Paris is a long way from New York for a three-day fashion week trip, so I’ve gotten in the habit of tacking on a short jaunt to a nearby city for a little adventure. I’ve done Berlin, Amsterdam, and Venice in the past few years. After last month’s couture collections, I opted for Copenhagen. René Redzepi’s Noma restaurant has made the Danish capital a must-visit city for foodies like me. Sadly, I never received the coveted call that my “waitlist” request for a reservation there would become reality, but I’m happy to say I discovered plenty of other special restaurants.
Just in time for Copenhagen fashion week, which kicks off on August 5, I’ve put together a list of the best meals from my recent trip. As they say in Denmark, “Skoal!”
Marchal
My last appointment in Paris was at 3 p.m., so I was able to get a 6 p.m. flight from Charles de Gaulle to Copenhagen. The plane was a bit delayed, so I didn’t land until nearly 9 p.m. Not in the frame of mind to start my tourism in the dark, after checking in at the Hotel d’Angleterre, I opted to have dinner at its well-regarded restaurant, Marchal. I sat at the bar and picked the perfect late-night meal: five oysters on the half-shell; a three-caviar tasting, each of which was served on mother-of-pearl spoons with blinis; and an amazing lobster bisque soup.
Andersen Bakery
I love breakfast pastries. Cornetti in Milan, a croissant in Paris, a bagel in New York. Now that I was in Denmark, I went in search of an amazing Danish. There were many choices, but I settled on a bakery opened in the early 1960s by a Japanese chef who fell in love with Copenhagen and never left. My pastries were good (one cheese, the other raspberry), but the atmosphere left something to be desired. If you make a stop there, get your breakfast treats to go.
Almanak
The open-face sandwich is the ubiquitous Danish lunch of choice. At Almanak in The Standard Hotel, I picked the daily special that allowed me to select two. When the smørrebrød arrived, they were so beautiful I almost didn’t want to eat them. A glass of rosé, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Geist
As I only had two full nights in town, my dinner choices were paramount. A month before my trip, I had already picked where I would go. First up was Geist. It’s always a good sign when I can’t decide what to order from the many things on a menu that sound intriguing. My waiter had to help me choose the three dishes I would eventually order out of the six I had it narrowed down to. The first course was a tartare of Norway lobster with yuzu and hibiscus. Next, green peas with scallops and horseradish, and finally, crispy artichokes with suckling pig and black truffles. For dessert, if you can believe there was room, I had an odd but interesting salted wasabi cream toffee. My waiter hugged me when I finally rolled off my barstool.
Manfreds & Vin
My friends Enzo and Fabio flew into town from Berlin for the day. They left all the restaurant choices up to me. For lunch I went with Manfreds & Vin, the sister restaurant of chef-owner Christian Puglisi’s Relæ, which was recently named to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List S. Pellegrino. If you go, order the charred onions with cheese and gooseberries, chicken liver mousse with grilled bread, roasted cauliflower, and meatballs with cabbage.
The Coffee Collective
Jægersborggade Street is a small enclave of shops, all of which seem to specialize in a unique product. After lunch we ambled along, stopping for coffee at The Coffee Collective. There’s a roaster smack in the middle of the shop, so you can imagine they are very serious about their beans.
Ro Chokolade
Further down Jægersborggade Street was Ro Chokolade. We found the loveliest, most delicate chocolates; each piece was a little jewel. Enzo’s birthday was in a few days, and I know he loves dark chocolate. He picked a few as a birthday treat.
Karamelleriet
I saw a gentleman in the window of this little shop, churning out tiny balls of caramel from a vintage machine. It’s one of my favorite candies, so I couldn’t resist stopping in. I asked if he could give me a bag of the caramels that he’d just finished making. He dusted them with confectioner’s sugar. They were heaven.
Amass
Amass was the first reservation I made. An American chef coming off stints at The French Laundry and Per Se, Matthew Orlando worked for René Redzepi at Noma before he opened his own place in 2013. From the first bite of the nine-dish “extended menu,” a single layer of grilled onion filled with chicken liver and rose hips, I was in love. The restaurant has an extensive garden and works with a variety of local purveyors to ensure the finest seasonal ingredients, but it all comes down to the creativity and talent of the kitchen. Another amazing dish was poached monkfish, roasted chicken skin, beach herbs, and garden greens. About halfway through the dinner, a few chefs went out to the garden and lit two enormous bonfires. It was enchanting. Dessert was served by Orlando himself and consisted of “milk, dried rhubarb jam, spicy oregano, and black pepper.” I’d number the meal among my top 10 dinners of all time.
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
A girl can’t eat all day long. I digress from my food tour to mention the esteemed Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. A close friend of mine, who is an art advisor, said she’d un-friend me if I was in Copenhagen and didn’t go. So I went. What stunning grounds. A sprawling mid-century building sits atop a cliff overlooking the sound with Sweden visible in the distance. The art was beautiful, too: Giacometti, Bacon, Thomas Struth. It was well worth the train ride north of city.
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