The 16 best restaurants in Copenhagen
It’s no secret that for some years now, Copenhagen has had one of the most exciting food scenes in Europe, if not the world.
Much of the credit for that undoubtedly goes to noma, which helped revolutionise the city’s once lacklustre dining landscape when it first opened in 2003, capturing global gastronomic attention with its New Nordic focus on seasonality, sustainability and hyper-locality. Noma itself may be closing in its current form at the end of 2024, to focus on new projects, travels and ideas, but the good news is that the city’s culinary credentials remain as strong as ever. There’s a real buzz around the whole restaurant scene here, with a seemingly never-ending stream of interesting new places popping up, covering an increasingly cosmopolitan range of cuisines.
There’s something for every price point, too. If the budget’s tight, you can fill up at a wide variety of great street food stalls or take advantage of the recent baking boom and work your way round the excellent artisanal bakeries that have sprung up over the past few years. If money’s no object, there’s no shortage of fine dining places to choose from, serving food that ranges from classic French cuisine to experimental Nordic – the 2023 Michelin guide awarded 24 stars across 14 restaurants and gave Bib Gourmands to a dozen more.
Ready to explore the Copenhagen food scene for yourself? Telegraph Travel expert Suzanne King shares some of the best places to eat in the city. For further Copenhagen inspiration, see our guides to the city's best hotels, shopping, nightlife and things to do.
Find a restaurant by area
City centre
Restaurant Kronborg
Smørrebrød is a Danish classic and everyone you ask will have their own view on where to find the best version of these artfully constructed open sandwiches. You can’t go far wrong, though, if you opt for this well-respected, traditional, place tucked away on a side street off Strøget. Expect a few dozen topping options to choose from, including multiple takes on herring. If in doubt, make sure at least one of the dishes you order is the pan-fried fillet of plaice for perfectly cooked fish served with remoulade and lemon.
Contact: restaurantkronborg.dk
Prices: ££
Reservations: Recommended
Admiralgade 26
A few years ago, the team behind excellent wine bar Ved Stranden 10 opened this restaurant just round the corner. Inside the high-ceilinged, big-windowed room, the look is simple but not stark, with mostly white walls, and mismatched wooden furniture. The menu takes influences from Asia and the Mediterranean as well as Denmark, so the a la carte lunch options might include curry or a croque as well as fresh fish and oysters. At lunch you can also choose between a two- or four-course set menu, with the kitchen deciding on the dishes, while the evening offering includes a five-course vegetarian menu with the option to add seafood extras. On Saturdays they also serve Chushoku (a Japanese breakfast tray) at lunchtime.
Contact: admiralgade26.dk
Prices: ££
Reservations: Recommended
Lille Petra
There’s a satisfyingly secret feel to this lovely little cafe, hidden away through an arched doorway opposite Kongens Have. Its pretty cobbled courtyard, filled with plants, is particularly appealing but there’s also a very chic indoors space - Lille Petra is owned by Danish design company &Tradition and stylishly furnished with the brand’s own furniture and lighting, in tastefully muted shades. The short menu of breakfast and lunch dishes includes the likes of chia porridge, savoury waffle, burrata, and skyr with berries, or you could just drop in for a coffee and freshly baked cookie.
Contact: andtradition.com
Prices: ££
Reservations: not essential but recommended, especially at weekends.
The Pescatarian
The owners of Marv & Ben (a city-centre restaurant with a Michelin Bib Gourmand) are also behind this newer venture, opened in 2019 in an elegant 18th-century mansion near Kastellet, which also comes with a Michelin recommendation. As the name suggests, fresh seafood plays a starring role but they’re nothing if not flexible: all courses can be made either entirely vegetarian or, with a bit of notice, 100 per cent vegan. You could also just pop in to the oyster bar for some snacks and a glass of wine.
Contact: thepescatarian.dk
Prices: ££
Reservations: Recommended
La Glace
This old-school patisserie – a Copenhagen institution – has been pulling in sweet-toothed punters since the late 1800s and is still so popular there are days when the queues stretch back on to the street. Once you’ve secured a coveted table in one of its cosy rooms, gleaming with retro mahogany and brass, waitresses in green pinafore aprons swiftly serve up layer cakes, homemade ice creams and the most decadently rich hot chocolate. On the mezzanine floor, you can buy takeaway goodies, such as the marzipan pigs that are a Danish Christmas tradition.
Contact: laglace.dk
Prices: £
Reservations: Walk-ins only
ARK
Until relatively recently, it was hard enough being vegetarian in Copenhagen, let alone vegan. Now The Ark Collection is impressing even keen carnivores with the quality of its purely plant-based menus. This is the group’s flagship restaurant, with a green Michelin star to its name and an inspired way with mushrooms, always a highlight of the tasting menu. They’re committed to sustainability and a zero-waste philosophy – spent wine, tea and coffee grounds, for example, are transformed into homemade vermouths and liqueurs while leftover vegetable pulp is reborn as powdered seasoning. Ark’s more casual siblings are worth checking out, too: Bistro Lupo in Østerbro and Beyla in Carlsberg Byen.
Contact: restaurantark.dk
Prices: ££
Reservations: Recommended
Christianshavn
POPL
This burger bar offshoot of noma was born during lockdown in summer 2020, originally launching as a short-lived but hugely popular pop-up in the restaurant garden before being given its own permanent home in Christianshavn, just across the harbour from Nyhavn. Noma burgers may be a tad pricier than the burger norm but then they’re not your average fast food. The beef comes from organic farms on Denmark’s west coast and preparing the vegan option involves a two-day process in the noma fermentation lab, transforming steamed quinoa into umami-flavoured patties.
Contact: poplburger.com
Prices: ££
Reservations: recommended, especially at weekends, but they save a few tables for walk-ins. Take-away is also available.
Alchemist
Book a table at Alchemist (assuming you can beat the thousands-strong waiting list) and you’re not in for a simple meal out but for a full-on, immersive, theatrical experience. Everything about chef Rasmus Munk’s deliberately provocative restaurant (ranked fifth in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 list and holder of two Michelin stars) is designed to provide food for thought, with weird and wonderful dishes that highlight global issues and inequalities at the same time as teasing tastebuds. Expect the unexpected, from the endlessly inventive food to the surreal surroundings, and don’t even think about the cost – you know that eating in one of the world’s most talked-about restaurants isn’t going to come cheap.
Contact: alchemist.dk
Prices: £££
Reservations: essential – and hard to come by.
Vesterbro
Absalon
The Danish concept of fællesspisning (communal dining) is a great way to eat out if you’re on a budget or want to meet other people, and Absalon is the perfect place to give it a go. This welcoming old church turned community centre serves dinner at 6pm each evening, with everyone eating the same meal and dishing it up themselves at shared tables. The food changes daily (you can check out the week’s menus online) but there’s always a vegetarian option and the price is a bargain DKK 60/£7 from Sundays to Wednesdays or DKK 100/£11.50 from Thursdays to Saturdays, when you get two courses. Afterwards, people are welcome to hang out, chat and join in whatever activities are going on.
Contact: absaloncph.dk
Prices: £
Reservations: It’s a good idea to book in advance online but they also sell tickets on the door from 5pm; turn up early to join the queue.
Sanchez
Since leaving her pastry chef job at noma several years back, Rosio Sanchez has been introducing Copenhagen diners to the delights of top-notch tacos, with her Hija de Sanchez taquerias in Torvehallerne, Kødbyen, Nordhavn and, most recently, Broens Gadekøkken. If you fancy relaxing over a full restaurant meal, though, head for this Vesterbro venue, which opened in November 2017. The interiors are classically Nordic but the menu is all Mexican, ranging from huevos rancheros to traditional pork stew. 'It’s so amazing,' tweeted former boss René Redzepi, 'Just go.'
Contact: lovesanchez.com
Prices: ££
Reservations: Recommended and can only be done online
Carlsberg Byen
Studio
As the new neighbourhood of Carlsberg Byen nears completion, it’s fast filling up with interesting places to eat and drink. One of the best is this modern Nordic restaurant, where chef Christoffer Sørensen (winner of a Michelin Guide Young Chef Award in 2021) focuses on wild, local and sustainably caught ingredients, prepared with a combination of classic French technique and international inspiration. The fixed menu changes regularly but vegetables and seafood feature large; a recent version kicked off with six appetisers each based around a different variety of potato, followed by the likes of langoustine with Jerusalem artichoke, horseradish and pear, and confit of squid with coriander, seaweed and fermented cucumber.
Contact: studiocph.dk/en
Prices: £££
Reservations: Recommended
Nørrebro
Bæst
There are days when all you really fancy is a fantastic pizza. Cue a trip to Christian Puglisi’s organic restaurant in Nørrebro, where they make their own mozzarella, cure their own meats, grow vegetables on their own farm, and make the best pizza dough. From the restaurant (all bare brick walls, wood-topped tables and stylish white lamps) you can see through to the open kitchen, where the wood-fired oven turns out thin-crusted and slightly charred pizzas that are invariably delicious, from the basic tomato, garlic and oregano version to others topped with seasonal veg, charcuterie and home-made cheeses.
Contact: baest.dk
Prices: ££
Reservations: Recommended but they always have walk-in tables too
Jatak
If you manage to get a reservation for Jatak, well done. From the minute it opened in early 2022 (complete with ringing endorsement from René Redzepi), it’s been one of the hottest tables in the Danish capital, and earned itself a Michelin star within a matter of months. Chef Jonathan Tam takes top quality, seasonal Danish ingredients and puts an intriguing Cantonese/Japanese spin on them, with each course on the ever-changing tasting menu showcasing one main element. Plating is simple but flavours are intense, from umami-rich mushroom broth or shoyu-brushed raw scallops to the egg-custard tart, which shot to instant fame when Redzepi posted an Instagram video of his super-wobbly slice.
Contact: jatakcph.com
Prices: £££
Reservations: Essential
Østerbro
Geranium
Football grounds and high-end dining don’t generally go hand in hand – but here, in Denmark’s national stadium, is a notable exception. Step out of the lift on the eighth floor and you find yourself in bright, light, Scandi-chic surroundings, where chef Rasmus Kofoed shows off the skills that have won him three Bocuse d’Or trophies, earned Geranium a place in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants ‘Best of the Best’ hall of fame, and made this one of just two restaurants in Denmark (the other is noma) to hold three Michelin stars. There’s no dithering about what to choose – you just go for the multi-course set menu (meat-free since 2022), and 'ooh' and 'ah' with every exquisitely plated dish of food that’s set before you.
Contact: geranium.dk
Prices: £££
Reservations: Essential
Gro Spiseri
Hidden away above the Østerbro streets, this is one of Copenhagen’s most appealing places to eat. It might not look too promising at ground level, but wind your way three storeys up a spiral staircase and you emerge amid the neatly tended vegetable, fruit and flower beds of ØsterGro, Copenhagen’s first rooftop farm, with the restaurant housed in its cosy, candlelit greenhouse. Diners sit together round one long table and share a communal meal, prepared with all organic and local ingredients, including some of the garden produce. It’s open year-round but particularly appealing in summer, when you can wander round the garden, a glass of natural wine in hand, before sitting down to eat.
Contact: grospiseri.dk/
Prices: ££
Reservations: Essential
Amager
Wulff & Konstali
With its designer lighting, cool colour palette and artistically arranged flowers, Wulff & Konstali could easily pass for an interiors showroom. Instead, it’s a bakery and restaurant, and a hugely popular brunch spot – especially in summer when they fold the windows back and have trestle tables outside. You're given a menu of 20-odd brunch components (ranging from grapefruit and croissants to organic scrambled eggs and fried sausages), and you tick the five or seven you fancy; soon a procession of dishes starts arriving at the table. Suitably fuelled, you can then walk from here to the beach at Amager Strandpark 10-15 minutes away.
Contact: wogk.dk
Prices: ££
Reservations: Walk-ins only
How we choose
Every restaurant in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to provide you with their insider perspective. We cover a range of budgets, from neighbourhood favourites to Michelin-starred restaurants – to best suit every type of traveller’s taste – and consider the food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to keep up with the latest opening and provide up to date recommendations.
