Grød
I can’t go to Copenhagen without at least one breakfast at Grød, the world’s first porridge bar on the Jægersborggade, in the Nørrebro-district of Copenhagen. I love their porridge so much, I even order it from time to time to be delivered to Belgium. Since we were about to head to Hamburg, a filling, healthy brunch at Grød was a perfect way to leave the city!
Rudo
When we were at Bæst, we noticed there was a bar upstairs but we didn’t really pay much attention to it. But then we ate at Relæ and were given two tokens for vermouth at Rudo. Then all the dots connected and we realized Christian Puglisi recently opened a vermouth bar! So of course we had to go with our tokens – we love vermouth after trying so many in Barcelona!
We headed over after dinner at Manfred’s and enjoyed a relaxing evening trying everything. The drinks sounded delicious, so of course we needed to try the cocktails and then the Rudo Experience (just one so we could split them 🙂 ). Really cozy and intimate!
Manfreds
Our very first time in Copenhagen, we celebrated my 29th birthday with dinner at Manfreds! It was such a delicious, impressionable meal. We realized just how delicius sourdough bread can be and tried naturally fermented wines for the first time! Koen and I left very inspired and experimented a lot once back in Antwerp with our cooking. So of course we came back this trip! The food is very reasonably priced and creative (plus local and organic), so definitely worth visiting – especially if you can’t get a table at Relæ.
Hija de Sanchez
Copenhagen is filled with so many great, interesting restaurants and many of the chefs got their start at Noma, consistently the top restaurant in the world over the last decade. One of the chefs is Hija de Sanchez who owns and operates 2 taquerias in Copenhagen. I read a bit about her (and saw her on Somebody Feed Phil!) and her passion to bring Mexican cuisine to Europe and was excited to try her tacos!
The restaurant is very small with a limited menu, which changes daily. With only 3 to choose from, we wanted to try all of them and took the #2 menu, which included all three plus rice and beans. I had expected to like the fried chicken the most, but was surprised to have liked the cabbage taco the most! Super delicious and such a great price point. To finish, I couldn’t resist ordering the avocado popsicle!
Mikkeller Bar
When we were in Copenhagen a few years ago we discovered Mikkeller beer and visited the bar in Vesterbro. So many delicious, innovative flavors to choose from! Once back in Belgium we noticed a lot of Belgian-Mikkeller collaborations, so revisiting the Mikkeller Bar was a must for us this trip!
Relæ
For our second restaurant of Christian Puglisi, we had lunch at his highest acclaimed restaurant, Relæ, currently (2019) ranked #56 on the list of best restaurants in the world. Relæ is also the first Michelin restaurant to be 100% organic – so the food is not only good for your tastebuds, but for the world as well!
Always happy with a good cup of coffee in my hands!
One of our favorite places for coffee in Copenhagen is at Coffee Collective on the Jægersborggade. Since our last visit the relocated from one end of the street to the other and are now in a much bigger location. I love how in Copenhagen all of the businesses seemed aimed toward sustainability, like using organic, local, seasonal, and fair trade products and practices. Coffee Collective is not an exception. Of course we bought a few bags of beans to take back with us to Stockholm.
From their website:
Creating the best coffee experiences in the world while helping farmers achieve more value is what drives us. We roast daily and focus on sustainability from seed to cup.
Bæst
One of the chefs in Copenhagen that we really like is Christian Puglisi, a Sicilian-born chef who moved to Denmark in the ’90s. Before this trip we had only dined at Manfred’s and it was the highlight of the visit. So this time we decided to try as many as possible…beginning with Bæst!
A few highlights from the Bæst website with their food philosophy:
A place where the best Danish, local, sustainable and organic produce is combined with Italian craftsmanship to create a unique dining experience. Made by hand and eaten by hand!
Instead of importing mozzarella, we make it ourselves with the best raw milk – from our 16 cows grazing at Farm of Ideas, just 50 km from the restaurant – and stretch it by hand several times a day.
A restaurant where pizza is made of local flour, gently fermented, then baked at blasting 500°C in a wood-fired, custom made oven, built for us in Naples.
Inside Plant Power Food
We’re moving to Stockholm!!! But it’s going to be a long process… After a lot of researching and planning we decided on driving to Stockholm with our essentials, then driving back to Antwerp, then flying back to Stockholm. A lot, I know – especially considering I accidentally let my driver’s license expire, so Koen will be doing the 18 hour drive twice while I keep him awake and happy 🙂
On the way to Stockholm means a car full of valuables, so we took two days, only overnighting in Copenhagen. So that means we woke up early drove through Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany, then drove onto a ferry and took the boat to Denmark, then the final two hour drive to Copenhagen. We arrived late and needed a good night’s rest. But before the final leg to Stockholm, we indulged in a delicious plant-based brunch at Plant Power Food in Nørrebro (Northern neighborhood in Copenhagen).
An American in Antwerp 