Aarhus' exceptional Restaurant Domestic dishes up one of my top five dining experiences ever

There are few restaurants so spectacular I'd recommend scheduling a trip just to eat at them. Domestic in Aarhus is one of them. This Michelin-starred gem tucked away in an old industrial building in Denmark's second city immediately vaulted into the top five restaurant experiences of my life. It's extraordinary on every front. If you want a magnificent, off-the-beaten-track culinary weekend, get Domestic on your list.

Why?

The food, as you'd expect from that Michelin star, is exceptional. Embracing all those elements of Scandinavian cuisine that have taken the world by storm, but without fuss, molecular gastronomy or the "pushing people out of their comfort zone" that's always put us off seeking a reservation at Copenhagen's famous Noma. Just great food. Exquisitely combined, prepared and presented. The atmosphere is fantastic: casual yet elegant, modern yet refined, with plenty of room between tables to give a sense of intimacy despite the big industrial space. And what a staff! We had our main server, Morten, and five others presenting our dishes, several of the secondary team coming straight from the kitchen to bring us what they'd just prepared. Every dish and each accompanying wine came with a story, and the whole team was happy to chat. I felt more like the visiting auntie of gang of 20-something foodie hipsters keen to entertain me rather than a paying guest at a restaurant. On every count, Domestic was magnificent.

You can choose from a four- or eight-course set menu, with matching wine or juice flights. We, of course, did eight and eight. Plus the eight snacks that serve as amuse bouche and a glass of bubbly to go with those. All of which sounds like an obscene quantity that should have seen us bursting, Mr. Creosote-like, before the first desert. But so well-judged and delicate are the portions that we emerged feeling full, brimming with comfort and satisfaction, but not stuffed. As to the effects of nine glasses of wine, some with top ups? In our defence, the experience did stretch over more than three hours...

Those "snacks" are masterful, tiny demonstrations of culinary excellence. They fire a warning shot across the bows of your expectations: we are wildly creative artists, obsessed with what's in season,  with a great sense of fun. A single potato chip "dressed" with garlic mayonnaise and grated veal heart. A finger-sized buckwheat taco filled with smoked mackerel. Tiny rolls of beef tartare in a celeriac wrapper. A skewered cube of smoky pork belly on a bed of freshly-cut, warmed juniper branches sending out an extraordinary scent. These delights went with a remarkable discovery: sparkling apple wine.

Andersen Winery is a local operation dedicated to using Champagne's methode traditionelle with Denmark's best fruits and berries to create something completely new. Their Sigrid 2015 Brut was mind blowing: the toasty, small-bubbled elegance of the best champagne with the apples sliding the flavour profile someplace new. It's so subtle you might not be able to pick up the apple in a blind taste test, but magnificent. If this was available on the open market I might never go back to bubbly grape juice. Sadly for all of us, their production is almost exclusively purchased by top restaurants in Denmark, so you'll have to go there to partake of this delight.

An hour in to this extravaganza, it was time for the main show. Kicked off with "ravioli" the size of a two-pound coin, made from an outer shell of celariac, filled with soft cheese and floating on an intense, green herbal sauce. A flavour explosion. On to the seemingly bizarre mix of pickled green strawberries, lobster and samphire. The strawberries dominated the lobster a bit, but the combo was fantastic. Next a little piece of cod on a foamy mussel sauce. I hate mussels. It didn't matter. Here, they'd been reduced to an umami essence; a complementary backnote rather than an independent element. Next up: potatoes. Small pieces had been de-hydrated, re-hydrated and cooked, served with slivers of white asparagus, fresh lovage and a grate of parmesan. The interesting preparation had completely transformed the vegetable into something new, with a different bite and texture than any other potato preparation I've had.

The two main meat courses were simple and perfectly balanced. A slice of succulent pork, tender and still pink as you can do with confidence with top quality meat, in a herby black garlic sauce with three elegant cups of onion. Next a slice of beef. Caramelised bark on the outside, mouth-meltingly rare inside, with a blackcurrant sauce and a parsley-studded salad. Yet another example of how the Danes use fruit in unexpected ways in savoury dishes. This may be the No. 1 thing I bring back to my own kitchen.

The two puddings show the Danes' delicate touch with desserts. Strange, perhaps, for a country known for its pastries, but the meal-ending sweets here tend to be much lighter and fresh-fruit based ... shown off at the most sophisticated level at Domestic. We started with a dollop of thick buttermilk that was almost like yogurt, dressed with herbs and honey. Yes, herbs. I've never had a pudding that was so strongly vegetal. And delicious. More herbs in the second desert, as sugared granules of tarragon and wildflowers elevated a circle of plump blueberries. We could have opted for an additional sweets course that might have brought more sinful pleasures, but that was an excess too far.

Instead, we retired to a cozy wine cellar over coffee. At least ... my husband had coffee. Here's your biggest clue that they don't see many Americans in Aarhus. No decaff options at all. The coffee smelled exquisite. But even a perfect meal is not worth the sleepless night that caffeine at 11:30pm would have given me.

We floated back to the Ritz Hotel through Aarhus' broad, elegant streets. By that point they were throbbing with young people out for a good time. This is, after all, home to the largest university in Scandinavia. Much to our surprise, two lads called out to us, offering to sell some cocaine. I had a good laugh. I'd already had my high for the evening; no drug could beat the art and tastes of Domestic.