Höst restaurant

Copenhagen has a thrilling food scene, whether it’s innovative Michelin star Nordic cuisine, tempting street food or classic Danish bites. In fact, there are so many destination restaurants, new openings and cool brunch spots that you might find it hard to tick them all off your wish list.

Here are a few foodie gems that we discovered during our recent first trip to Copenhagen…

Höst

One of the highlights of our trip was a fabulous dinner at the beautiful and atmospheric Höst. This casual fine Nordic dining restaurant offers a three or five course set menu with a number of inventive dishes in-between courses.

On this food journey, we feasted on delicacies from the Danish land and sea, experiencing a diverse range of flavours with a few ‘wow’ moments along the way.

The experience was flawless and struck the right balance between relaxed and ceremonious. Starting from around £40 for a three-course menu, it’s also great value and more accessible than some of Copenhagen’s high end restaurants.

To read the full review, click here.

Mother

Mother, in the hip Kødbyen (Meatpacking district), is a casual, buzzing Italian restaurant that serves up authentic Neapolitan pizzas from a wood-fire oven. This regenerated warehouse complex is filled with cool restaurants and bars such as Fiskebar, Gorilla, Paté Paté and Warpigs, and is the place to be for a weekend night out.

Mother has a casual, lively atmosphere and is a top pick if you’re in the mood for something hearty and rustic at a decent price.

While inspiration comes from Italy, Mother has a bit of Danish flair. Not only are the pizza toppings organic and mostly produced in Copenhagen, but the signature sourdough base is made from natural yeasts and purified seawater to make it easier on the stomach.

In the name of research, we tried two contrasting pizzas – a classic Margherita with plenty of creamy mozzarella, simple crushed tomatoes and a chewy, fluffy and nicely blistered dough, and the more adventurous Burning Love. This inventive pizza bianca, topped with mozzarella, potatoes, fried onions and røget spæk (a bit like lardo) was super-rich, like an Alpine tartiflette crossed with a pizza. I highly recommend sharing a few slices of each, as both are delightful and not to be missed.

Cocks & Cows

The burgers at boutique chain Cocks & Cows are often declared the best in the city and it’s easy to see why. We dined at Cocks & Cows inside the stylish SP34 Hotel on our first night there and wolfed down a Cheese ‘n’ Smoke burger and The New Yorker, accompanied by Salt and vinegar fries.

The medium-cooked, flame-grilled burgers were fantastic and generously-sized and we liked the cosy clubhouse feel of the restaurant. It’s definitely the place to satisfy a serious meat craving or attempt The Governator – a burger packed with double everything!

Torvehallerne

One of my favourite spots in Copenhagen was Torvehallerne, a dazzling food hall in the central Nørreport area. It has everything you could hope to find – gourmet Danish smørrebrød at Hallernes, Asian street food by LêLê Street Kitchen, Grød posh porridge, craft beers at Mikkeller & Friends Bottle shop and Summerbird Chocolate.

On a particularly chilly lunchtime, we warmed up over a bowl of delicious home-made soup at Unplugged Juice and couldn’t resist a Cinnamon chocolate snegl from the magnificent Laura’s Bakery.

There are so many tempting foodie bites to try at Torvehallerne that you might want to bring a big bag and stock up for later.

Copenhagen Street Food

Like most major cities, street food is big news and it’s done particularly well at the purpose-built Copenhagen Street Food. Conveniently located on Paper Island next to Freetown Christiania, this indoor food market is packed full of trucks and kiosks offering gourmet bites from around the world.

You can find typical Danish hot dogs at Pølse Kompagniet, Belgian stews and duck-fat fries at Copper and Wheat, Brazilian grilled meat at Brasa and Korean Bulgogi at Bulko. What’s not to love?

Lagkagehuset & Holm

A trip to Copenhagen wouldn’t be complete without copious amounts of Danish pastries. Lagkagehuset (or Ole & Steen as it’s known in the UK) has a number of stylish bakeries across Copenhagen and is a good option for an affordable bite at any time of the day. We found the pizza slices a hearty and surprisingly indulgent choice for lunch. They should definitely be followed with something sweet like a delicious cinnamon social, chocolate rumball or a double chocolate chip muffin.

Holm Bager, next to the sleek Illum department store, has a very similar offering and does a great carrot and walnut milk bun and a giant cinnamon swirl smothered in vanilla frosting.

Other temples of pastry in Copenhagen include Meyers Bageri, Sankt Peders Bageri and Andersen Bakery – try and sample them all, if you can handle it.

Are you tempted by the Copenhagen food scene? Where are your favourite spots for eating out in Copenhagen?

Photos by Chérie City (interiors by Höst and Mother)

A big highlight of our trip to Copenhagen was dinner at the stylish and atmospheric Höst. While Copenhagen boasts a number of high end Michelin starred restaurants and radical neo-bistros, Höst offers affordable fine Nordic dining in a casual yet inspiring setting.

A part of the Cofoco restaurant group, which also includes Väkst at Hotel SP34 where we enjoyed breakfast, Höst is located in the hip Nansengade quarter and it had a buzzing neighbourhood vibe when we visited on a snowy Monday evening.

The restaurant, which means ‘harvest’ in Danish, offers a seasonal set menu of either three or five course, however, this undersells the experience somewhat as it there are many treats in between the courses that make for quite a substantial meal.

We went for the three course dinner menu and were swiftly presented a magnificent appetiser of Juniper-smoked scallop with walnut, sheep’s milk yoghurt, apples and coriander. Our waitress set alight some of the surrounding ferns inside a sea shell to evoke scents of the wilderness. The dish tasted just as beautiful as it looked. The cured scallop was tender and tangy, and was complemented by a fresh, velvety apple emulsion and a mild, snow-like texture from the yoghurt.

Next up was our starter – Baked cod with Jerusalem artichoke, lumpfish roe and fish fumée, which was ladled over the fish at the table. The baked cod was warm and succulent, lightly dusted in hay ash and topped with a generous amount of lumpfish roe (a mildly-flavoured caviar). The fish fumée finished it off nicely with a smoky flavour and pieces of soft artichoke.

A rustic boule of freshly-baked sourdough was served on a bed of dried grains and was paired with a gloriously light and whipped salted Danish butter. I tried not to disrupt the rhythm of the courses too much by filling up on bread, but Steven got stuck in, as it was just so tasty.

Before moving on to the land, we had one last taste of the sea with Poached octopus with ink and blue mussel soup with pickled pear, dill and cress. This dish, with delicate octopus ribbons, was packed full of sweet and sour flavours and the very creamy soup was plesantly cut through with tart little cubes of pear and plenty of grassy fresh green herbs. It was intriguing and characterful and just the right size to not overwhelm.

For our main course, we were treated to Beef sirloin from Grambogaard with beetroot, onions, cep mushrooms and tarragon. The medium-cooked fillet of beef was surprisingly large and ever so tender, topped with a slow-cooked cep mushroom and onion sauce, a nest of fresh beetroot ribbons and finished with a rich, meaty jus. I loved how the beetroot elevated it from a typically indulgent beef dish to something more vibrant and visually-pleasing.

We were offered a short break before dessert to really savour the experience and then it was on to a very special palate cleanser of Pear sorbet with lemon verbena, salted Skyr yoghurt and sugar beet syrup. Our tastebuds had been lulled into contentment with the main course and this pre-dessert jolted them back into action so abruptly that we both almost jumped out of our seats (in a good way).

The first flavour to hit was the salty, whipped yoghurt, which was swiftly countered with the sticky, sweet beet syrup at the bottom. The pear sorbet was juicy and mellow and the powdered lemon verbena added a fragrant taste.

Our final flourish was a dessert of Birch bark ice cream with herbal chocolate, pear and caramel. It may look a little ‘out there’ but it was very moreish – the ice cream had an earthy flavour and the white chocolate crumble was subtle with just a slight hint of caramel and pear cider purée.

Our meal at Höst was so memorable and impressive and while there are still so many Copenhagen restaurants on my list, I’m tempted to return and see what’s on the menu. It doesn’t require noma or Geranium levels of advance booking, but tables can get snapped up quickly – you don’t want to miss this one!

Photos by Chérie City and Höst

Chérie City

Amazing Places to Eat Out in Copenhagen