Restaurant MOTA – A Restaurant Review

Sometimes you have one of those restaurant experiences that you just know will hold a special place in your memories.
This was one of those experiences, so here is our review of Restaurant MOTA in Odsherred, Denmark.

Upon arriving at Anneberg Kulturpark, you are greeted by a feeling of calmness and serenity. This place holds a lot of history, and not all of it has a positive story.
The area and buildings used to house a psychiatric hospital, but nowadays it houses everything from a micro brewery to restaurants, hotel and a dried seaweed producer!

The interior at Restaurant MOTA

The restaurant is found in a red brick building within the complex. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but once you open the front door, you are presented with an impressive, yet classy and Scandinavian interior with several interesting twists.

The interior is uniquely designed by local woodworkers and is combined with art inspired by the Odsherred area. A lot of beautiful ceramics are spread out over the restaurant – most of it created by the head chef in his sparetime!

Even the tables, chairs, benches, shelves and serving desks are handcrafted woodworking masterpieces – you can spend a surprising amount of time studying the intricately crafted woodwork.

The food at Restaurant MOTA

Wauw!
What an experience the food is. Where to start….?
The menu is changed frequently to reflect the season and present the best produce available, grown locally.
This means that our experience will most definitely be different from yours, if you visit, but the general expression of the kitchen will be the same.

And what an impression they left!
So many surprising and unique dishes that were presented beautifully – and most important of all, tasted amazing!
The flavours! OH THE FLAVORS! 😀

When a kitchen chooses to focus on local produce and how to make the most flavorful dishes out of said produce, it really takes a lot of skill and careful thought. No wagyu beef, no caviar, no truffel, none of the “usual” fine dining buzzwords.
Just great vegetables and seafood, masterfully cared for in such a manner that every dish both manages to surprise, please and inspire you in the same bite!

Here is a gallery of all the servings we had on our night – this hopefully gives you an impression of style of food and the attention to detail the kitchen offers:

The staff at Restaurant MOTA

As we’ve established, the location, the decor and the food were all extraordinary.
But what can really elevate a restaurant experience, is the staff – and what lovely staff they have at MOTA!

The best waiters, are the ones that can “read the crowd” and offer a tailor-made experience to each table.
The whole waiter staff excelled at this. But in particular, we want to highlight two waiters:
We had a young male waiter, who managed to not only make us feel at home, but also quickly picked up on the fact that some of us worked in the food industry. That instantly made him switch tone with our table, using a lingo and references that would only work with us. The table next to us, by eavesdropping, got another experience, much more suited to their personalities.
Next, we want to mention our sommelier – she managed to be both extremely well versed in wine knowledge and trivia, but at the same time, able to convey her knowledge in a down-to-earth manner, filled humor and smiles.

Everything from presenting the dishes to storytelling, jokes, banter and laughs were shared between our table and the staff. And last but not least, we ended up having a small challenge with our main waiter – we won’t get into the details, but ending a 5 hour dinner experience with a traditional Danish sausage platter, was definitely a first for us! 😀

The MOTA experience – conclusion

Overall, this turned out to be one of the best and most personal and memorable restaurant visits ever!
From the second we were greeted by the staff, until the moment we got up from our chairs, everything was spot-on perfect and felt unique and homely, while still being professional.

Restaurant MOTA might have 1 Michelin Star, but from us, they get all the 5 stars possible!
Thank you, MOTA, for embodying what Morii Memories is all about. We had a fleeting moment, and through this blog, it has now been captured for us, and others, to enjoy as a memory.