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What to eat in Copenhagen

Copenhagen eats smørrebrød at lunch: herring on rye, a red sausage from a kiosk, frikadeller, dense rye bread, cinnamon snegle and akvavit.

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  1. Eat smørrebrød

    An open sandwich on dense rye with butter and one theme on top: herring, prawns, roast beef, liver pâté. Three or four make a full lunch.

    It is eaten with a knife and fork and in order: fish before meat, meat before cheese. The bread should still be visible rather than buried.

  2. Try marinated herring

    Herring in marinades — vinegar, curry, mustard, sour cream — on rye with onion and capers. The first course of lunch and the required partner to akvavit.

    Curry herring arrived in the twentieth century and became a classic despite its foreign origin. Herring comes first, and that is not a formality.

  3. Try rugbrød

    A very dense dark sourdough rye packed with whole grains and seeds, sliced thin. The base of the Danish table and the foundation of smørrebrød.

    The slice is thin precisely because the bread is dense; a thick one is hard work. It keeps a week and does not go stale so much as denser.

  4. Eat røde pølser from a kiosk

    A bright red boiled sausage in a bun with mustard, remoulade, ketchup and fried onion. The Danish street standard from pølsevogn kiosks that run late.

    The red is a dye and has been part of the tradition since the 1920s. A ristet hotdog is the same sausage, grilled instead of boiled.

  5. Try frikadeller

    Flat fried patties of pork and veal served with potato, red cabbage and gravy. Home food that appears both as a lunch dish and on smørrebrød.

    Cold frikadeller on rye with pickled cucumber are a smørrebrød of their own. The red cabbage is sweet-sour and essential in winter.

  6. Try stegt flæsk

    Thick slices of pork belly fried until crisp, with boiled potatoes and parsley sauce. Officially voted the national dish.

    The portion usually comes with refills: they keep bringing pork until you decline. The milk and parsley sauce is plain but the dish does not work without it.

  7. Try prawns on rye

    Small fjord prawns heaped on bread with mayonnaise, lemon and dill. The rule of thumb is enough prawns that the bread disappears.

    The prawns should be small and hand-peeled rather than large tiger prawns. It is one of the pricier smørrebrød, and justifiably so.

  8. Try leverpostej

    Warm pork liver pâté on rye with bacon, mushrooms and pickled beetroot. The most everyday and best-loved Danish sandwich.

    It is served warm rather than cold, and that matters. The beetroot and pickle supply the acidity without which the pâté is heavy.

  9. Try flæskesteg

    Pork roast with a thick crackling rind, baked with bay and cloves. A Christmas dish, though it appears on sandwiches all year.

    The rind is scored before roasting so it puffs and crackles. The smørrebrød version comes with red cabbage and pickled cucumber.

  10. Try New Nordic cooking

    Local and foraged ingredients, fermentation, seaweed and herbs: a movement that began here in the 2000s and changed cooking worldwide.

    Full tasting dinners are expensive and booked months ahead. Lunch sets in the same kitchens cost a fraction, and that is where to start.

  11. Eat a kanelsnegl Desserts and pastries

    A cinnamon spiral of laminated yeast dough with icing. What the world calls Danish pastry is called Viennese bread, wienerbrød, here.

    The dough is laminated with butter rather than merely enriched, which gives the crunch. Buy in the morning; the fresh batch is gone by lunch.

  12. Try drømmekage Desserts and pastries

    A vanilla sponge under a baked caramel and coconut topping. A home cake sold by the slice in cafés and bakeries.

    The topping is butter, sugar and coconut baked as a second stage. Its neighbours in the case are rum balls and honey hearts.

  13. Try koldskål in summer Non-alcoholic drinks

    A cold buttermilk drink with vanilla and lemon, served with crisp kammerjunker biscuits. A summer staple eaten from a bowl with a spoon.

    Supermarkets sell it ready-made from May to August, which is the normal route. The biscuits are crumbled into the bowl just before eating.

  14. Try akvavit Local alcohol

    A caraway or dill spirit served ice cold in small glasses with herring. Drunk during the meal rather than after, and always with a beer alongside.

    The classic pairing is a shot of akvavit with a beer behind it. The bottle must be frozen; warm akvavit is harsh.

  15. Drink local craft beer Local alcohol

    Copenhagen is a Nordic craft brewing hub with dozens of breweries running their own taprooms. The classic Danish pilsner is everywhere too.

    Ask for a flight, a set of small glasses, to try several. Bottles carry a pant deposit, refunded by a machine in the supermarket.

Danish cooking is traditionally about bread and what sits on it: dense rugbrød rye is the base of the table, and smørrebrød, the open sandwich built on it, is the national dish with rules of its own. In parallel, over the past twenty years Copenhagen became one of the world’s gastronomic capitals, and the New Nordic cuisine of local and foraged ingredients was born here.

Smørrebrød and its rules

This is lunch rather than a snack: three or four pieces make a full meal. There is an order and it is observed: herring first, then other fish, then meat, then cheese. It is eaten with a knife and fork, not with your hands, and you do not stack two pieces into a sandwich.

Where and when

Lunch runs twelve to two, dinner is early, from six. Smørrebrød restaurants serve lunch only and often close at three. The pølsevogn sausage kiosks run late and remain the cheapest food in an expensive city.

Worth knowing

Copenhagen is expensive, and lunch at a smørrebrød restaurant or a café’s day menu is how to eat well for a reasonable sum. Everyone drinks tap water, it is excellent, and restaurants bring it free. Akvavit is served ice cold and with herring rather than on its own.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you eat smørrebrød properly?

With a knife and fork, one piece at a time, and in a set order: herring first, then other fish, then meat, then cheese. Stacking two pieces or eating with your hands is not done. Three or four make a lunch, and they are ordered individually rather than as a platter.

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