On Saturday morning we woke up at the horrible time of 4.20am in order to get to the airport for our 7.40am flight to Copenhagen. We landed in Copenhagen at 9am and headed straight to our Airbnb in Vesterbro. Though the apartment looked really nice online, it turned out to be even better than we expected. It had lots of lovely pale wood floors, an insanely comfortable bed and a great kitchen. Although it was hard to leave, we headed out for brunch at Mad & Kaffe, where we loved our coffee and brunch boards. I was particularly excited by the sight of an avocado, delicious sourdough bread and Danish cheese and butter. Dan’s breakfast also included a dessert of vanilla custard, stewed rhubarb and shortbread that was soooo good.
After breakfast, we hit the shops nearby (so good and very expensive) and stuck our heads into a few coffee shops and bakeries, getting to know our neighbourhood. Then it was home to rest after our insanely early start. In the early evening we walked over to the Meatpacking District, a former industrial site that is being revamped with cafes and bars. It includes some of Copenhagen’s most famous beer spots, including Warpigs, but we opted for tacos at Hija de Sanchez instead of beer. We’d heard so many good things about this taco place, which is owned by a Mexican woman who was previously a chef at Noma, and were pumped for our first Mexican meal in ages. People told us before arriving that we’d be shocked by how expensive Copenhagen is. Perhaps one of the good things about living in New York is that you don’t get sticker shock very often because everything is so expensive there. So we generally found the prices in Denmark to be high but not crazy. Having said that, our meal at Hija de Sanchez was the one exception! A few tacos, a side and a drink was about $50! Though the tacos were delicious, it didn’t feel worth it given that we were eating from paper plates and scrambling for a table.
Still peckish but keen for an early night, we headed home via a Danish supermarket (again, one of my favourite things to do!) to get supplies for a cheese plate (I did my best Kate P). We got an incredible smoked cheese, anchovies, fresh apples, smoked herring, rye bread and delicious salted butter and turned it into a very nice night cap. I also found rum balls which I think might be a thing in Copenhagen?
We woke up on Sunday morning and after sorting out bike rental, peddled over to breakfast at Grod. Dan had a huge chia bowl while I had porridge (rather salty, as is common here I think) with skyr, granola and the most insanely delicious apple vanilla compote I’ve ever tasted. We also had an iced coffee with caramel sauce. Dan ordered it without realising that it was sweetened and we thought it might be too much but it was sooooo good. Very much like a Vietnamese coffee, it was faintly sweet and caramelly but still undoubtedly bitter coffee. Yum! At this point we decided that we were deeply envious of the Danes.
After breakfast we wandered around Norrebro, stopping in at lots of super cute stores. We also headed into Assistens Cemetery, a beautiful intensely green park and cemetery. From there, it was time to caffeinate so we made a beeline for Caffeine 22. Like all Copenhagen cafes it seems, this one was beautiful and the coffee was great. Wanting to spend more time cycling through the city, we decided to cycle across the city to Frederiksberg Gardens. Given that travelling is all about squeezing as many meals into a day as possible, we picked up some pastries to enjoy in the park at Andersen & Maillard. When we arrived, we saw a few people enjoying “coffee soft ice” – a coffee soft serve made by the cafe with waste from their other products – milk foam from steamed milk, pastry crumbs and coffee grounds. It looked so good we sat down for a few minutes to share one. It was easily the best soft serve I’ve ever had.
Fully caffeinated and very full we headed for the park, which also houses Frederiskberg Castle. This was one of my favourite places in Copenhagen. I loved its slightly unkept vibe and its intense green colours. We explored for a while and then sat to inhale our extremely tasty pastries. From there we cycled to a nearby wine bar, because what are holidays for if you can’t have a glass of wine in the mid afternoon? A lot of Copenhagen wine bars are closed on Sundays but we found the excellent Falernum. We had some very funky German red and a mackerel rilletes. Delicious and very relaxing.
After splashing out on mid afternoon wine and given that we had the use of kitchen for the first time in ages, we decided to make dinner at home. We choose this delicious pantry pasta and had such a nice time staying in. We contemplated going out for a post dinner drink but the apartment was way too cozy. On Monday morning we opted to stay in again, enjoying delicious smoked fish, Danish cheese, butter and bread, apples and rum balls.
From there, we headed to Indre By to get coffee at Forloren Espresso. It had a simple, cosy vibe and we enjoyed the coffee prepared by the unbelievably precise barista. Dan had a pour over that the barista described as having notes of very ripe pineapple and cocoa powder. I had a great cortado, the first milky coffee I’ve been game to try for weeks. I attempted a cappuccino in Russia a couple of times but I found the milk (uht I think?) to be undrinkable so I stuck to black brews. From coffee, we shopped and wandered. Parts of it were more touristy and busy than we go for but it was fun window shopping and next time I definitely want to go up to the top of Rundetårn. Before heading home we picked up some more pastries to snack on later (this time from the Copenhagen staple, Meyers Bageri) and then we had a slow cycle back to our apartment with a detour for a hot dog for Dan at John’s Hotdog Deli.
After resting for a couple of hours, we started our evening at a very simple and unpretentious wine bar around the corner from our apartment. Aperitif checked off, we cycled over to my favourite part of the city (close to Grod and Andersen & Maillard) to have a drink at Brus and get pizza at Bæst. I had a tiny grapefruit ipa and Dan tried a local beer and we sat outside on the nicest autumn evening (we have been so lucky with weather so far). They had old fashioneds on tap so we shared one before we finally made our way to dinner at Bæst.
I was ready to dismiss Bæst as a hipster hangout without substance, particularly when it look ages for our waiter to arrive with a menu but this place ended up blowing us away. The tomato pizza in particular was stunning. Maybe the best pizza of my life?!
On our last morning in Copenhagen, wanting to squeeze as much in as we could, we woke up early to get smoothie bowls and porridge at Bowl Market. Smoothie bowls are one of Dan’s favourite things and we hadn’t had one in months. After breakfast, Dan headed home to finish packing and I went to pick up some snacks for our flight from Brod, a bakery I’d really wanted to try. I settled on a croissant and the same Danish pastry we’d tried the day before, which is covered in poppy seeds and layered with a little sugar, salt and jam. Delicious. I also picked up a coffee to go from Enghave Kaffee next door. I hope we will get back there one day as the coffee was SO good and the vibe was warm and cozy. And with our snacks for the plane sorted, we returned our bikes and headed for the airport, very sad to be leaving Copenhagen. We didn’t do much “sight seeing” in Copenhagen and I can’t wait to get back to explore the Design Museum and the Louisiana Museum in particular, but a slow few days with lots of cycling and delicious food was so needed after a great but pretty intense trip through Mongolia and China.
