“Koks” in Greenland. It is the most remo­te restau­rant in the world: “Koks”. In fact, the two-star restau­rant is based in the Faroe Islands. That is alre­a­dy quite remo­te. But over the past three years, head chef Poul Andrias Ziska and his team have moved even far­ther away—namely to Greenland. A spon­ta­neous visit is impos­si­ble, and the­re is cer­tain­ly no walk-in trade at this venue with just 30 seats. And yet the­re are many guests who are hap­py to make the jour­ney. One of them is Luca Bianchi, Co-CEO of Bianchi AG. At the com­pa­ny, Luca is respon­si­ble for the Fish and Seafood divi­si­on and tra­vels seve­ral times a year as a food scout to far-flung count­ries to visit new pro­ducts and producers.

Seal blood sau­sa­ge & moo­se off­al. “I’ve been to Koks in the Faroe Islands befo­re. I was so impres­sed that we added some pro­ducts, such as sea urch­ins, to our ran­ge,” says Luca Bianchi. The new Koks is loca­ted in Ilimanaq, a vil­la­ge of 50 souls on Greenland’s west coast, more than 300 km north of the Arctic Circle. The vege­ta­ti­on has a major influence on the pro­ducts available here. Fruit and vege­ta­bles are scar­ce, but the­re is ple­nty of fish and other deli­ca­ci­es from the sea. “I heard that Ziska ser­ves seal blood sau­sa­ge, gull wings, wha­le, or moo­se off­al. Of cour­se, I abso­lut­e­ly didn’t want to miss that.” So Luca Bianchi sets off for Greenland tog­e­ther with his girl­fri­end Deborah Pranjes—with sto­po­vers in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Reykjavik.

An adven­tur­ous jour­ney through the eter­nal ice. From Iceland, you fly to the NATO base at Kangerlussuaq in Greenland. From the­re, you con­ti­n­ue in a small pro­pel­ler pla­ne to Ilulissat. “Halfway the­re we had to make an extra stop to pick up a doc­tor who makes hou­se calls in the ‘neigh­bou­ring vil­la­ge’,” says Bianchi. From Ilulissat, you con­ti­n­ue by boat to Ilimanaq—an initi­al high­light of the trip: “The scenery—past huge gla­ciers, ice fields, ice­bergs, and chan­nels car­ved through the ice—was sim­ply breath­ta­king.” That ever­ything runs smooth­ly on the way the­re is by no means a given. “Domestic flights are often post­po­ned due to extre­me wea­ther con­di­ti­ons. But we were very lucky and were able to stick to the tight schedule.”

Whale blub­ber com­fort food. But Luca Bianchi did not come for the view—he came for Chef Ziska and his extra­or­di­na­ry menu. This culina­ry jour­ney began with a bowhead wha­le. Around 10,000 spe­ci­mens live in the Arctic. Two may be kil­led each year. “We were ser­ved mat­tak. It’s a dish of raw wha­le blub­ber ser­ved with the skin. It didn’t taste fishy at all, but rather nut­ty,” Bianchi recalls. Mattak is, by the way, a popu­lar com­fort food among Greenlanders. At “Koks”, a total of 18 cour­ses are ser­ved. “You can tell that sus­taina­bi­li­ty is high­ly valued here. The ser­vice team explains in gre­at detail which pro­ducts come from which fisher, hun­ter, or forager.”

Ptarmigan and sea­bird. Poul Andrias Ziska, who has coo­ked at Geranium in Copenhagen among other places, has the oppor­tu­ni­ty here to work with tru­ly excep­tio­nal pro­ducts. “If you’ve come to Greenland to expe­ri­ence the cul­tu­re and the food, then you have to embrace it. It’s not about pro­vo­king peo­p­le. But they should think about whe­re their food comes from and how it ends up on the pla­te,” Ziska tells The Telegraph. Various wild birds such as the rock ptar­mi­gan or the guillemot—a type of seabird—end up on Bianchi’s pla­te. Both birds are among the house’s signa­tu­re dis­hes. “The ptar­mi­gan was even ser­ved to us on the fea­ther as a litt­le poul­try ske­wer,” Bianchi sums up, impressed.

Coming soon to Bianchi. Alongside wild poul­try, the­re is also ple­nty from the sea. “The Arctic shrimp has a very trans­lu­cent tex­tu­re and a sweetish fla­vour. Then the­re was smelt, a fish that has fal­len a bit out of fashion with us. But in Japan it has gai­ned gre­at importance,” the fish expert explains. Capelin is fat­ty, the tex­tu­re deli­ca­te, and the fla­vour nut­ty. At 11 PM, when the last cour­se is ser­ved, it is still light out­side. Luca and Deborah do not need to return to war­mer cli­mes, as they sleep in a lodge belon­ging to the restau­rant. And Luca Bianchi is alre­a­dy thin­king about which pro­ducts might be of inte­rest to his cus­to­mers in Switzerland. “We will pro­ba­b­ly never be able to add wha­le to our ran­ge, but I will defi­ni­te­ly pro­mo­te smelt again.”