Best Restaurants in Copenhagen

Nordic cuisine has taken the culinary world by storm. Denmark’s Noma is one of the world’s best restaurants, and the concepts of foraging, eating local, and focusing on fresh, seasonal ingredients are all the rage. Never one to miss a chance to travel for food, I spent last weekend in Denmark exploring the best restaurants in Copenhagen and the city’s great foodie finds.

On Friday morning I traveled to Copenhagen with VisitDenmark to get a firsthand look at the Scandinavian culinary scene at the Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival.

My weekend was a whirlwind of meat, vegetables, greens, wine, beer, coffee, and all things delicious.

Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival

But before the eating started, my media group attended the opening of the festival. The event was all in Danish, but it wasn’t difficult to decipher the highlights.

The entrance of Danish Princess Marie drew a lot of attention, as did the presentation of an award to an animated Rene Redzepi of Noma fame.

The opening was followed by wine and canapes from the team at Fiskebar, another of the best restaurants in Copenhagen.

Everything from vacuum-pickled celeriac to potato-and-beetroot chips with tarragon mayonnaise was presented beautifully and devoured immediately.

There was also a special Danish sparkling wine from Lilleo on offer. A blend of Pinot Gris, Chenin Blanc, and Riesling, it was co-produced by Anders Selmer from Fiskebar and Rene Redzepi from Noma.

I never knew Denmark produced wines, but apparently there’s a budding industry. I made a note to try more.

But new culinary feats aren’t all Denmark is known for. After the opening of the Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival, culinary highlights old and new came one after another.

La Glace

First there was a trip to La Glace, the oldest confectionery in Copenhagen. There we indulged in thick, decadent hot chocolate with heaping spoonfuls of Chantilly cream.

We also sampled cakes from chocolate sponge to raspberry mousse. They tasted as amazing as they looked.

Torvehallerne

The next day our explorations of the best restaurants in Copenhagen continued with a visit to Torvehallerne, a food market down the street from our accommodation, Ibsens Hotel.

Torvehallerne reminded me a bit of the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, what with its market stalls selling everything from meat and cheese to coffee and traditional smorrebrod, or open-face sandwiches.

We stopped for a latte at the Coffee Collective on our first day, and on our last I went back for a delicious duck sandwich at Ma Poule. Both were divine, and the great food and lively atmosphere made me want to move in.

DOP Copenhagen

After Torvehallerne, we continued our tour of the best restaurants in Copenhagen with a stop at DOP, an organic hot dog stand in the middle of the old town.

Run by Claus Christensen, a proponent of the healthy fast-food movement, the stand offered hot dogs with heaping helpings of fresh pickles, mustard, and other toppings. They were every bit as good as they looked.

Bar’Vin Wine Bar in Copenhagen

Leaving DOP, we made a quick stop at a wine bar called Bar’Vin. There we met the passionate proprietors and learned about their menus, which offered everything from charcuterie platters to full meals.

Carlsberg Beer Warehouse

Our next stop was a bit further afield: the Carlsberg beer warehouse. While there, we learned about the company’s microbrew, Jacobsen, which is still produced on-site. We even got to sample a few of the offerings.

Nordic Taste Copenhagen

Next door to the brew house was Nordic Taste, a Taste of London-style food festival that featured small bites from the best restaurants in Copenhagen and southern Sweden. The festival not only showcased Nordic cuisine, but also Copenhagen as a culinary destination.

We walked from stall to stall, sampling everything from chicken liver pate to venison, smoked salmon, and greens from the sea.

Restaurants like Kokkeriet, Salt, and Meyers were all present and accounted for. Out of all the food I sampled at Nordic Taste, I liked Myers’ crab bisque and seafood-topped crostini the best.

Best Copenhagen Restaurants on Jaegersborggade

That evening our culinary adventures continued with a trip to one of the city’s most famous foodie streets: Jaegersborggade. Located in the Norrebro area, the street is home to some of the best restaurants in Copenhagen.

There was everything from Meyers Bakery to Terroiristen wine bar, a Coffee Collective and a caramel shop called Karamelleriet.

Nearby was Grod, a chic hole-in-the-wall porridge and risotto cafe, where I had a great lunch on my last day in town.

Also present on Jaegersborggade were Relae and Manfreds, sister restaurants run by former Noma chefs that benefited from a test kitchen right on the same street.

The former was Michelin-starred, and the latter was a more casual restaurant.

Relae Restaurant in Copenhagen

We got a chance to meet some of the chefs in the test kitchen before dinner at Relae. As they told us about the restaurant, we ate bouquets of greens, herbs, edible flowers, pistachio paste, and pear vinegar.

The beautiful bundles were not only pleasing to the eye, but also some of the most delicious things I ate during my entire trip to Copenhagen.

We dined that night at Relae, where we enjoyed a four-course meal with a natural wine pairing (the restaurant only serves natural wines).

From lamb carpaccio with dried shrimp and dill to tiny potato noodles with hazelnuts and bergamot, the menu was one of the most inventive I’ve ever encountered.

Even the sweet corn ice cream with breadcrumbs and marjoram was different from any dessert I’ve tried. Overall it was an excellent meal, although the natural wines weren’t my favorite.

Mikkeller Bar in Copenhagen

After dinner we made a quick stop at the Mikkeller bar in Vesterbro to taste gypsy brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergso’s beers.

He had created the Copenhagen Cooking & Food Festival’s signature brew, Salty Ocean Weed. It and the 19 other draft beers we tried were equally good.

Royal Smushi Cafe in Copenhagen

The next day I had free time to explore the city. After seeing some highlights of the contemporary Copenhagen architecture scene, I didn’t miss the chance to visit the Royal Smushi Cafe.

Known for its creative smushi—classic Danish smorrebrod in sushi form—the cafe was also known for its stylish, feminine decor and great use of porcelain dishes from the royal shop next door.

The Royal Smushi Cafe didn’t serve smushi on Sundays—indeed, the only thing I didn’t like about Copenhagen was that seemingly everything shut down at 4pm on Saturday and didn’t reopen until Monday morning—but I still managed to enjoy a croissant and latte at one of the sunny outdoor tables in the courtyard.

It’s probably best that they weren’t serving smushi that day anyway, though. My jeans were barely buttoning after all the amazing food I had consumed over the past three days.