Okê Restaurant

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Name with Two Stories

The name Okê carries a deliberate duality. One thread leads to a fishing cutter called OKE, built in Hirtshals in 1946 – one of ten, and the only one still afloat. The vessel was acquired in 1978 by Jørgen Philip-Sørensen, the visionary behind Ruths Hotel, who restored it as a private leisure boat before it became an ambassador vessel for businesses connected to Skagen Harbour. The acronym itself honours three family members of the cutter's first owner: Ole, Karl and Elise.

The second thread travels much further. In Portuguese-Brazilian mythology, okê is a salutation connected to Oxóssi, a forest deity who lives in harmony with nature and takes only what he can eat himself. That spirit of respect for natural resources – and of giving back to the community – runs directly into the restaurant's own philosophy.

Together, the two stories capture what Okê is reaching for: deep local roots and an unambiguously international outlook.

Jack Cramer and the Drive for Quality

Since Jack Cramer took over as head chef at Ruths Hotel in 2019, the kitchen has pursued quality without compromise across every dimension. The White Guide recognised the result at its highest tier – Global Masters level – describing Okê as delivering experiences that "belong among the best in the country," with Cramer firmly at the helm.

The restaurant grew from Jørgen Philip-Sørensen's original ambition to build a hotel, a brasserie and a fine dining restaurant of absolute distinction on the North Sea coast. What was once called Ruths Gourmet was renamed Okê precisely to signal that a meal here is not simply a hotel amenity – it is a destination in itself, with international aspirations to match.

Atmosphere and Setting

A visit to Okê unfolds in what the team describes as a "well-prepared and well-arranged order." The attention to detail extends from the interior and raw ingredients to the particular atmosphere of the room. That atmosphere is inseparable from the surroundings: the old quarter of Skagen, known as Gl. Skagen, brings its own understated exclusivity to the experience, and the two complement each other naturally.

The team behind Okê is built around curiosity and the desire to explore – specialists whose different perspectives feed a deliberate creative process. The ambition, as they put it, is to be "a lighthouse" for the region and for the industry at large.