Eat with the In-crowd in Copenhagen

The Restaurant Revolution

In the mid-nineties, Copenhagen's restaurant and café scene underwent a dramatic transformation. Leading the charge in this modern Scandinavian revolution was Torben Olsen, owner of Café Victor, Dan Turells, Café Sommersko, Ultimo and Quote (the latest addition, situated on the exclusive Kongens Nytorv Square). Olsen's restaurants and cafés made their name not just for their new interpretations of Danish cooking, which were often imaginatively married with international styles, but for their creative decor and stylish clientele.

The New GenerationThree of Olsen's employees have gone on to create several of the city's best restaurants. Nicknamed 'the Olsen Gang', they began by opening Restaurant Olsen named after their old boss. Now Restaurant Olsen is reborn on a new location as a 'Bistro Moderne', a bon chic bon genre restaurant in midtown Copenhagen, it's a bit French, a bit Parisian and quite Danish! Restaurant Sult is located in The Danish Film Institute (Filmhuset), and named after a novel by the world-famous writer Knut Hamsun. The elegant setting will remind you of a modern New York restaurant, and here you can enjoy an exquisite Mediterranean cuisine, created by chef Margrethe Kofoed Olsen. The menu has an international appeal with a feminine touch. Then there is Grill Bar, a café, restaurant and bar in Ny Østergade. Sofisticated cocktails are served in the lounge on the first floor, while the kitchen is an up-dated version of what the 'Olsen-gang' do best: crossover with Asian inspiration, spiced with food from the Mediterranean countries leaning on France.
Their latest take over is the Café A'Porta on Kongens Nytorv. This is one of Copenhagen's oldest cafés. In 1742 Johan Soltani from Switzerland opened a confectioner's shop on this location, which in 1857 was taken over by a fellow countryman: Stephan A'Porta. Many famous persons became patrons, among them Hans Christian Andersen, who lived on the top floor and occasionally ordered take-away. The café has preserved its classic Vienna-style-interior, but the Olsen Brothers vouch for a modern, quality menu.

Conran now in CopenhagenDirectly on the waterfront, in what used to be a hydrofoil-boat-terminal, a new restaurant palace with three restaurants, two bars, a delicatessen and a bakery will open in late November. The building dates back to 1937 and is built in a distinct functionalistic 'jazz-modern' style. This will be a gastronomic lifestyle temple of the kind that Sir Terence Conran has opened quite a number in London since the 1990's. Custom House at Havnegade 44 will consist of: Ebiso - Japanese grill and sushi bar, Bacino - Italian fine restaurant and Bar & Grill, all European, modern Conran brasserie, with brunch, burger and bouillabaisse, but also Danish/Scandinavian inspiration on the menu.

FOX Kitchen & Bar opened in January 2006 in Hotel Fox, where 21 designers from all over the world have decorated the 61 individually designed rooms. Ingredients are Nordic, seasonal, healthy and highly nutritious. Head chef Anders Barsøe has been called home from New York, where he has worked at the ultra-innovative WD-50. Kitchen and bar work closely together in a new constellation: A specific cocktail is recommended for each course - this has been developed to give your taste buds a special thrill. FOX Kitchen carries on the hotel design look in newly renovated premises, where the Australian artist group Pandarosa has decorated the walls just as they have done the hotel reception.

In May 2005 Umami, the funkiest restaurant Copenhagen has seen in many years, opened. The food is Japanese, Orbit, the design firm has done the interior decorating and there is room for 150 guests. On the ground floor you can enjoy a Kirin beer or a martini of gin & lemon grass infused saké while listening to lounge- and jazz music. Or you can go upstairs into the non smoking sushi bar or onto the first floor restaurant with hot Japanese dishes blended with a touch of French cuisine.

Madeleines, a Gastronautical Experience. In the old Tuborg factory in Copenhagen's Islands Brygge neighbourhood, the brainchild of theatre/production designer, Nikolaj Danielsen and culinary doyen Mette Sia Martinussen (restaurant 1.TH) has come to life. Madeleines is about the meal as theatre, stimulating every sense in order to amplify the event of eating. Each three-hour dining performance is centred on a concept developed in conjunction with a creative board of experts including a psychotherapist, an installation artist and a musician amongst others. Tickets cost DKK 1.200, and advance booking is necessary through www.billetnet.dk.

The creative partnership behind Madeleine's has already spawned 1.th, a restaurant located in a first floor flat in central Copenhagen, in which a dinner party is staged to make diners feel like exclusive guests.

Anyone who has enjoyed meals in some of Copenhagen's top restaurants and is interested in gourmet food is acquainted with the name of chef Singh Gill. He is of Indian origin, born in Denmark, and has worked with Paul Cunningham and Mikkel Maarbjerg and had his classical training from Søllerød Kro, the French gourmet restaurant. He has previously been the responsible chef at Formel B. Singh Gill has now opened Koriander, Denmark's first Indian/French gourmet place in trendy surroundings. The vegetables are crispy and the meat is prepared over a coal grill, and as introduced by restaurants like El Bulli in Spain: chemical gastronomi, where tandori and tikka masala are presented in foam and powder form instead of traditional sauce.

In the same area, Ego can be found in a small side street to Kongens Nytorv. Owner Mikkel Shafi's ambition has been to provide a mix of the extravagant and the more ordinary: a brasserie with a twist. Fridays and Saturdays ideal for pre-clubbing and brunch on weekends.

The district of Frederiksberg can now boast a 'deli' inspired from abroad. Claus Meyer has opened Meyer's Deli, a combination of informal restaurant/grocery/coffebar and take away on Gammel Kongevej. From October 2007, Meyer's Deli will open another outlet at Kongens Nytorv in the department store of Magasin.

Also in the district of Frederiksberg, on Gammel Kongevej, Egefeld is Copenhagen?s first organic super market.

'Emmerys' has for years been synonymous with excellent, organic bread sold from 8 shops around town. Prepared without yeast, without sugar and without fat. Now following the same concept Emmeryskøkken has opened in Hellerup. The simple and natural gastronomic dishes are served in the restaurant or are sold as take away.

Also worth mentioning is Plaza Library Bar - a stately, wood panelled library similar to a London gentleman's club and voted by Forbes Magazine one of the ten best of its kind in the world. Live jazz every Friday and Saturday at 10pm.

Absolut Icebar Copenhagen is expected to open during the spring of 2007 by the new life style Hotel Copenhagen 27. The temperature will be kept at a constant minus 5 degrees centigrade, and walls, bar, art, furniture and even the glasses for your drinks will be made of crystal clear ice.

The Best of the Rest
The super-modern minimalism of Søren K in the Black Diamond has won praise from the Danish press. On Rådhusstræde, near Strøget, head chef Paulo Guimares, with Portuguese roots, runs the trendy Restaurant Aura. The concept here is somewhat Spanish inspired with a lot of small dishes, which provides for a delicious balanced meal. Together with Thomas Veber he also operates Viva in a converted ferryboat moored in the CPH Harbour. There is room for 60 indoors and a roof terrace with café on the quay. They specialize in shell- and crayfish, but also cater for the more traditional meat-eater all with a Danish/Mediterranean twist.

SALT bar & restaurant is also situated in impressive surroundings: In a 200-year-old granary from 1787, SALT stands as a stylish, modern European restaurant serving Danish cuisine.

Oil situated in the royal and financial district and Ergo in a more than three hundred year old pharamacy in Gothersgade are representatives of the new phenomenon: a fusion of restaurant, café, bar, night club and cocktail lounge. Both opened in 2006.

The Østerbro district
Everybody who is fond of good food should also pay a visit to the Østerbro district. A 'hot spot' is the restaurant Volume One, whose head chef, Michael Sørensen, serves food inspired by Italy, Provence and India in this elegant quarter of the city overlooking the lakes of Copenhagen and Luns where Jens Vestergaard, chef who was responsible for bringing a two star rating in the prestigious Michelin Guide to Copenhagen, has decided to go back to his roots. Small, intimate with no menu as such - you can have fish or a soup and to-day's special, usually a basic, wholesome meet dish, everything in the hands os the chef himself. And finally there is Circus, located in an old butcher's shop, is also both café and restaurant. Here you are offered Modern European food in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere.

Next to Circus, in Rosenvængets Allé, an idyllic cobbled street, Fru Heiberg recently opened. This is a small, nostalgic restaurant where they serve Danish and French food and fine cocktails into the wee hours of the night.

On the corner of Århusgade and Randersgade is the second Café The Laundromat. Here you can enjoy a beer or a cappuccino or you can browse through approx 4000 second-hand books in the café library while waiting for your clothes going through the washing process.

For further information about restaurants in other town areas, please check out the press releases: Red hot trendy spot (about Vesterbro) and Hot Spot Nørrebro.

By: YME Team 20/11/2006 11:36 | Last updated: 25/11/2006 11:43
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