Copenhagen’s Gifts to the World
The edible, sensual, artistic and spiritual pleasures of Denmark's capital city (4 upscale + 3 casual restaurants, 4 bars, 1 hotel and more)
Though my largest percentage heritage is Sicilian (specifically Aeolian Islands), my second biggest before my third German, is Scandinavian: split between Danish and Swedish, with one grandparent each having roots in those countries. So it’s no surprise that the earthy, sensual, visionary, free spirited Sicilian-island side of me is tempered with my eldest child, orderly, grey melancholy and pristine vista-loving Scandinavian side. And both sides are crazy about seafood.
In fact, tracing back lineage via Ancestry.com, my family discovered direct cousin relations in my Danish side to writer and legend himself, Hans Christian Andersen, who I read my whole childhood, especially loving “deep cuts” fairytales like The Little Match Girl and The Wild Swans.
I first visited Copenhagen (CPH) in summer 2018, when all the beautiful people were out, biking everywhere in the sun, as I dined and scoured restaurants and bars aplenty (yes, including Noma). But it was a bit too slick and the Noma-fication of every restaurant and wine list I took in made it all feel a bit “one note,” even as I loved those bars and the architecture. There were ways Stockholm felt more real and alive to me, as did the tiny idyllic Swedish island of Hven where we ferried to from CPH to visit my friends who run Hven Distillery.
But there is much I love of Denmark and this visit solidified it, as I’ll get into below. For two decades, I’ve been a lover of smørrebrød (Danish open-faced sandwiches) and beloved Scandinavian spirit aquavit — savory gin, as I always call it — a tradition that goes together historically in Copenhagen as you sip little flutes of aquavit with smørrebrød, a dream brunch I wish more US cities would offer (thank God for Kantine cafe in my city of SF, though I wish there was a more upscale, sit-down smorrebrod spot. In US Scandinavian dining, I loved NYC’s Aquavit back in chef Marcus Samuelsson days and truly miss Plaj in SF, though thankfully, Roberth and Andrea Sundell are still going strong up in Sonoma County with the more casual Stockhome.
My Favorite Danish Writers, Film & Musicians
WRITERS & FILM: My historic blood relative (!), Hans Christian Andersen, who changed the world with fairytales like The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling (the latter never meant so much to me until I read its take as an adult in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ defining Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype.
Philosopher/theologian Søren Kierkegaard was a big influence for me in high school when I read Either/Or. Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) forever, whose Seven Gothic Tales I adore, as I do her novella, Babette’s Feast, which is also my other favorite food film of all time besides Big Night (she’s is best known for Out of Africa, however).
MUSICIANS: I grew up watching pianist comedian Victor Borge’s 1950-60's TV appearances. The past 15 years, appreciate the melancholy alt pop beauty of CPH-born, Berlin-based Agnes Obel, especially her 2010 Philharmonics album. And, yes, SF-based for the majority of recent decades, though he kept his Danish citizenship, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is one of Denmark’s revered musical exports — Metallica throwing a couple memorable concerts I saw during Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park.
When I Fell in Love with Copenhagen
Returning to Copenhagen this winter for a Spora conference was a full-circle event for me. Founded by famed Alchemist (#5 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants this year) chef Rasmus Munk in 2023, Spora is an inspiring food research center, a network of global gastronomy experts partnering with all sectors in experimental, innovative ways to change the world through food (one example: Munk’s cutting edge rollout with a CPH hospital (re)-creating children’s favorite flavors and nutrition they need but may struggle eating due to going through chemo in more easy, fun forms). During the conference, I heard from experts in fields from the arts and technology to science and medicine, partnering with culinary experts for solutions that help humans and the planet.
This was inspiring enough. Then there was CPH in winter. It was freezing, there were flurries of snow as I walked along the canals to and from meals. And that incessant darkness. There was also hygge, that cozy and contented Scandi vibe exemplified in (faux) animal fur throws, fireplaces, incredible food and drink, glowing lighting to warm you from the bone-chilling wet outside. All with that incomparable Danish modern design style I love so as a midcentury girl.
The 17th century waterfront of Nyhavn shimmers colorfully in the summer, but in the winter chill, its nautical cool is still beautiful. I felt my ancestor Hans Christian Andersen’s spirit along these waterways as he used to live in no. 20, no. 67 and no. 18, writing many of his famed fairytales set to this very view.
Crazy at it sounds, I like Copenhagen in winter better. And think I more properly fell in love with the city that visit, whereas I felt mixed the first time. In summer, it’s an all-too idyllic sea of perfect, blonde, unreachable people basking in long days of light. In winter, CPH is more harsh… and more real. It’s cozier, more nurturing, a fascinating play in extremes despite the depressing early darkness (around 4pm in my January to February visit), with short hours of mostly grey light.
Could I live in it? No. But a visit at this time spoke to me of my roots, of juxtaposition, of the slow, beautiful things hidden inside and the secret places nurtured when one is “wintering,” reminding me of Katherine May’s fantastic book, Wintering (an important one to me in pandemic). Still waiting for spring and blossoming in my own life after an onslaught of crippling, grave tragedies and losses in the last couple years, Copenhagen embodied for me comfort in the bleak cold, the unexpected gifts, the signs of light peeking out of painfully long dark nights.
I ate up a storm at crazy Michelin-starred, World’s 50 Best restaurants, ate traditional smørrebrød for multiple brunch/lunches, sipped at cozy wine and cocktail bars and stayed at a welcoming hotel in a hip new area. All highlights which I share with you here.