copenhagen | food tour

My food tour started across from City Hall at a hotdog cart and ended up in the Torvehallerne food market. Pretending to be a local and putting all diet concerns aside was in order to enjoy the Danish food + culture.

My guide Laura Bro was fantastic with her enthusiasm and
shared a lot about the local food culture.

Our first stop was a hotdog stand in the City Hall main square and I ate a Frankfurter Hotdog with all the toppings – raw onions, fried onions, ketchup and mustard. It was quite good, but I definitely prefer either a Dodger dog or Chicago dog over this any day. Fun fact: At one time, there were over 500 hotdog stalls and now only 200 exist, typically in high pedestrian areas.

Since the Danish have a big beer culture, the second stop was Taphouse and it was fun to see what the Danish have to offer for craft beer.

With 61 beers on tap, I was served the Lervig Easy (American Pale Ale) and a Sort Snak (Imperial Stout). Both were served with no foam and they both seemed a bit flat. Since the foam enhances your experience of drinking beer, the aroma wasn’t as pleasing. Tip: A good head of foam releases the aroma compounds so make sure your beer has a head of a least a fingertip length.

The Danish embrace the beer culture and beer is typically the cheapest thing to to drink on the menu besides the still water. According to history, water in the 1900s was so bad and in order to stay hydrated, the Danish drank beer instead. There really is no age limit to drinking beer today and the Danish pride themselves on responsible drinking with the saying:
“Freedom under responsibility”

Smørrebrød with hard boiled egg and shrimp.

The third stop was the Gotdfork Restaurant. A charming place that has a garden in the middle and uses all of what they grow the drinks and food. I ate half of a Danish smørrebrød on rye bread which is the staple food of many homes. Served many ways, this smørrebrød had a hard boiled egg, cooked bay shrimp and mayo dressing topped with lovely greens. The Danish only serve one slice of rye bread since the bread is very dense and this sandwich is supposed to be eaten by hand. I would also imagine that the fillings would squeeze right out if served as a typical sandwich. Apparently, the Danish eat A LOT of rye bread – almost 40 kilos a year per person.

The bread was very dense and there was way too much mayo dressing, nevertheless – it was a small portion so I just ate all the toppings and a bite of bread to give it a try.

Interior garden and tables at Gotdfork Restaurant.

Always stop along the way of any food tour to smell the flowers:)

Last, but not least.

Torvehallen food market. It touts itself as an urban, covered marketplace featuring stalls with local produce, gourmet foods, beverages & desserts. Most of the Danish do their high quality shopping here and you can find many souvenirs as well as breakfast or lunch.

At Boutiquefisk, I ate the cod fish cake with a creamy remoulade and pickle mayo piccalilli served with piece of rye bread (of course). Very tasty, very Danish and very unexpected!

And, to top off our tasty bites was at Summerbird Chocolaterie where I tasted Flødeboller, a dark chocolate shell that encased a super soft marshmallow with a Marzipan base and an Amber chocolate –the first white caramelized chocolate in the world. Both amazing, and all organic!