Sam Nutter & Victor Wagman

Bror is Danish for brother and the name of this restaurant in Copenhagen is embodied in the partnership of the two chefs who are at its helm. Sam Nutter and Victor Wagman started Bror after their years of friendship led them from the Vineyard at Stockross in England to being alums of Noma in Denmark. They continue to define themselves through the terroir of Scandinavia.

I love the respect that the Japanese have for their knives and the care they take in keeping them sharp. I think the rest of the world aspires to be like a Japanese chef when it comes to the respect they extend toward their knives. I use the Japanese knives that I received as a going away present from Noma.

I’m originally from England and when I was 13 years old I was chopping wood for a farmer in front of his wife’s café. When the waitress called in sick, I got asked to help in the kitchen and it all went from there. I worked in a couple of local pubs before I moved down south to work at the Vineyard at Stockross, which is where I met Victor. Victor went to Noma before I did,and because of the great experience that he was having there, he recommended that I do the same. We both worked at Noma for a number of years, He was a product Sous Chef and I was a Sous Chef in the test kitchen. I think it is definitely embedded in our style even as we try to cultivate something all our own. I would say that it became a part out of us and we became a part of it. Chef Rene Redzepi’s philosophy about food is amazing. He is constantly reinventing Noma all the time and he keeps coming up with these new amazing creations. I think Noma exemplifies simplicity which allows the ingredients to speak for themselves in a way that is natural and restrained. Chef Rene has been super helpful since we have opened, so I couldn’t ask or anymore

I think creativity is a mix of everything. There is a lot of competition in Copenhagen and throughout the world, so it’s nice to be a little different and do things that you think are delicious. We believe in cooking food that we would enjoy eating and we try to please our guests. We want to have as much fun as possible when we are creating dishes. We want to come up with things that people will find interesting and sometimes challenging. I love working with seafood and I especially like squid, which is quite versatile. One of our philosophies is that we use everything from head to toe. If it’s a whole fish we are using everything from the heads to the cod sperm. We do a 3 course lamb’s head serving where we whip the brain, stuff the eyeballs, and wrap the tongue and cheeks in a pancake. Even though it can be quite a challenge for some people, I think most people have kind of enjoyed it so far.