Where to eat in Copenhagen (2024 update)
Published in
6 min readApr 15, 2024
Copenhagen is an incredible food city — from three star meals to hot dog stands, there is something for everyone. I booked my recent trip to eat at Noma one more time before it closes, and I was thrilled to also get a chance to dine at Alchemist. In addition, we enjoyed delicious meals at Marv & Ben, Baest, Silbauers, and Doomsday Deli. The only meal we weren’t thrilled about was a lunch at Selma’s. Reviews of each meal are below.
In addition, our activity each day was to try bakeries and cafes in search of the city’s best pastries. My ranking of bakeries is summarized here. You can also read my trip report from 2021 here.
Nice Restaurants
- Silberbauers — Excellent French bistro — Honestly, I liked this bistro better than any of the bistros in France. In fact, it was my second favorite restaurant of the whole trip. I would come here every week if this restaurant existed in San Francisco. It has a warm, friendly atmosphere and the food is made with fresh high-quality ingredients and perfectly prepared. We particularly enjoyed the ricotta with peas and mint, sole that was expertly deboned table-side by our server, and the crisp lemon tart. Reservations are required (it was packed!).
- Marv & Ben — Enjoyable tasting menu — This restaurant was the surprise hit of our Copenhagen itinerary. It has a set menu, but it is only four or five courses and not too fancy. The food was just inventive enough to be both interesting and comforting. Also, we loved that you could order any wine under €100 on the menu by the glass. Highly recommend!
Casual Restaurants
- Baest — high quality pizza — After so many big meals, this pizza place really hit the spot. I recommend starting with a spritz and some charcuterie and then ordering a big salad and a pizza. Baest offers high-quality food without being fancy and is an easy place to like.
- Doomsday Deli — tasty (and messy) sandwiches — these sandwiches were hard to eat without silverware, but they were worth the effort. We tried an excellent eggplant sandwich plus the Reuben and the chicken schnitzel sandwich. I would recommend all of them, and I would also be excited to try the rest of their menu.
- Selma — inventive open faced sandwiches — I wanted to try smørrebrød at some point during our Copenhagen visit, and Selma seemed like a great option. We got off to an awkward start because they tried to seat us in their basement. Luckily we were able to sit upstairs. While we liked all of the sandwiches we ordered, none of them were amazing (although our favorite was a simple cheese and honey version). I think they were trying a bit too hard to be inventive, and we would have been better off going somewhere more classic.
World-class restaurants
- Noma — Classic innovator — I’m a Noma groupie. This was my fifth time dining at Noma (3x in Copenhagen, 2x at pop-ups). I love their incredible ingredients, warm service, and humble innovation. The restaurant is stunning and somehow manages to find the balance between a dramatic space that feels worthy of a destination meal and a comfortable environment where you feel at home. I will follow Noma whenever they go next. That said, this was not my favorite Noma meal. It started strong with a delicious langoustine, rich uni in hazelnut creme, and raw squid with grilled koji. But the middle courses were a bit underwhelming (cod roe waffle, scallop, cod throat and jaw) or just a little too unusual for me (cod tongue and eyeball were not my cup of tea). Luckily our dinner ended on a high note with excellent desserts including ice cream made to look like an oyster and a buttery croissant-like pastry called a snobrød. I’m very glad that we went, but I’m also in agreement that Noma is ready for a shakeup.
- Alchemist — Insane restaurant — Parts of this experience were gimmicky, some courses seem weird just for the sake of being weird, and we were exhausted by the time we left our 5.5 hour meal — but it was also VERY fun, entertaining, and memorable. Also, as we reviewed all of the courses the next day, we were surprised by how many of the 29 courses we found delicious and would be excited to eat again. I can’t list all the courses here, but my favorites were a cotton candy dumpling with shiso leaves, a perfect omelet, a picture of Frida made out of sunchoke puree, and a savory chicken meatball served on a real chicken foot. The courses that I’d pass on included the lamb brain macron, a dessert made with blood, and the chicken foot with toenails still on it. You enter into a small room where a dancer gives you a small wafer to eat. I think this rather uninteresting first bite and strange welcome performance should be revamped, but the experience improves after that. You exit into a stunning cocktail room with long modern light fixtures hanging from a multistory high ceiling that looks onto a stunning test kitchen. You have your first five bites in this room and a welcome drink. I would have happily stayed in that room all night, except I knew the next room was the main event. The dining room is under a big domed screen that plays media related to the dinner. At times there were distracting visuals like a throbbing heart and at other times it looks like you’re outdoors in a peaceful forest. The restaurant is all counter seating, and my main recommendation if you go with a group of four is to request a corner so you can sit 2–2 and all hear each other. We were initially seated in a 1–3 configuration which made conversation difficult and awkward. Even though dinner is long, we didn’t start to feel antsy until the last 30–45 minutes in the dining room. After the dining room was a quick stop in a ball pit (yes, you read that right!) and then a new room for after dinner drinks and a few final sweet bites — including a spicy ginger treat we all loved. Our big topic of discussion was how soon we’d be ready to come back — we all agreed we’d want to return, but we’d need at least a year (maybe two or three) before we’d be ready for round two. I certainly hope there will be a round 2!
