Issue 21. * April 19th, 2023 |
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It's this time of the month again when your favourite newsletter unfolds all the fun and exciting things to do in Copenhagen. And this month it's all about taste and tasting. |
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Copenhagen is a city you must taste, almost in a literal sense. Yeah, we have some great architecture, fantastic biking infrastructure, and a harbour so clean you can swim in it. But mostly, Copenhagen is known for its culinary scene, some of the best restaurants in the world, more breweries than you can count on two hands, and even wine country just a short drive from the city. |
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- A trip to Danish wine country – Ørnberg vineyard
- Experimental beers and good company – Åben brewery
- Grocery shopping on the forest floor – Sanketure
- Add a little flavour to your life – Empirical
- A New Asian Wave sweeping Copenhagen
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So let's start this journey to some of the best-tasting experiences here in Copenhagen. We suggest you find some expandable pants because we are going to eat, drink and eat a little bit again. |
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A TRIP TO DANISH WINE COUNTRY |
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Yeah, you heard right, we have wine country here in Denmark. In the western part of Sjælland, you'll find just the right conditions for cold climate wine farming, being one of the sunniest areas in Denmark, and lots of ocean to stop the ground from freezing. |
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On the long peninsula Odden, lies a vineyard called Ørnberg, one of the best in Denmark that have won quite a few prices. They make seriously good white wines and dessert wines so good that you'll find many of there bottles at various Michelin restaurants like Mota and Dragsholm castle. |
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One of the limits of winemaking in Denmark is the amount of wine you can make with fewer warm months and a limited space where you can grow wine stocks. Ørnberg usually have a small supply, that goes out-of-stock quickly, and restaurants are quick to snatch up what they can. If you are lucky, you can still buy some for yourself, and if you do, you can expect high quality white wines suited for Michelin restaurants. |
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We talk a lot about beer here in Copenhagen Unfolded, and Denmark is in many ways famous for the beer scene, but us Copenhageners are actually quite fond of wine. Organic wines are quite popular, and you can find it in many of the cities wine bars. We actually have a guide to the best wine bars in Copenhagen for you to check out. |
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EXPERIMENTAL BEERS AND GOOD COMPANY |
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Even though we like wine and wine bars here in Copenhagen, beer is still king, and there's a lot of small and large breweries around. One of them is called ÅBEN Brewery, directly translated to 'open', and you find it at the culinary hotspot The meatpacking district. |
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ÅBEN is actually from Kolding, a city in Jylland, but now the majority of the production takes place in Copenhagen. ÅBEN started as a hobby on the childhood farm of one of the founders, and the first brew was called Bryg 61 (brew 61) named after the amount of attempts it took to make it perfect. |
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Now ÅBEN is much more than just a brewery. They aim to be open to people, and be open about their brewing process, something you experience first-hand, when you visit the brewery and sit among the steel tanks where to beer is stored. |
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They like experimenting with their brews by trying different ingredients and new ways of brewing beer. So you can expect to taste different and delicious beers. You can also get a bite to eat with the beer when ÅBEN have their POP UP kitchens every Thursday to Saturday.
If you just can't get enough of the Copenhagen beer scene, why not check out our guide to the best beer bars in Copenhagen. |
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GROCERY SHOPPING ON THE FOREST FLOOR |
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Sanketure, as we call it in Denmark, or foraging, has become a really popular activity in the last few years. Foraging is basically going out into nature and finding wild herbs, berries, mushrooms, seaweed, mussels, and other wild ingredients. |
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Sanketure.dk is run by Nina and Thomas, who live and breath foraging and eating wild plants. Thomas is a trained chef, and has been in the catering industry for 20 years, and always thought that wild food was interesting. Nina has a sales and teaching background and a big passion for everything nature. She is a true foodie who loves to cook and bake. |
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We had the pleasure to meet them both and talk about foraging, why the nature around Copenhagen is unique and what you can do with all of the wild plants in your kitchen. |
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What can you expect from a foraging trip? |
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You can expect to get really hungry because we only talk about food, what we can use it for and what it tastes like. Is it good for pickling, salting, marinating or something like that. |
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Because Thomas is a chef and we are so fond of food, we have done all kinds of experiments with the plants, we have tried drying them, pickling them, frying them, making kombucha on them, oils and all kinds of fun things. Some things taste good that way, and some things lose flavour, and it's quite important to know if you want to throw this herb in your spaghetti bolognese, whether it tastes of anything at all and that's kind of what we elaborate on our trips. |
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What is unique about the nature around Copenhagen, and foraging in general? |
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Yes, the comment we always get after the first quarter of an hour, it's how much there is. People think you have to go out and hike 10 km before you can find something, both in Copenhagen but also elsewhere, and you don't have to, there is simply so much to eat. Most of what we eat and pick, it's weeds so it's designed to survive and be all over the place and spread effectively, so people are really surprised at how much they find, how much they can use in their own garden. |
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People are also surprised that they taste very aromatic food, wild food is primal food, where the wild flavour is, nothing has touched it. Does that make sense? There is the wild flavour and the wild nature, and there are many who say wow, it tastes strong. And it's always best because it's what's in season, there's no one who goes and manipulates it or makes it grow faster, so it tastes more watery, you can't do that out there. |
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What are some of the best nature areas around Copenhagen according to you? |
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Utterslev bog is a really good place. Amager Fælled is also surprisingly fun because it's an old beach, so there are some very special herbs out there that you normally only find on the beach, and that makes it a bit special. And then we also have Amager Beach, which is full of food. What I think people forget a lot in the Copenhagen area is Dragør and how much there is out there at Sydvestpynten and Kongelunden, as the forest is called out there. It is a completely overlooked area. You can also easily find things in Valbyparken. |
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Within the ramparts of Copenhagen, you will also be able to find a lot to eat, if we really talk about the centre of Copenhagen. So I bet I could go for a walk with some tourists on the ramparts of Copenhagen, who were going to Noma or geranium or alchemist to eat, and would see the same things they would be served there. |
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What would your perfect day out in Copenhagen and its surroundings look like for you? |
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I love to start my early morning out in nature, so I'm out early picking for myself, or for restaurants, where you have it a little to yourself out there. We work a lot, so our perfect day would probably be out picking and then afterwards making a nice breakfast ourselves, with lovely fresh sprouts that taste like peas on top of my scrambled eggs or making some delicious toast with these herbs that taste like cress. Then I would go to the city and enjoy it a bit too. If you can go by the beach too, I think Amager Beach is an insanely beautiful place. |
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Are there any restaurants to check out in Copenhagen if you also love foraging? |
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Well, most Michelin restaurants use it, but if you need something that is a little easier and where you can also get a table, then I would actually say Baka d'Busk. An insanely delicious restaurant, it's vegetable food, so it's vegetarian dishes, but they also use a lot of the wild in a really delicious way. It's not a restaurant we deliver to, but just a place we like to come to ourselves. |
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Do you have a hidden gem in Copenhagen that you would like to share with us? |
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I think that Sydvestpynten is an insanely overlooked area. Every time we have people out there, they say, god we didn't even know this existed. There is a great beach, there are huge car parks, when it's windy it's just filled with kite surfers, which is great to see, and then there is both forest and meadow and horses, it's really nature. It's also just a nice walk if you just want to see some nature, and you can also cycle out there. And it's at the end of the Amarmino, so it's very smart, there should be a proper eatery out there, where people can get fed after the long walk. |
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ADD A LITTLE FLAVOUR TO YOUR LIFE |
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Perhaps you know this feeling; a specific flavour hits your taste buds, and suddenly you’re back in your grandmother’s kitchen. Or maybe the smell of strawberries take you back to that summer when you ate so many strawberries that you were genuinely afraid of turning into one? |
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It’s probably not something most of us think about on the daily, but flavour is an incredibly powerful way of registering memories. |
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The Danish distillery Empirical, located on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, has made it their mission to make spirits, beverages and food products deeply inspired by the role flavour plays in our ability to create and transport experiences. So much so that Empirical don’t consider themselves a distillery but rather a flavour company. |
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The result is a wide variety of innovative and unique flavour combinations, and it’s not uncommon to taste sour cherry, black currant buds, young pinecones and walnut wood in the same beverage. |
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Empirical is based on an approach of curiosity and the belief that knowledge is gained from experiences, our senses, and a desire to explore the world around us; for this reason, it is also possible to explore their distillery in Copenhagen with a guided tour, where you will get an intimate behind the scenes to glimpse into their production facility and an up-close look at the uniquely repurposed and custom built machines. |
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A NEW ASIAN WAVE SWEEPING COPENHAGEN |
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You probably know about New Nordic Food, or New Nordic Cuisine, but have you heard about The New Asian Wave that has taken Copenhagen by storm? |
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Chefs from all parts of the world came to Copenhagen to learn about the New Nordic Food movement, and now chefs from Copenhagen are heading to the corners of the world to be inspired by their historic cuisines. |
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Learning from Asia, chefs started combining techniques and traditions from the Asian kitchen with some of the principles from The New Nordic Food Movement. This started a new trend of experimenting with local ingredients such as Danish seaweed or fermentation to enhance umami - a practice now strongly connected to Nordic cuisine but not common initially. |
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Copenhagen’s New Asian Wave is being led by some of the most talented chefs in town: Michelin chefs, and central figures from the New Nordic Food Movement, including former noma chefs, are all queueing up to open their own take on Asian cuisine. And the variety of restaurants spans from breakfast canteens to izakayas, ramen joints, traditional omakase, to kappo cuisine. |
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We hope you have gotten a little taste of all the things Copenhagen has to offer, with vineyards, distilleries, breweries, a nature packed full of food and a world-class culinary scene there's no shortage of great tasting experiences. |
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We'll be back in a month with more Copenhagen insights. Make sure to follow us on Social Media as well. Links below. |
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Kasper, Julie and Frederik, Copenhagen Unfolded |
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Copenhagen Unfolded is published by VisitCopenhagen. Our goal is to tell the world about Copenhagen and the great experiences that are to be had here. Be sure to also check out www.visitcopenhagen.com and our social channels. |
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This issue of Copenhagen Unfolded is put together by Kasper Syhler, Frederik Ibsing, Clara Fuglsang Søgaard, Julie Horn and Andrea Sonne. |
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