Eating Asia at Ricemarket
This cellar based restaurant near Strøget is a favorite of mine when I crave some decent Asian cooking.
Ricemarket is owned by the same people who run Kiin Kiin, Aroiidee, Dim Sum and Burger & Bun. The menu takes its’ point of departure in Thai dishes, but is influenced by other South East Asian countries.
It was a very busy Friday night and the waitresses were buzzing in between the closely placed tables trying their best to accommodate the demanding diners. Ricemarket is a great place when warming up for a night out with its’ noisy, somewhat hectic atmosphere.
We started off with some chicken satay with peanut butter sauce, deep fried spring rolls and some summer rolls.
Chicken satay
The chicken was juicy and tender, just as it should be.
The springrolls had a crispy surface and the filling was flavorful and soft.
Fried spring rolls
The summer rolls were nice too. They were stuffed with lettuce, fresh herbs and sweet prawns. They came with the peanut dipping sauce that also accompanied the satay sticks. I would have liked the sour/spicy fish sauce that is usually served at Vietnamese restaurants when ordering summer rolls. To me the peanut sauce overpowers the clean taste of the summer rolls.
Summer rolls
For main course I chose the “Ricemarket noodle soup with herbs and beef”. Most (South) East Asian countries have some version of noodle soup with different fillings. It so happens that I am very opinionated about beef noodle soup. You see, some years back I had the privilege of living in Vietnam. During my time in Hanoi I slurped down my share of “pho ba” (beef noodle soup). So now I measure all beef soups against the soups I had in Hanoi.
The key to a good soup is the broth. The Ricemarket version had nice broth with a deep flavor. The noodles were nothing special, but the meat was flavorful. I really appreciate when the meat is not cook throroughly before it is put in the broth as it allows the meat to add that little extra flavor to the broth and leaves the beef tender and succulent. When you eat beef noodle soup in Vietnam you also get a huge plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, sliced chili pepper and some lime wedges. At Ricemarket, the soup came with the lime and some hoisin sauce, but no chili or fresh herbs. The herbs is what gives the soup the freshness and the clean flavor that penetrates most of Vietnamese cuisine. I would have loved to fresh herbs on the side, but overall, I was very pleased with my soup.
Ricemarket beef noodle soup
My fellow diners both had the red curry. It had just the right spiciness and the Dim Sum Mikkeller brewed beer with hints of cilantro and lemon grass went very well with it.
Red curry with chicken
Dim Sum Beer
We had an nice dinner at Ricemarket – the only problem was that it made me want to go to Asia again.
Estimated price: 200 DKK
Visited: August 2010
