Back in the 1700s, people traveling the Danish highways were looked after with fare from the tiny smallholding and farms, locally brewed beer and schnapps. Hanne Kirkeby Kro, established in 1790, became later the hub of hunting parties and the place of choice for the Danish painter Johannes Larsen.
Today, the traditional Danish shuttle station has been transformed into a gourmet destination.
A handful of kilometers from Denmark’s west coast, an hour north of the oil town of Esbjerg and a quarter of an hour’s drive from the nearest small town, Varde, with 13,000 inhabitants, lies Henne Kirkeby, a place so desolate that no one would believe that it would be possible to run a gourmet restaurant there. However, since 2007, the inn has been owned by Flemming Skoubo and under the management of chef Paul Cunningham, was titled the best restaurant in the Nordics in 2012 and awarded a Michelin star in 2016 and a second in 2017.
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With interiors in a modern, “quasi-minimalist” style, including bed covers by Paul Smith, armchairs by Hans Wegner and photographs by Astrid Kruse Jensen, and later added a new guest building, Hunting Lodge (completed in 2013), increasing the number of guest rooms by seven to twelve, Henne Kirkeby Kro was transformed into a gourmet destination.
Paul Cunningham was previously chef at The Paul restaurant in Copenhagen Tivoli where he served celebrities such as supermodel Helena Christensen, Paris Hilton, Bill Clinton and Metallica among others.
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The restaurant has twelve tables. The inn raises its own lamb, pigs, chicken and rabbits, and has the largest kitchen garden in Denmark, including an orchard and beehives. It also receives wild game from Skouboe’s private island, Fænø, and is near Hvide Sande, the country’s primary fish market. Cunningham serves an eclectic, classically-based cuisine emphasizing fresh ingredients, and fish and chips on Fridays.
“I don’t cook for my guests,” says Cunningham. “I cook for myself. I don’t know other people’s tastes, so all the food I serve is the way I like it. When you eat with me, the menus are like a Russian roulette of gastronomy.”
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In 2015 the photographer Per Nagel published a book on the inn, Henne Kirkeby Kro: Exploring Taste and Senses.
The inn is complete according to the plans, and must now be allowed to develop on its own terms, while the standards rise year by year. So, the whole staff is continuing ceaselessly to send people home with their stomachs full of good food and a desire to return before too long.
Traditional Danish Shuttle Station Transformed Into a Gourmet Destination, written by Tor Kjolberg
All images (except photo of Paul Cunningham) © Henne Kirkeby Kro