If you had asked me a month ago what makes Denmark so great, the last thing I would’ve said would be the food. When I think of Scandinavian cuisine, I immediately picture lots of fermented/pickled fish or something you could get from an Ikea cafeteria. So needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find AMAZING food in Copenhagen! The food scene there has been gaining more and more attention over the last several years, with Copenhagen being home to several Michelin-starred restaurants and what is considered to be the best restaurant in the world, Noma. While we didn’t partake in the some of the nicer eateries, we were able to find great food all around the city:

Smørrebrød

Smørrebrød: Don’t ask me how to pronounce it, but Smørrebrød are open-faced sandwiches that are quintessentially Danish. They’re made with Danish rye bread and are usually topped with some sort of seafood or egg salad, and can be found almost everywhere in Copenhagen. We went to Torvehallerne, an upscale food market (and one of the best I’ve ever been to) to try them, and we weren’t disappointed. I had a less-traditional Smørrebrød with roast beef, pickled veggies, grated horseradish, and fried onions, while my friend had one with breaded white fish and a shrimp topping.

flødeboller

Pastries: They’re not called danishes for nothing! Still at Torvehallerne, we stopped at a bakery for some dessert. Denmark is famous for cinnamon buns, or Kanelsnegle, so of course we had to get one of those—and it was out of this world! I also got something called a flødeboller, which when I translated the name on my phone it came up as ‘cream puff’. I was expecting the typical choux pastry with cream in the middle, but it turned out it was just marshmallow fluff covered in chocolate–still teeth-rottingly sweet and delicious though!

Carlsberg

Carlsberg: Copenhagen is home to Carlsberg beer, a brand that you can find in probably every bar in Denmark. They have a “Carlsberg Exbeerience” visitor’s center at their original factory that includes tours of the factory, the largest collection of beer bottles in the world, 20 Jutland horses, and of course, a bar. Admission includes two free drinks, so we tried the original Carlsberg and the Carlsberg Special Brew. I’m generally not a beer person, but Carlsberg is my new go to–though I’m not sure how common it is in the US.

Cheesecake

Cheesecake: One of our walking tour guides told us that we would be crazy not to try the cheesecake at Bertel’s Salon, so of course we couldn’t pass it up! We got there about an hour before closing, they only had a few flavors left, and it was expensive (a whole cheesecake goes for 450dkk, or about $70!)–but it was the best cheesecake I’ve ever had in my entire life. Hands down, no contest. I had the cherry, and it was the perfect mix of tart and sweet, and the cake itself was rich without being too dense. It was my heaven.

Othellokage

Hot chocolate and more cake: Yet another cake place we couldn’t not go to. Conditori La Glace is the oldest confectionery in Denmark, and the interior is the same as it would’ve been back in the 1870’s when it first opened (so basically adorable in every way). It also has one of the best hot chocolates in the world (according to the internet), so we were there. We got the hot chocolate which was delicious and intensely rich, and it came with its own little silver dish of whipped cream. They offered free seconds, but I literally couldn’t move afterwards so I wasn’t up for it.  We also had two of their famous cakes–the sportskage, which was crushed nougat and whipped cream with a macaroon bottom and caramelized choux pastry, and the othellokage, with custard cream and chocolate ganache. Both were to die for, and the atmosphere of the cafe made it even better.

Brunch at Paludan

#Danesknowbrunch: The morning after we arrived, we went for brunch at Paludan Bogcafe, a bookstore/cafe/bar recommended to us by a friend who was in Copenhagen a few weeks earlier. We each got the Paludan’s Brunch, and it was mind blowing. It included scrambled eggs with sun dried tomatoes, bacon, sausage, prosciutto and melon, smoked salmon, a pancake, danish brown bread with butter, two cheeses, and homemade berry jam, mixed fruit, Greek yogurt with berries, syrup and muesli, and a choice of a smoothie or fresh-squeezed orange juice. I didn’t even know where to start but everything on the plate was delicious!

That’s all for Copenhagen!

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark