was interesting to say the least at the moment. It was known at that moment It was known as a little Christiania has many of you guys know for sure Hash was sold by the truckloads and the whole street was in these grips of these drug dealers The people behind the street the good people behind the street were raving about former normal people taking interest in the biggest part in the street a Spot that I soon learned was where all the drug dealing was actually going on Now for you flying in from New York, Sao Paulo all these places Mexico City You think this is a luxury resort and I can understand The point is there was a small and closed criminal community here Having the best of this neighborhood and they did not want a restaurant there Many suspicious eyes fell upon us as we started to have a closer look at the small but very cheap 163 square meter location I'll just take your hand and walk down there with a Google car. You see the street has its its share of Graffiti that's a normal everywhere, but I don't know if you see down the street there. There's a young man paying attention As we come closer, you can see the Google car was not much more welcome than we were in 2009 Pictures were not welcome at all a few years later a travel blog of visiting our restaurant Got stripped the camera away and destroyed it and I had to solve the the the biggest crisis ever And she she very kindly wrote everything on her blog. Thank you You see how the young man has left his office in the corner down there everything is well furnished There's a bin there's an office chair. There's a bench. Everything's ready. He is a he's a guard He's looking out for cops and rival gangs and in 2010 that the Copenhagen gang war was at its highest and and he was itchy So of course we thought let's make a restaurant there. There you go Love at first sight as me Was that not to like I mean it's it's beautiful. It's pretty Used to be a biker's club and it was used to rent it out We used to be rented out for parties and such in the weekends, but It was completely deserted throughout the week I wonder why It was a perfect spot for shady business to to go on and apparently for some even better for for a restaurant Soon construction would get going and we managed to turn what you see here into this That's a Kim my partner. He's not taking a dump in the corner. He's just looking at He's looking at the glasses This is a young man dreaming of a kitchen And that's a young man in his kitchen This was about a year later than the previous picture We managed to squeeze about 40 seats into these rooms about after nine months of construction also one year look like that We had the setting ready the lease was low possibilities and less We were ready Realized we only wanted to offer a focus menu We didn't want to impose ourselves on the entirety of a guest night out You should be able to just come in and enjoy great food and get the hell out of there Why couldn't high-end gastronomy be in that context just a shorter one? We will keep the tables for about two and a half hour So we could do two seatings letting us price the menu Obviously lower we wanted prices to be as low as we could possibly afford not to compete with colleagues But to be able to give the guest a relaxed approach to dining with us High price for me means high expectations high expectation mean less room for surprises We offered the initial menu of 325 kroner for the four courses. That's including 25% Danish VAT If you remove that it's 260 kroner and to make it all make sense to you. It's about 45 dollars Service wise we cut down everything, but the smile we approach the guest with That comes from within and has no price Gone where all technicalities the pouring water the removing crumbs showing you to the toilet We will want to leave the guest as much as possible to themselves and not taking up their whole night Leaving them to enjoy themselves to save time Which was crucial we put all our cutlery menus and napkins in a drawer Underneath the table For the guests who take care of it themselves. This was very costly for us even though the quality was shit But it did so that we could do a service of up to 85 guests It was just about two or three waiters. You change everything for us in addition to this We had all the food to be served by the chefs Letting the waiters focus on keeping the guests happy and supply them with wine and copious amounts You have to remember that the average wage in Copenhagen is very high Workforce being expensive and tricky to get of high quality really tricky We wanted to reduce the work we had to perform to the absolute minimum do it yourself. Just make sense The kitchen was left to be very open for me one of the most important factors when looking for a spot I wanted the guests to be greeted by the chefs and the chefs to be able to control who was coming and going From the positioning of the kitchen we're able to see who's coming in and make eye contact What for me is the key to great hospitality The chefs pick up the phone if it rings the kitchen salutes whoever leaves the restaurant in the end Transparency is something that gets people to understand what it is you do We had no money and we were not intending to try and hide it The tables were made of veneer the chairs second hand as you can see the toilets were decorated as much as the staff ones Which means not at all? We supplied the guests with the cheapest possible paper to wipe their hands and almost made an extra effort to make a point With how bad the restaurants would look like All the focus would be on the food and the wine the speakers roaring Johnny Cash the who Velvet underground we have such bad quality that we had loads of complaints about the music But we didn't care It was our own thing our house our own music and we decided how loud we would play it I would say that the artwork says a thousand words The beginning was an easy I must say to have to get people to understand what we really wanted the restaurant was full full full full But that's not success Even after spent almost a year before the opening Blogging about what this dream of ours was all about the concept the ideas the philosophy that all the construction going on The soft opening showed us what mistakes we already had made and that the gangs would not just leave us to us just like that For the first month we had a big worn-out couch sitting just in front of that window there at the entrance for the boys to hang out in I Remember clearly. I don't know if he does Peter Crane are coming to our soft opening Peter Crane is the director of no more He's all happy all the time. I don't know where he is When he I was just standing from this position. That's why I took this picture. I was standing here I was looking out in that window the rain was pouring down Peter Crane are invited to the soft opening came in a taxi came out of the taxi all happy as he always is Rain pouring down him and his wife and the turning the corner and when the he turned the corner That's when his mile faded away because in that doorway that has two steps You walk down to before you enter were two drug dealers To make sure that they will not be standing in the rain. They were basically just blocking our entrance and They had a good appetite. So they were eating Thai food Out of the takeaway containers as Peter Crane are lost his moment of happiness turning the corner they were just Switch over so him and his wife could just slide through That was one of the many nights that will go back into the back kitchen and punch the shit out or something a Very important in Australian journalist came came to Copenhagen in the east of 11 And Renee said you had to meet him you had to meet him to meet him, right? The restaurant was closed because it was Easter. I invited him for coffee down at the coffee collective Further down the street and yes, he just went on about wanting to see the restaurant. You want to see the restaurant? The place has been closed for a few days I have no clue what we're walking into But in the end obviously made sense that I had to show the guy what restaurant we're talking about As I walk him down it was Living up to my worst expectations outside. You had the hoodlums smoking joints bitches hanging out fighting dogs Even the watering bowl for the fighting dogs So as I walk by and they obviously because they know me from walking by them every day They would say how you doing I Would just pretend that this was every day life in Copenhagen We went on for about one and a half year of an open restaurant in this situation Re-reading all the reviews we had obviously in the first month of the opening Not one did not mention or pick up the story about us opening up a restaurant with obvious drug Didn't going on in front of us right Cash was counted in that doorway you saw before when they when these guys made a sale They will walk down the two stairs into Towards the restaurant. They will count money To make sure that they counted right I guess and then go out that will happen maybe 35 times a day While the guests sitting down wondering What's the tipping policy here? This is a Lisa She clearly remembers her first day starting with us that night a kid got shot down the street So as she was prepping in the back doing some stupid things His the body of this guy came running to the back end drinks with blood on his face blood on his hands asking for towels Asking for help She told me recently that she considered not coming back. It was just too fucking scary Thank God the kids survived and Lisa came back. She's now one of the two chefs By the way, I want to take a second helping out the police here One of relays I guess by now a former neighbor was in the newspaper the other day and they really want to have a talk with him He stabbed a guy about 27 times for about a month ago So if you are on your way down yes, we'll get to see him just give him a call here We work really hard those days. We just try to focus never mind these guys will move on they will leave There's no point in them staying here. We just cook food. I was proud of him from the first day We open up membranes across the street Expanding our facilities making it possible for us to cook up bigger volumes letting us get higher quality produce Making more positive traffic on years for guilt But this tree was on its move though that you could feel the same way we would feel hostility We would also feel support and people ready to ally themselves with us They knew that what we were doing could give a push to the street and make a change The coffee collective down the street Helped us set up a coffee program and filtration systems brewing a cup of coffee second to none in Copenhagen from our opening day in August 10 We would since use the purifying system that they installed for us to clean the water We use in all our stock sources and preparations bringing us the next step Julian Inge had shortly opened their respective pottery shops in the street and they were bought us with plates and tableware Stefan from Terroristen was set us up with some of his Italian wines completing our wine list only featuring natural wines Our food would conquer the street and then the whole city. I was certain it would I knew that if we ever got too dangerous our financial setup With liberty in mind would let everybody just leave the knives on the fucking cutting board and get the hell out of there Our menu price was was low our ambitions were high and liberty were ours We would want to cook food simply but interestingly leaving people with something to remember With our past that no more we knew we just knew that everybody would be ready to call us a normal light That we would just spin off some of the new Nordic stuff and make it cheaper So we restricted ourselves to not do some of those things that's so typical for the new Nordic Wave of the moment not no more the wave that came after I often use the example of us acting as Teenagers not wanting to look like their parents. That would mean No foraging. I don't even know who this guy is. I just pulled him down from Google. I hope he's not sitting here I don't want to be disrespectful in any way, but our restaurant was as open as it can get There would be nothing authentic about me foraging I'm a cook and I feel close to nature when I cook not when a forage No swishing no exaggerated use of herbs We didn't have time to pick perfect leaves of anything. We were busy We were three people who will make purees out of the herbs and focus on their flavor more than the aesthetics My Italian heritage also call for the use of olive oil and chovies breadcrumbs citrics Once and for all relay is not a Nordic restaurant With these limitations, we worked on creating an identity for ourselves My main goal with the cooking at relay was fundamentally the same as nomas Maybe the most important gift Renee gave me Was to say if a guest eats here with his eyes closed He must know where he is eating Well, that is exactly what I want people to feel while eating at relay that it is unique and it's good and it's bad We will constrain ourselves to a maximum of three to four components on every dish leaving the food naked and powerful We would cut the food to the bone in the same way as we did with the restaurant To keep our cars low and quality high we would focus on vegetables all through the menu offering a vegetarian menu But also keeping the omnivorous menu very much based on the greens We would roast carrots with the seaweed and black currants We would roll up bake salaria with the black olive sauce and more seaweed We would pickle mackerel Serve it with cauliflower everything simple I would any day prefer that a guest would appreciate to the dishes Hate one and be absolutely blown away by the fourth Much more than just eating four dishes that wouldn't make a difference in any way But just to give you a quick idea of what it really means how people experience the food we do I just gathered up what I could find of our food on instagram Let's call this a quickie any pictures before we got to the food when I was on time pass by and we worked hard day after day We experienced great successes. I've been blessed with the best team. I could ever dream for This is my opportunity to thank them for believing in me even when my family thinks I was going nuts. Thank you Our initial reviews were pretty positive even though I feel most reviewers lost a lot of the points Our choice of going all natural on the wines may be challenged them a bit too much back then In 2012 to the great surprise to everyone including ourselves We received a michelin star and sort of jumped onto that list, you know We've been extremely successful proving to ourselves that putting high-end food in a more simple easygoing and dynamic context Is what people want and what we absolutely love doing For me fine dining in its classical meaning might not be that quite yet But it is facing extinction. My generation will move on But what now? A great success Experienced by releasing ourselves from the fine dining scene has inspired friends and former colleagues to do the same At least them seeing us having so much fun while we were doing it must have done something to them And we all have much more fun now Where do we go from here? Our cooking has developed so incredibly much since the beginning We went from being four guys who now do service with nine or 12 guys in the kitchen And it's tight We set up a test kitchen studio Lab call it what you want and connection to the kitchen where we can work creatively and in peace and quiet from all kinds of people Customers the daily stress of the kitchen. We can just focus Here john Tam my sous chef and myself Work full-time on moving on with the menu often bringing in the sommeliers to balance our dishes to challenge us And find the perfect match between wine and food We started to calm down to realize what work we're doing And what to really focus on our produce has improved steadily from day one As we gained experience and pushed ourselves to get better and better We switched the balance away from focusing only on creativity and letting nature be more creative letting produce stand more on its own Our friend told me recently after dining with us. You've changed I disagree We've just gotten better and better Our focus on a three four component dish has reduced to say two two and a half Our criteria On produce have improved to the point that we sometime ago picked up the ambition of being the first organic certified Michelin star restaurant in the world A recognition. We received this may and we obviously Celebrate it with a barbecue in the rain. That's how demigrally is not like these days With our evolution in cooking and our focus on produce We seem to have found a new level of maturity we didn't have before We went from being restless wanting new dishes on the menu new ideas All the time to let produce come first and the site went to go on the menu We would be more sensible to every detail as we've been slowly building our own identity I've been asking myself why Why this needs to slow down trying to understand more? I don't know why but maybe these guys might be a part of the answer This is by far the best pork i've tasted and after cooking it trying it and saving it for the first time It has been a relays on manfred's menu. I just can't let it go The synergy between the two restaurants and the thorough planning has given us the possibility to serve for me the greatest luxury I could possibly find on both sides of the streets still keeping our prices just by planning I realized that so much for being thought of as the restaurant using only the humblest ingredients We put the most expensive piece of pork on the plate every day Working with produce at this level I started to understand that we are taking so many steps since we first started roasting carrots You have become time to challenge your own initials ideas initial ideas We might have been right to begin with I think we were But does that make it the only truth? Most importantly, do people get it? Do they understand the work we put in these so seemingly simple dishes? Does the music really have to be that scratchy? Could we buy some speakers maybe with it? Keep the music loud, but essentially higher in quality What if we bought some paper for the restroom that didn't reach leaving burn marks? At some point it felt That we were almost working against ourselves deliberately and that the worn out toilets and wobbly tables became furniture That started taking up focus again. That's what we're not wanted The gap between the quality of the food and the restaurant had grown so much that it started taking focus away from the food and the wine We were closed for a month here in july And we thought we would use that time to let relay grew up a bit Veneer was changed into solid oak and proper background for the quality we would serve on the plate Product to product you do not get higher quality in any other restaurant in the city That we choose not to base our kitchen on prime cuts the foie the caviar as a creative restriction Does not make us a cheap restaurant restaurant. It makes us a different one In the end it comes down to a question of communication when we initially opened I believe the true gastronomy could speak its language anywhere And I do still firmly believe that and many of you here are living proof of that But I've also come to learn the far most of our guests really need a helping hand Most won't taste the difference whether we drive the car up north to pick up car from the boat daily Assuring us freshness and quality or we just get it through the wholesaler several days after I have understood that we need to communicate these things not only by telling far too long stories at the table But also by just keeping that same thin red line all over the guest experience Solid oak and an interior trying to send the same message as our cooking philosophy really helps us with that It is no longer in contrast with our cooking but in harmony We experience actually far more of our guests really getting it now We know that after just two months Really understanding the flavors the quality the hard work put behind it the complexity we put into simplicity Nobody complains about the music anymore almost I hope the soon we can start dreaming about moving up from our trip advisor 736 ranking in Copenhagen Now you're wondering Did we remove the drawers and start pouring water? No We just build it straight into the wood They picked up another level Because we now know exactly what it is we want from them The restrooms had a paint job the paper got softer Teddy He's still there He just got another background For me the most satisfying part about this evolution of ours and improvement Is that it was financed by our own hard work and our guts to believe that veneer was good enough to begin with If the food was good enough and the ideas were clear enough The creativity can actually work wonders We realize by now that we might as well take it as far as we can Do the best restaurant best possible restaurant within our ideas and philosophy instead of focusing so much on an anti this and anti that restaurant No need to fight the picture of fine dining as a cold and pretentious space It will slowly become obsolete on its own Alain Ducasse was talking about Her loom varieties and children today our values has changed What about the street? We do see a few dodgy characters from time to time a few tattooed faces But the street belongs to us now The fact that I've seen so many of these faces In this crowd on years for girl really proved the point On a regular saturday we bring through about 300 guests through relay and membranes Many of them on fixie bikes Since we opened from before and until now More than 40 shops have popped up doing everything from pottery porridge bread and gastronomy Many of them sharing our organic lifestyle Most importantly the streets are safe Not known for crime anymore But for its great initiatives I can now officially claim That our doorway is finally free for everybody to walk in and have a great night It takes a lot of willpower to challenge the conventions around you I believe it takes much more courage guts Call it what you want to kill your darlings to challenge your own ideas But at one point that is the next step for all of us as a teenager You question your parents You question the generations before you when you grow up you question yourself. Thank you