Copenhagen
CAFES
Holberg 19
Good, central café.
Holbergsgade 19
+45 33 90 14 01
Paludan Bookshop & Café
Books, coffee and more in this lofty, central institution.
BARS
Drop into the old bars dotted around town. Plenty of them, take it nice and slow.
Eiffel Bar
A lovely old bar with tinted AND sandblasted mirrors in Christianshavn.
Wildersgade 58
+45 32 57 70 92
Malbec
Head to Malbec in Vesterbro or Nørrebro for Argentinian imports.
Istedgade 61 or the corner of Elmegade and Birkegade
Karriere
It may have gone a bit bridge and tunnel but if you’re a visitor you’re always bit more accommodating, and less in a position to comment! Rammed full of all kinds of wonderful art installations by the likes of Olafur Eliasson.
Flaesketorvet 57-67
t +45 3321 5509
www.karrierebar.com
Moltkes Bar
Moltke’s Palace was begun in 1702 with amendments being made right upto 1932 to suit its myriad of inhabitants from nobles, merchants, a dowager queen, to a prime minister. It is now a busy venue for all kinds of activities – and houses a panelled speakeasy style cocktail bar.
Dronningens Tværgade 2
+45 33 14 80 66
Ved Stranden
Hand selected wines in a quiet reserved bar. Things get a little livelier in the summer when the deck chairs spill outside onto the waterfront.
Ved Stranden 10
+45 3542 4040
Bankeråt
A city institution this is home to some ghoulish taxidermy. Their cloven-hoofed creatures are quite far from the image of Pan.
Ahlefeldtsgade 27-29
+45 33 93 69 88
Musiksmag
Chilled out little bar on the corner opposite Relae and Manfreds & Vin. Good music as the name may imply.
Jaegersborggade 42
Dyrehaven Cafe
Old man’s bar gone a bit trendy.
Sdr. Boulevard 72
Nimb Hotel & Vinotek
Tucked between the station and Tivoli is the discreet but swish Nimb Hotel. There’s a space for each season if you want a basement vinoteca for winter or a terrace for the summer.
Bernstorffsgade 5
+45 88 70 00 00
Cafe Guldregn
Good bar in Vesterbro.
Oehlenschlægersgade 1
1663 København V
+45 33 31 75 45
Ruby
Cosy, posey cocktail bar.
Nybrogade 10
+45 3393 1203
RESTAURANTS
Kodbyens Fiskebar
Back to the meatpacking district for fish. Book in advance or you’ll be having (very good) cocktails for dinner.
Flæsketorvet 100
+45 32 15 56 56
Pate Pate
Stay meatpacking side for this airy, spacious corner restaurant and bar.
Nansensgade 45
+45 33 33 07 74
Mother
Best for a good brunch, serve yourself and save yourself the hassle of trying to catch the eye of the waiters.
Høkerboderne 9
+45 22 27 58 98
Kiin Kiin
More Michelin*s for this Asian restaurant in Norrebro. Although it’s a fixed menu this is very far from your average Thai in a pub joint dishing up frazzle-fried identikit dishes.
Guldbergsgade 21
+45 35 55 35 75
Oysters & Grill
A good place to go for a reasonably priced, no-frills dinner – more emphasis on the surf than the turf.
Sjællandsgade 1B
Les Trois Cochons
From the same group who brought Oysters & Grill to the high street, here’s French fare in smart but unstuffy surroundings on Vesterbro’s Vaernedamsvej Street. No shortage of places to eat and drink down here.
Værnedamsvej 10
+45 33 31 70 55
Manfreds & Vin
Small plates. Natural (unpredictable) vin. Cosy.
Jaegersborggade 40
+45 3696 6593
Nose2Tail
Hmm occasionally un homage can be taken a little too far, especially when the design and identity is barely distinguishable from one t’other. So if you are looking for a St Johns fix come here for a good substitute. There is no similarity in the spaces though – the CPH version is far from the bright airy London outpost and much more like a gimp room – it’s in a dark candlelit meatpacking basement unit. Thought I am sure there are people out there for whom this ticks many boxes all at once.
Flæsketorvet 13A
+45 3393 5045
Husmanns Vinstue
This traditional Danish restaurant has been serving marinated herring, fried smoked eel with scrambled eggs and brisket with horseradish since 1888.
Larsbjørnsstræde 2
+4533115886
Schonnemann
Herring, beer and snaps since 1877.
Hauser Plads 16
+45 33 12 07 85
NEW NORDIC
Take your pick. Umpteen restaurants ready to go into the woods on your behalf. All bear good creds. Ranging from expensive to mega-bucks.
Noma
Here is our review:
Noma, ‘best restaurant in the world’, Michelin*** blah blah blah. Food bloggery snap snap clickety click.
Strip all that away, it was exquisite. Not po-faced or overly fussy. Plenty of opportunities to discard the cutlery, play with your food and get stuck in. The chefs clearly have a very long working day rising at dawn to head into the woods to rustle amongst the leaves seeking out those edible shoots. Each chef seems to source, sauce and serve so you get a brief precis of the entire day’s events from the horse’s mouth, which is pretty special. There were all the classics – the radish fertilisery-earth dish, which sounds more like a dirty bomb, the pine-steamed dishes…the reindeer’s favourite moss snack…and check out the fish balls! There were citric ants for dessert (- nothing has never made me want to un-vegetarian myself like that dish. Yeah, they say its always bacon that breaks the camel’s back, well let me tell you, its more likely to be pureed lemony leaf-cuttery formicidae).
So how do you get a table? If or when the system does unlock itself on the monthly Monday 10am booking slot, aim low: go for Monday lunch, not Saturday evening. And the official inside tip is go for the larger tables, not for two. It sure is a few DKK bob but Noma has earned its stripes. Or stars I should say.
Relae
Pegged as a kind of Noma baby. Well on the gastro-tourism map full of Americans and Chinese.
Geranium
More ***s. More DKK.
Per Henrik Lings Allé 4, 8.
+45 69 96 00 20
1th.dk
Big on atmosphere and quality in a genuinely domestic setting. This professional supper club has been going nearly ten years now. Expensive at 1350 DKK pp.
Herluf Trolles Street 9
+45 3393 5770
Kadeau København
An outlet for all things sourced from the outermost dunes of the south coast town of Bornholm: fish, the meats, the eggs, the dairy products, the honey, the flour, the oil, and the beer, wild herbs, berries, and mushrooms. The founders’ ambition is to define a new taste of Bornholm based on the new nordic food dogma.
135 Vesterbrogade
+45 33 25 22 23
Restaurant Radio
Set meals, modern Danish. Yep more ancient grains, forest mushrooms and Danish fruits.
Julius Thomsens Gade 12
+45 2510 2733
Geist
A few years ago we went to chef Bo Pech’s Paustian restaurant, by far the most extraordinary meal I’d got my luck chops round. Plenty of movement around means that Paustian is headed by another, more conventional chef and Bo Pech is now head honcho at Geist. A slicker, pricier affair.
Kongens Nytorv 8
+45 3313 3713
Aoc
Yet another Danish style chi chi mod-Nord (modern Nordic?) restaurant.
Dronningens Tværgade 2
+45 33 11 11 45
Mielcke & Hurtigkarl
Mielcke & Hurtigkarl is located on Frederiksberg by Frederiksberg Garden in The Royal Danish Garden. They don’t have to reach far for some of the best produce in the country. And the garden theme is firmly carried inside with a set of modern botanical murals lining the walls.
Frederiksberg Runddel 1
+45 3834 8436
Formel B
Aamanns
Marv & Ben
TO DO & SEE
Danish Museum of Forestry & Hunting
Now this won’t be for everyone. Hard to get to, sort of en route to the Louisiana. The Danish Museum of Forestry & Hunting. I don’t endorse hunting, Countryside Alliance go stick it. But I do love a Nordic Forest with all your moose. I will never forget this 400 year old stuffed deer, so heavy on the tacks. Rather like those lurchers that you see in medieval paintings – necks cranked up so vertical to emulate a kind of regal deer themselves.
Folehavevej 15 2970 Hørsholm
+45 86 05 72
Gruntvig’s Church
A rare example of expressionist church architecture. The architect Klint merged the modern geometric forms of Brick Expressionism with the classical vertical of Gothic architecture. The most striking feature of the building is its west facade, reminiscent of a church organ.
På Bjerget 14B
+45 35 81 54 42
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
To quote one of Denmark’s exports, Carlsberg: The Louisiana, probably the best gallery in the world and just a 45 minute train crawl up the coast. It does get a little bit ‘sod the art’ on a sunny day. (For what it is worth, my top three art foundations are the Dia in upstate NY and the Maeght in the hills behind Nice.)
Gl. Strandvej 13
3050 Humlebæk
+45 4919 0719
Christiania
The freetown of Christania! Nowhere else quite like it. You may visit with your own agenda but for me, it’s all about the architecture. Imagine a world without any planners – this is it.
If you don’t want to go and poke about yourself you can take an official Christiania tour (!) to really understand this urban community and its history –
www.rundvisergruppen.dk
orders@rundvisergruppen.dk
+45 3257 9670
Madeleine’s Mad Theatre
Sadly I think this must have wrapped up for good now but it’s worth checking the site just in case. Madeleine’s ran for a few years in an old beer depot on Islands Brygge as a kind of free form experimental food theatre serving up various performances with food as the centre of attention. Chef Mette Sia Martinussen and set designer Nikolaj Danielsen collaborated with co-chefs, scientists, musicians and choreographers to concoct unique experiences that were executed with aplomb. It’s worth noting that mad is Danish for food which is rather pertinent in this context..
Kildeskovshallen Pool
This great 60s pool has been renovated. A good spot to practise your pike dives on the high boards.
Adolphsvej 25
+45 39 77 44 00
Carlsberg Glyptoteket
A classic museum housing ancient and modern sculpture from ancient cultures around the Mediterranean. Founded by the son of the Calsberg Brewery founder. So no, it’s not some badly executed sponsorship activity. Few people realise that the sugar brand Tate & Lyle are Britain’s Tate galleries (the oldest trading brand in fact). Half the reason you would actually visit is the café in the winter garden.
Dantes Plads 7
+45 33 41 81 41
Museum of Danish Resistance
Decent museum telling the story of Danish resistance during Nazi occupation 1940-1945.
URBAN BEACHES
After those long winters the Danes don’t waste any time in getting outside and making the most of a plethora of outdoor pools.
Amager Strandvej 110
Ofelia beach by the Danish Playhouse
Kvæsthusmolen
Islands Brygge 35
Kalvebod Brygge 53 Gasværkshavnen
Islands Brygge 7
Ny Carlsbergvej 100
