A cosy place for a relaxing time

TEXT: NICOLAI LISBERG | PHOTOS © RIBEHØJ

Ribehøj has made a virtue out of creating a cosy and relaxing atmosphere for its guests. The hotel offers homely rooms with an eye for the personal touch, while the gourmet restaurant focuses on locally sourced ingredients and innovative food.

Finding the time to let one’s hair down during a hectic everyday life can be difficult, but nonetheless, very much needed. At Ribehøj, they go the extra mile to make sure that you will feel welcome and relaxed from the moment you enter the premises. “We try to think about everything, and perhaps we do things a bit differently around here. Candle lights will be lit when you enter the room. We have five suites with a fireplace and six with a pre-heated Jacuzzi on a private terrace. Afterwards, you can go to our restaurant and try out our six-course meal in cosy surroundings. All of this hopefully helps you feel relaxed right away and ensures a warm welcome and positive stay,” says Kaare Byskov, who is the chef at Ribehøj − a hotel as well as a gourmet restaurant.

Originally, Ribehøj was an old farm used for agricultural land, and the place has since then been passed on through generations. Carsten Kjær took over the place in 2002 and he quickly began to modernise the restaurant. In 2009, Kaare Byskov became the chef at the restaurant after having started at Ribehøj as a dishwasher back in the day, and three years later, he joined Kjær in running the place. “It’s a family driven place and hopefully that gives the spot a familiar and cosy feeling as well. We try our best to spoil our guests and give everything from the rooms to the food a personal touch,” says Byskov.

A gourmet experience

Other than the cosy interior design in the rooms, as well as in the lounge, the location itself also helps the guests at Ribehøj to relax. Situated outside the city, there is not much to do other than just sit back and relax. “Being an old farm and all, we want to take our guests back to the good old days, when there seemed to be more time to enjoy life. It’s very calm out here as there is not much around to distract you,” says Byskov with a smile.

Besides the relaxing sensation and the pampering, the guests also come for the food experience at the gourmet restaurant. Indeed, some guests come from far way just to get a taste of the innovative, yet traditional food served at Ribehøj, that they have heard so much about.

“Just like our hotel should give you the feeling of having more time and being relaxed, we try to be true to our background and the local area when preparing the food. We want to get back to a time where people made everything themselves. When you made extra food during the summer and stored supplies for the winter, and when you had to have a small garden where you grew your own vegetables. We have many local manufacturers that specialise in making strawberries, milk or potatoes, and we use their products to ensure quality but also to tell a story with our food,” says Byskov, and adds: “To ensure a complete experience for our guests who often spend a few hours eating, our chairs are a mix between a regular chair and an armchair, as it helps them to relax and feel at home.”

An innovative kitchen

Although the food is very traditional in many ways, it does not mean that it is also old fashioned or boring. Quite the contrary, actually. When people from all over the country decide to spend an evening trying out the restaurant’s six-course meal, they also come for the innovation that Byskov and Ribehøj have become so well-known for. “We approach our food with curiosity and innovation, as there are no dogmas that prevent us from experimenting with the ingredients. That being said, we don’t experiment just for the sake of it, and we don’t want the experience to become too weird. The taste is still the main thing and it has to taste well. We use the ingredients from our local surroundings and our neighbours, but we make a virtue out of presenting the food in an interesting manner.”

ribehoej.dk

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Receive our monthly newsletter by email

    I accept the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy