Where to eat in Copenhagen: Best bakeries, hot dogs and street food. Photo / Arundhati Hazra
Home to a wealth of unique dining experiences, Copenhagen offers everything from 50-course Michelin-starred meals to hidden communal dinners, writes Arundhati Hazra.
Copenhagen’s rise as a European food hotspot is fairly recent, compared to cities like Paris, Rome or Barcelona, whose food has been attracting attention for centuries. Copenhagen is the home of New Nordic cuisine, which emerged in the early 2000s and advocated the use of local seasonal ingredients to create dishes that highlighted local food culture and traditions, a theme that was adopted by fine dining restaurants across the world. Noma, which was awarded the World’s Best Restaurant five times as part of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, championed foraging, fermentation and flavour building, and made Copenhagen a destination dining location.
While Noma has closed, a number of fine dining restaurants around Copenhagen carry forward its culinary legacy. Many have Michelin stars, and some have become viral sensations. For example, dinner at two Michelin-starred Alchemist is a seven-hour, 50-course meal that involves dining in a dome-shaped hall filled with projections of coral reefs and abstract art, eating dishes resembling a human eyeball and plastic polluting the oceans. It is also expensive. Dinner at Alchemist costs DKK 5600 ($1500) per person, while that at Geranium and Jordnaer, the city’s two restaurants with three Michelin stars, can leave your wallet lighter by 4200-4400 DKK ($1100-1200).
However, not all good food in Copenhagen is expensive. The city has a flourishing baked goods scene, which gained international attention when it was featured in the second season of the TV show The Bear. Restaurants by Noma alumni are sprinkled across the city, spanning a gamut of offerings from burgers to ramen.
Start your day at the bakeries. Hart Bageri, run by a former baker from Noma, vies with Juno Bakery (by another Noma alumnus) for the city’s best cardamom bun, a Danish classic. Another must-visit spot is Sankt Peder’s Bageri, which has been dishing out baked goods and sweet treats for more than 350 years.
Their specialty is the onsdagssnegle, which translates to “Wednesday snails” but is actually a cinnamon roll. You should also try their spandauer (a Danish custard-filled pastry) and berry pastries.
Copenhagen’s hot dogs are the backbone of the city’s snacking scene. Many hot dog stands are located in tourist hotspots, but they are beloved by locals and tourists alike. Just outside the Copenhagen Central Station is John’s Hotdog Deli, where everything from the bread to the condiments are made from scratch.
At DØP, near the pedestrian shopping street of Strøget, everything is organic, from the bread to the meat, while Harry’s Place in Nørrebro is known for its Børge med Krudt, a hot dog with a large sausage and a gunpowder sauce.
Smørrebrød, a traditional Scandinavian open-faced sandwich, is ubiquitous in Copenhagen. It is made with rye bread with a variety of toppings, and a popular lunch option. Check out Aamanns 1921, which serves smørrebrød topped with everything from the traditional herring to beef tartare, in refined and elegant settings.
For a quicker bite, grab a smørrebrød (or two or three) from Hallernes, present in half a dozen locations around the city, including the popular amusement park of Tivoli Gardens.
The former shipyard island of Refshaleøen is now one of Copenhagen’s coolest neighbourhoods, filled with street art, breweries and restaurants. One of the best places to satisfy any cravings that may arise while exploring the area is the Reffen Street Food Market, which claims to be the largest street food market in Northern Europe. It has food stalls serving everything from fragrant Afghan pilavs to feisty Argentinian grilled meats, and even a microbrewery on site.
Dinner is a great time to sample the international spread of cuisines in Copenhagen. Baest is an organic pizzeria with its own dairy making mozzarella and burrata, and a salumeria for sausages and cured meats.
Jah Izakaya has classic Japanese dishes such as gyoza and karaage, but also a rotating set of seasonals that tip a hat to the city’s love of local ingredients. Vegans will enjoy the spread at sister restaurants Beyla and Bistro Lupa, while pescatarians can enjoy a variety of freshly prepared seafood dishes at Kødbyens Fiskebar. For a good tipple, head to the canal-side cocktail institution Ruby or the speakeasy Curfew with vintage decor and creative drinks.
One of Copenhagen’s best-kept secrets is the communal dining experience. Each evening, community houses like Absalon and Kanalhuset host social dinners called fællesspisning, where strangers cluster around long tables and share a set of common dishes. It is a great way to meet locals and feel like one as well.
If you are keen to explore the birthplace of the hyper-local cooking movement, Copenhagen offers a bevy of fancy tasting menus with dishes that push boundaries in terms of ingredients and cooking techniques. But the city’s culinary scene also encompasses hearty affordable food of all types, making it truly a food journey worth making.
The writer travelled at their own expense.