The 22 Bakeries I went to in Copenhagen
I bought things from all of them. I’m sharing which ones to definitely go to and which to avoid. Plus patisseries & restaurants. And things to do with kids!
What I bought. What I thought. Plus patisseries, restaurants and things to do with kids.
If you’re like me, you probably haven’t even noticed it’s been more than a week since I last emailed. 😅
If you follow me on Instagram - or read my last newsletter - you’ll have already known this would be late. 😄
I decided to skip last week entirely because I had even less time to myself than I expected and this has been a long email to put together to cover all of what I ate in Copenhagen.
For this week and next (when I share what I’ve seen at The Specialty and FIne Food Show), the overview will be free for everyone, with many more details for paid subscribers only. It’s still a pretty weighty email before all the photos and details!
I spent well over £300 on pastries, cake and chocolate in Copenhagen over six days 🫣 (this is why there aren’t many restaurant recommendations!). I hope that makes my detailed list worth £4.50 to access for a month (plus the monthly chat and the rest of the archive) or £44 for a year if you trust I’ll keep bringing you the low down on good stuff to save your own money from buying the less good/bad stuff. ☺️
You also get access to the full archive and monthly private Ask Me Anything threads.
I don’t want you to miss out if that’s not possible for you, so the list of all of the places I went is still here for everyone. I’ve highlighted my top 2 and the ones to skip.
Paid subscribers will have photos, addresses, nearest stations, what I ate and what I thought. i.e. A lot of effort removed from planning a Copenhagen adventure (or, in next week’s case, insight if you work in the food industry 😘).
Writing this without a pastry in hand has been HARD. My apologies in advance if you don’t have one whilst reading it.
All of the 22 bakeries I went to - and bought things at - in Copenhagen
Juno the Bakery - if you only visit one, make it this one.
Rug Bakery - so many of the bakeries were EXCELLENT but this would be my no. 2 recommendation based on having excellent pastries, cookies, bread AND patisserie. Plus it’s right by Copenhagen Central Station / Tivoli Gardens so incredibly convenient, pretty much wherever you’re staying.
Skipper Bageri
Cadence
Københavns Bageri
Rondo
Benji
Alice Ice Cream & Coffee
Lille Bakery
Hart Bageri
Bageriet Brød
Andersen Bakery
Il Buco
Anderson & Maillard - I believe this was great when it opened, as it was recommended to me, but I was also warned by another friend the quality had gone down since. Unfortunately I forgot I’d been told this. 🤦🏻♀️ We didn’t finish what we bought.
The coffee was good though.
Albatross & Venner
The Bread Station
Batting Bakery
BUKA Bakery
Daniali & Schiøtz
Øven cafe - not for me
Collective Bakery
Bageriet B
MUCH more detail on all of these further down this email.
Bakeries recommended by people, but I didn’t make it / buy anything:
Flere Fugle
Perron
H.U.G - gluten free
LandBageri - vegan
Copenhagen Chocolate Shops / Pâtisseries / Ice Cream
Friis Holm - not a shop but look out for the chocolates! You can buy at the factory in Roskilde if you fancy a trip out of the city.
The factory is next to a brewery that does food but check opening times; it wasn’t open when we went on a Monday. There’s also a beach that’s a 25 minute walk away but we didn’t go because of the child. She’s a great walker but has her limits and we didn’t have a pram, scooter or bike.
Xocolat - not great, though I only tried one chocolate
Anker Chocolate - ok
Summerbird - also available in the airport. I tried the raspberry flødebolle.
Glean - vegan flødebolle.
Maison d’Angleterre (more on this below)
Alice - (also in the list above, they make viennoiserie and ice cream)
Nice Cream - vegan, only open in summer months
Recommended and sad I didn’t try:
Dessertdragen
Hansens Ice Cream (sold virtually everywhere)
Østerberg
What are flødebolle?
These directly translate as cream buns but are more akin to what the British call a teacake (also containing neither cake nor tea 🤨) or even a Walnut Whip, Canadians call their version Whippets and Americans most similar cousin would be Mallomars. There are versions in most countries.
Whilst they contained cream when they were first invented in Denmark in the 19th Century, that was switched for the egg white and sugar whipped confection to improve shelf life.
They’re often given out to other children by a child celebrating their birthday and you’ll find them in all Danish supermarkets, as well artisan versions.
It’s a Danish dessert or sweet snack with a thin circular base of biscuit or marzipan (usually marzipan or shortbread in premium versions, often just a wafer in the confectionery versions) with a pile of soft marshmallow fluff, all covered in (usually) dark chocolate.
Denmark produces approximately 800 million flødebolle a year and on average a Dane will eat 45 in a year.
The few RESTAURANTS I went to in Copenhagen
Baka d Busk (vegetarian restaurant)
Hija de Sanchez (fast casual tacos, short menu, sibling of Sanchez)
Baest (pizza)
Shezan Indian (local place - don’t make a special effort, it’s fine, but not one for your list)
Recommended Copenhagen Restaurants that I’m sad I didn’t get to:
Mother
Reffen outdoor food market near Noma and Lille Bakery. It doesn’t open until at least lunchtime, but the art gallery nearby is apparently worth visiting.
Esmé
Poplo - burger place by ex Noma staff
Atelier September
La Banchina
The Delicious Thing to get anywhere in the world:
Founder Mikkel (Friis Holm) kindly gave us a full private tour (we’ve known each other more than a decade) and I understood even more why his chocolate is noticeably better than most bean to bar chocolate makers and as such wins so many gold awards.
As a chef, Mikkel’s primary focus is flavour. He’s invested in machines that achieve chocolate with smaller microns than the standard machines can reach, so the mouthfeel is better (more silky smooth), but these machines also allow removal of the less pleasant flavours whilst retaining the interesting ones.
I was thrilled to learn Friis Holm’s commitment to quality includes using organic milk and sugar for all of the products, even the bars where the cocoa beans weren’t certified organic (this is common as certification is expensive) and therefore he couldn’t put any claim on the bar that it’s organic.
The other particularly interesting and unique things that Friis Holm make and sell are bars where all the growing, harvesting and processing variables are the same for a single varietal, except the number of times the beans are turned during fermentation. The finished chocolates are noticeably different.
There are also another two bars where the only difference is the speed of drying the cacao. Buying these is a great way to educate yourself on how the different processes influence the final flavour.
He also makes filled chocolates and flødebolle.
Below this, if you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll have the rest of the photos, addresses, nearest stations, what I bought and what I thought. Plus what we did in the day between eating to keep all of us happy (including the 4 year old).
Copenhagen is incredibly easy to get around by metro, bus or bike. The bike lane stands alone between the pavement (sidewalk) and the road and so many people cycle. It may be why the locals all look so healthy! It felt very clean and very safe.
It’s known for being expensive, but with how much things have gone up in London lately it didn’t feel that much more expensive than here. Or maybe I wasn’t calculating the exchange rate well… 🤔
We got really lucky going at the beginning of September with good weather and long days that weren’t so long that it became too hard to sleep!