Warning. Lots and lots of food porn. Continue at your own risk.

When I love the food in a country, I typically love the country. So you can imagine why I fell head over heals over Copenhagen. The food presentation is beautiful. The ingredients are fresh and healthy and light and the diet is seafood heavy (yum). It didn’t help that I happened to go on this trip with a food blogger and the biggest food lover I’ve ever met. We literally spent the whole trip eating.

Noma

I have to start here because this was a bucket list item for me since 2011 when I first saw it on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s show where he met with the head chef Rene Redzepi who took him through his process of foraging through forests, fields, and beaches to discover new and diverse ingredients.

Year after year I saw this restaurant get voted top restaurant in the world. So it was fair to say I had some seriously high expectations. This is probably one of the few times I will spend this much money on a meal.

Reservations open online for about 20 minutes once every three months. In that time, the restaurant gets fully booked for the whole three month period. The process requires a little bit of skill and a little bit of luck. Thankfully, I was with someone who had been three times and knew it inside out.

It was the perfect restaurant experience for me. The place is casual chic and makes you feel increadibly comfortable which is a nice change from stuffy pretentious restaurants at this price range. They pair you with the waiter that is most likely to speak your language and relate to your culture. The waiters are also chefs so they are extremely fun to chat with and increadibly knowledgeable. The food presentation is basically a work of art – you almost feel bad eating it. You could almost mock the ingredients if it wasn’t all so brilliant. It was a little heavy on “flowers” as you can see from the pics, but flavor is never lacking and the preparation often innovative. The meal overall is light but there are enough courses to fill you up. I often got asked if this was the tastiest meal I’ve ever had. No, it wasn’t, but I don’t think that’s the point here. The point is innovation and discovery and I would go again in a heartbeat. Will it be worth it for you? No idea.

Price per person without wine or juice pairing: $370

Price per person with wine or Juice pairing: $520

Courses: 15. Here are pics of a few of them.

Radish Pie

Flatbread and ant paste, quail egg, black current berry

Grilled baby cucumber, ants, herbs and cream

Lobster with shallots in lavender and rose oil

Crisp of wild roses and Danish peas

Charred greens and scallop paste. My favorite dish, surprisingly. There’s a reason for the steak knife, these tasted like beef.

Grilled rose and elderflower ice cream

Moss cooked in chocolate

Juice pairing

108

Co-owned by the Noma chef, this is the place I highly recommend to someone looking for Danish fine dining without the headaches of getting a reservation months in advance. It’s about a third or more less than the price of Noma, but it’s less experimental. The food is beautifully presented and delicious.

Oxtail

Mackarel

Grilled courgette

Lavender ice cream and berries

Barley ice cream in sourdough cone

Manfreds

The best beef tartare ever. Guaranteed. I don’t even like beef tartare 😂 The place is cozy and hipsterish. Once you’re done eating the area is a great place for a walk and a coffee and a Danish pastry maybe.

Don’t judge it by the way it looks

Aamans

You must try the open sandwiches in Denmark. Don’t they look so appetizing!? They are perfectly balanced in flavor and nutrition. This was my favorite of the two places I tried.

Sandwich heaven

Jægersborggade

The pastries in Denmark are famous so I don’t need to go on about them. This was my favorite place during my short trip. If this is too far, you can check out Myers Bageri which is all over the city.

Kødbyens Fiskebar

Awesome awesome mussels. Finish up and continue eating at the nearby street food market!

Meat packing district street food
Not only does the food look and taste  very appetizing at this market, it’s one of the most international I’ve seen (Ugandan!?). Do go here if you happen to be around the area on a Sunday.

Did I miss anything? Please let me know! I will be back here again.