My email read, “Update: your Ancestry results have changed. Please see the website for new information.”
The new information Ancestry.com had to offer based on advancing DNA technology since my original results: you may be 3% Danish, but it could even range to 8%. Reading this after our trip and after eating my way through Copenhagen, for a moment I ridiculously imagined I somehow ingested new DNA while we visited Denmark…because I liked it so much and left no plate clean.
Some of the world’s highest-ranked restaurants and Michelin-starred outposts, including Noma, Geranium, and Alchemist, are located in Copenhagen. But unfortunately, many of those experiences are $700-1,000 a person! We love dining experiences, but there is a limit. The great news is that people who worked at Noma and many of these great restaurants often go on to start their own dining establishments…right here in Copenhagen.
Keyser Social Club
We tried Keyser Social Club where the chef/founders formerly worked at Noma, bringing with them the culinary expertise I was hoping for…beautiful presentation, their unique flavor combos are based in the Far East with references to Nordic cuisine like scallop dumplings with Asian-inspired lobster bisque, and all were delicious. Keyser lived up to the promise of their website, “We make a virtue of serving food that is a delight for both the taste buds and the eyes.” We went for the 13 course Keyser Experience tasting menu which included snacks, appetizers, a middle course, a main course and desserts. This giant spread of food was extremely reasonable with dinner running about $45 per person before drinks.
Before we make our restaurant reservations, we do a lot of research and one of our influences is Phil Rosenthal. We love his TV show, Somebody Feed Phil and have found we also like many of the places he recommends eating. After all, he can afford to eat anywhere, so we know he’s not recommending subpar places.
Torvehallerne Food Hall
My daughter agreed with Phil’s advice to visit the Torvehallerne Food Hall as she’d already been multiple times. It is a bit overwhelming to walk past all the food stalls and the adjacent farmer’s market on the square and make a decision. The hall features sitdown restaurants, bakeries, food sellers and coffee shops. There were so many different things to try, but we finally made our choices!
Hallernes Smørrebrød: We had to try a traditional Danish smørrebrød (an open face sandwich on rye bread), so we opted for traditional herring with beets and a fried fish with a lemony sauce and capers. My husband loved the herring but I’m not a giant fan of rye bread.
The Doghouse: Danish hot dogs are so much better than American hot dogs. Our pick was a pork dog with Comte cheese and truffles. No pedestrian ketchup happening here.
Hija De Sanchez Taqueria: Mexican made from a Noma trained chef. Delicious but very expensive for what we got and a bit boring. Notoriously bland as a cuisine, this bite proved to be more Danish than Mexican. (Save your Mexican food cravings for Mexico or Houston).
We had a fantastic weather day visiting Torvehallerne and ate at the communal outdoor picnic tables, mixing in with the locals and the tourists.
Kodbyens Fiskebar
The white subway tiles, concrete floors and industrial vibe at Kodbyens Fiskebar belie the Michelin recommended menu. The restaurant is inside a renovated building in the old meatpacking district, easily identified by the giant concrete statue of a bull and the words, Kod Og Flaeskehal (loose translation “Meat and Pork Hall”). Approaching the building, surrounded by warehouses, I wondered if we ended up in the wrong part of town. None of that mattered once we sat down.
The ingredients are fresh and the dishes are artfully presented. We enjoyed sharing grilled scallops, blue mussels steamed in apple cider with herbs and double cream, house baked sourdough bread and seaweed butter, a lion's mane grilled mushroom, sea bass with baby corn and chanterelles and an interesting not-sweet chocolate cake. The vibe is gritty urban casual, but the food is high style. I did feel a little guilty watching the fish flit around in the towering fish tank during dinner, but I quickly got over it.
If you go, watch the Somebody Feed Phil’s Copenhagen episode to see an interview with the chef and owners, who guess what–once worked at Noma.
Bakeries
I thought all pastry started and ended in France, but now I have a new perspective. It seems like there is a bakery on every block in Copenhagen. They are probably all worth visiting, but we fell in love with Hart Bageri. Thankfully there are multiple locations so there were multiple stops (my daughter shared that locals don’t think Hart is all that because there are 10 locations…for once in my life, I’ve fallen in love with a “chain” restaurant). On one early morning visit, we stood in line with the locals, waiting for the central bakery to deliver a refresh of the shelves since they’d been emptied by early customers. Just check out this cinnamon bun.
Left: Pile of Tebirkes Cookies at Hart Bakery. Center: Hart logo. Right: Our attempt at Tebirkes Cookies.
I discovered Hart’s Terbirkes cookie on our very last day (shame on me). Terbirkes is a traditional laminated pastry stuffed with a buttery almond paste and speckled with poppyseeds. The Terbirkes cookie is Hart’s riff on the classic bun in cookie form. It’s nothing special to look at, but it tastes like a chewy, moist almond paste/marzipan middle with a crunchy outer crust covered in poppy seeds. I even joined a Nordic cooking/recipe group on Facebook to see if anyone can figure out how to make these and nobody exactly knows since it is Hart Bageri’s original creation. If you get the recipe, please let me know. Otherwise, my daughter and I worked up a recipe – our best attempt is below. It’s not quite the same as Hart, but it’s a pretty good cookie if you like a rich almond flavor. By the way, the locals tell me to pronounce this “tea-beer-kiss.”
P.S. Nobody calls a pastry a ‘danish’ here…but I will now always think of the good pastries as Danish.
Fiona and Lisa’s Tebirkes Cookies Attempt
1 8-ounce log marzipan
1 egg
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ cup + 5 T. flour
1 cup fine almond flour
2 tablespoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch salt
Zest of 1 lemon
8 tablespoons butter, browned
Poppy Seeds (buy a new jar to ensure freshness, you won’t use it all)
Vanilla or crunchy turbinado sugar
Brown butter, add almond and vanilla extracts and salt. Set aside to cool.
Grate marzipan into a medium sized bowl, add flours and sugar, lemon zest and sift to evenly mix.
Add egg and browned butter to form dough.
Shape into large balls, roll each ball in a mixture of poppy seeds and vanilla or turbinado sugar. Freeze or chill for at least an hour before baking.
Bake in a muffin tin, pressing down the balls to fill the muffin cups. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.
The cookies were better on the second day after baking – the almond flavor intensifies a bit.
Click here to read about what we did in Copenhagen (besides eat!)
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