The ironic thing about writing a guide to eating and drinking in Copenhagen for a food magazine is that the first time I visited this city I survived exclusively on a diet of 7-Eleven ham and cheese toasties and cans of Tuborg. In fact, within my first two years of visiting the capital of Denmark to see my best friend Erika, who moved there in 2021, I can confidently say I ate more tomato pasta in her bed than smørrebrød or herring. Thankfully, with age (and an increasing budget outside of student financing), we have developed discerning tastes beyond sandwiches with a two-year expiration date. She’s been quietly showing me her favourite places to eat, drink and swim in the city and this guide details many of them.
Copenhagen is a polestar across many fields. It’s one of the reasons why anyone who visits will reel off their favourite places, and rarely are two people’s lists the same. To the outdoor enthusiast, this is one of the few cities in the world that cleaned up its canals and made them swimmable. To the design fetishist, Copenhagen was crowned a Unesco capital of architecture in 2023. Countless inventions have spawned from the minds of this city – the Christiania Bike, insulin, and, of course, LEGO.
This near-barren landscape with hostile winters is home to a renowned restaurant scene
Although the chances are, as a foodism reader, you’re probably not in the city of spires to learn of diabetic breakthroughs but rather to gluttonise. Thankfully, Copenhagen is one of the best places to do this, and what makes its celebrated food and drink offering so remarkable is that it shouldn’t really exist at all. Somehow, a near-barren landscape with hostile winter temperatures and next to no sun for half the year plays home a world-renowned restaurant scene – pinned on the map not just by Noma (pinching first position in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list five times) but with countless, equally impressive offshoots from this too. It’s hundreds of miles from the vineyards of southern Europe and the viennoiserie-generating bakeries of France – yet this city is considered one of the best places on the planet to drink natural wine and has a burgeoning bakery scene whose influence stretches far beyond Scandinavia.
While I am confident you’ll be as blown away by the tahini-laden fatteh at Alis Bageri as you will the cardamom buns of Juno the Bakery, there is one fact about a visit to Copenhagen that I know to be certain. And that, my friend, is that you will always get the exchange rate wrong.
Eat
Fasangården
Søndre Fasanvej 73, 2000
The patio at Fasangården
A traditional Danish meal at Fasangården
Veiled behind the foliage of Frederiksberg Gardens, Fasangården is a traditional Danish restaurant housed in an 18th-century house originally built to breed pheasants for the royal hunts under Christian the 5th. The house, which could easily double as the grandiose hunting lodge from The Hunt, regrettably doesn’t have Mads Mikkelsen on the menu – however, it does serve up a delightful three-course set menu showcasing the best produce from Scandinavia. We’re talking cold-smoked salmon from the Faroe Islands, crispy rye with elderflower crushed peas and rødgrød – Denmark's famous summer berry pud that’s hard to pronounce and even harder to resist.
Juno the Bakery
Århusgade 48, 2100
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You could quickly lose an entire morning agonising over where to find the best buns in Copenhagen, so this recommendation will save you from lengthy deliberation and an untamable hanger. Opened by Emil Glaser, a Swede and ex-Noma pastry chef, Juno specialises in Glaser's favourite bun from his homeland – the kardemomme snurre, or cardamom buns. They’re constantly churned out of Juno's ovens throughout the day, so you don’t need to worry about waking up at the crack of dawn to, ahem, get that bread.
Øens Have
Refshalevej 159b, 1432
Øens Have's yurt and garden at night
Cooking over fire at Øens Have
If there’s one thing you can be sure of, is that dinner at Northern Europe’s largest urban farm, Øens Have, is a Vitamin C-rich affair. The site’s soils and mushroom substrates bloom a glut of fruit, vegetables and fungi, cheffed up in the kitchen from April to October. If the food and copious selection of natural wine weren’t enough to lure you in, the scenery certainly will. Øens is housed in a light-flooded yurt set among the fields of crops with a partially outdoor kitchen and chicken coops. Visit on Sundays and capitalise on a reduced-price menu (made to tackle food waste) served at a long table, family-style.
Alis Bageri
Nørrebrogade 211, 2200
There comes a time upon your visit to Copenhagen when you reach maximum smørrebrød capacity – and in that moment, it's time to set your coordinates to Alis Bageri. This canteen-style spot wrapped around a street corner in Nørrebro is the go-to for soothing your Levantine longings. Load up on trays piled with maneesh, shakshuka, falafel and fatteh, ensuring to sweep up every smudge of hummus with their legendary homemade flatbreads that they supply to restaurants all over the city.
Popl
Strandgade 108, 1401
The exterior of Popl
Mellanie Gandø
Not many things that came out of the pandemic were positive, but the arrival of the Noma burger to Copenhagen was one of them. Despite being a wholly different offering from its three-Michelin-starred sibling, Popl’s burgers are simple and snaffable, best enjoyed by the canal side in Christianshavn. Squidgy brioche buns, thin beef patties, melted cheese slices and shatteringly crisp chips – the Noma burger isn’t rewriting the rulebook, but when did anyone ever want an experimental sandwich anyway?
Drink
Fermentoren
Halmtorvet 29C, 1700
A far cry from your Madri and Peroni on tap haunts at home, Fermentoren is a dark, candlelit watering hole that specialises in craft beer – with 29 different tipples to choose from. Whether you’re into amber lager, sour beer or bitter Belgian blondes (the beer, not the ex-lover), Fermentoren probably has it on tap. Plus, order a bag of crisps with your beer, and you’ll receive a whisker basket piled with enough fried potatoes to feed a small army.
Bird
Gl. Kongevej 102, 1850
The record selection at Bird
At Bird, they say they make cocktails using the ‘grandma methods’, which is somewhat ironic considering this bar is the go-to for the young, hip and painfully cool of Copenhagen. For Bird, grandma methods mean eschewing centrifuges, sous-vide machines and other gizmos in favour of more traditional processes of infusion. In fact, you won’t find cocktail shakers, metal spoons, or blenders at Bird in order to create the optimum acoustic environment, as this is a vinyl-spinning listening bar. With highballs on par with the bespoke hi-fi system, you can choose between high-proof, low-proof, and classic drinks that often have unexpected flavour combinations (see pear, pistachio, and pisco) but always hit the mark. Bird is a near-perfect, unpretentious local with a flawless cocktail offering.
Bar Vivant
Elmegade 4, 2200
Natural wine, or naturvin as it’s known in Denmark, is as ubiquitous in Copenhagen as hot dog stalls. While ample spots exist to get your hit of soured sediment, Vivant wine bar is a convivial, no-reservation hidey-hole run by two friendly Norwegians. Located in a nook of Nørrebro, Vivant locks in chilled reds and Gordal olives that won’t break the bank.
Do
Bottle shopping in Vintro
Got a check-in bag with kilos to burn? Head to Vintro and edge as close to that 23kg limit as possible with copious bottles of natural wine and vermouth. The wine import company located in Nørrebro distributes 60 small, independent producers from across Europe to various restaurants in the city (including Øens Have listed here). It’s co-owned by Simon and Marius – a French and Danish duo with a shared love for fermented grapes, who are more than helpful at guiding you to your dream bottle.
Go Boat
Touring Copenhagen's canals via GoBoat
Touring Copenhagen's canals via GoBoat
If you want to be the captain of your own city tour, then helm an electric-powered GoBoat and discover the city of Copenhagen via its waterways. Tours are self-guided, and you can haul a picnic basket aboard laden with beer and wine. We’re under good authority booze improves your internal compass – right?
Rental starting from £29 for one hour; goboat.dk
Swim in the canals
Swimming in Copehagen's canals during the summer months
Daniel Rasmussen
Take a dip in the Thames, and you may never see your loved ones again, but a paddle in Copenhagen’s canal promises to be anything but unpleasant. Believe it or not, Copenhagen’s harbour was once a polluted concoction of sewage, industrial waste and oil spills, but a massive project in the early 1990s to modernise its sewage system, reroute wastewater and expand wastewater treatment plants has made swimming in these canals a possibility. Copenhagen’s winter bathing clubs have doubled their membership numbers since 2015, and in 2021, the city opened its first public saunas. Essentially, there’s no wrong time of the year to take the plunge.
Stay
Hotel Coco
Vesterbrogade 41, 1620
Coco ticks all the boxes for a perfect city break hotel. Downy bedding. Tick. Bike rental. Tick. Central location. Tick. Breakfast buffet supplied with cinnamon buns. Tick. Danish restaurant chain Cofoco owns this Scandi-meets-Parisian style boutique hotel in Vesterbro, so actually, there’s plenty more to consume beyond buns. Aside from Delphine, across the road from the hotel, which serves breakfast and dinner, there’s a laid-back bar/cafe with a courtyard in the hotel that churns out baguettes and coffee in the morning and cocktails and charcuterie in the evening. There’s also a ping pong room, a daily glass of free tipple during ‘wine hour’, and most importantly, two single duvets on the double beds – making the chances of filing for divorce on holiday considerably lower.
Rooms from £123 per night; coco-hotel.com
