Menu - A Modern Design Company

Menu is an inspirational Danish design company based in Fredensborg in North Sjælland, Denmark.

They started out life in 1979 as the 'Danish Steel House' set up by Simon Hansen predominantly supplying the catering trade. However. following various design successes and a change of name in 1998 to Menu and the employment of Pernille Vea as a permanent designer the path was set for design success.

Today Menu employ a range of in-house Danish designers including Pernille Vea, Christian Bjørn and Jakob Wagner who design under the tag line 'Scandinavian Design Originals' which encompasses the very essence of modern Danish design and the actual designs speak volumes about what the company aims to achieve. 

My first experience of Menu design was a Pernille Vea Black Contour mug which was presented to me at a friends house in Brøndy, Denmark. I was so taken by the sleek and simple design that the very next day we went out to one of Denmark's many designer homeware shops, in this case Inspiration, in order to buy some. However, I was astounded by the shear size of the Menu range available and confused as to why such clever and contemporary design was not widely available back in the UK. It was at this point that the idea for hoos was planted, but more about that another time.

Needless to say that over the years we have accumulated much of the Menu range including Pernille Vea's Black Contour mugs, Pernille Vea's Black Thermo Jug, the Jewellery tree and propeller trivet to name only a few.

However, this last year we have been blown away, yet again by the contemporary range of products that Menu have produced, that are not only practical and functional but that contain the essence of what Danish design is, sleek, clean and simple.

Our current favourite is most definitely Menu's stackable oven dishes which is an ingenious yet simple design.  

The dishes come in 3 different sizes large, medium and small and are made from porcelain fired at an immense heat which ensures the dishes are both durable, strong and also easy to clean.

The different dish sizes are a clever design to allow you to stack the dishes one on top of another in a huge range of combinations and the silicone feet (that lock the dishes into place) mean that you can take the dishes straight out of the oven and place on your worktop without the need for a trivet.

The design allows you to prepare and cook multiple dishes in the oven, in one go, giving you more time to yourself, your family and to socialise.

So do they really work I hear you ask. Well according to Menu Morten Skærved a Danish chef uses them to prepare meals in his summerhouse and has in the past prepared an eight dish tapas dinner for his friends.

The meal included tortilla, foccacia, mushroom au gratin, serrano ham, baked cherry tomatoes, basil shrimps, mussels in garlic and to top it all off a peach melba and oatmeal crumble.

And to wet your appetite even further we have included his menu for the peach melba below.

Ingredients:

2 Limes

9 tablespoons of sugar

6 peaches

300 grams of raspberries

150 grams pure raw marzipan

150 grams rough oatmeal

150 grams of butter.

1) Firstly squeeze the limes into a suitable dish, add 3 tablespoons of sugar and mix thoroughly. Prepare the peaches (or nectarines or other fruit) by washing, halving and removing the centre stone.

2) Place the peaches in a dish and drizzle some of the lime juice over the top of them giving them a good coating. 

3) Place the raspberries at the bottom of one of Menu's large stackable oven dishes and sprinkle 3 tablespoons of sugar over them.

4) Place the peach halves with the skin side down (with the open peach centre facing upwards) and pour the remaining lime juice over them and into the cavities left by the stones.

5) Grate the marzipan into a bowl and mix it together with the oatmeal. Add the butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar and continue to mix until you get a crumbly dough.

6) Place the dough over the peaches and bake in an oven at 200 C for about 40 minutes (cooking times can vary) until golden brown and crisp.

7) Serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy.

  

If that has wet your appetite to try out the clever oven dishes then head over to our Scandinavian design shop to get some more information and see some more pictures about how they work. In addition the rest of the recipes for Morten's dinner are included in a free booklet which you get when you buy any of the stackable oven dishes from hoos. 

 

In future blogs we will look at the clever design behind Pernille Vea's Contour range and we will also feature biographical information on some of the modern designers leading Danish design today.


hoos | Scandinavian Design For Life
hoos sell Danish design and Scandinavian design products for the home and garden. hoos sell designer kitchenwares, homewares and sell brands such as Menu, Normann of Copenhagen, Stelton, Nuance and Eva Solo. hoos also offer a wedding gift list service and corporate gifts