Affordable (ish) Eats in Copenhagen

I was prepared for expensive dinners before we left for Copenhagen. We were there for the Christmas markets a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share my food experiences for anyone planning a trip over. Was it as pricey? Find out below…

Denmark is famous for its pork and it is delicious. They slaughter around 80 million pigs a year for consumption and medical purposes.  You can even get pig ornaments to decorate your tree.

If you want to splash out, there are plenty of fine dining places to visit. We were there to enjoy good food without breaking the bank balance.  I had done a bit of research on where to eat and we quickly realised that a lot of the places that were coming up as £ on websites like Culture Trip were, in fact, £££ when we got there. TIP: Always check how old posts are and take Trip Advisor reviews with a pinch of salt.

• Ole & Steen (Lagkagehuset): Lagkagehuset, originally a Danish brand, serves delicious pastries and perfect coffee which is ideal for breakfast (I prefer not to book breakfast at the hotels when I am on city breaks- I find it better to explore what is out there). You can get three pastries for around £5.50 and hot drinks are around £3.50 which is similar to London. Nothing like sitting in a cafe that smells of freshly baked bread in the morning.
  
  

  
• Conditori La Glace: The oldest confectionery shop in Copenhagen is a tourist attraction but also a great place to indulge in cream cakes and sweet treats (French & Danish).  For £19 for we had 2 pastries and 2 drinks. This was a bit pricey, however the hot drinks were refillable. The hot chocolate was about £8 but you could get a refill meaning two of you could share it.
  
  

  
• Uformel: We walked into this restaurant based on a recommendation online. Despite being Michelin star (which we realised after we got there), we did not feel out of place in our jeans and boots. The A La Carte menu on the Menu board outside said the dishes were around £20. We thought this was reasonable so we got a table. It was only once we sat down and got served, the server told they recommended 3-4 dishes per person from the A La Carte (the penny dropped!). I asked if we could just have nibbles and a drink and the staff member said that was fine. We shared some crispy melt in your mouth pork cracklings and rosemary olives. I sipped on a divine cocktail called Passionate (rum, passion fruit, vanilla, lime) that had a liquorice rim. A drink and some nibbles costs around £20 which was not too bad. The tasting menu is around £100 each.
  
• Det Lille Apotek: We stumbled across this restaurant and it turned out to be the oldest restaurant in Copenhagen. It was the perfect place to enjoy Danish cuisine. We went for a platter which was around £25 per person. It was a feast and we could not finish it. The platter had Traditional Herring, Battered Plaice, Warm Roast Pork, Meatballs, Liver pate, all served with fresh Rye and white bread. It was worth every penny. I enjoyed the Herring with a shot of Snaps to sip on. This is Danish tradition and though the Snaps was strong, it went really well with the oily Herring. We also ticked off a lot of the traditional danish food.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• BOB: Biomio Organic Bistro is located in the Meatpacking District, somewhere you can enjoy great food and drinks. You cannot miss this organic restaurant with the bright Bosch neon sign outside. We went here for drinks and a snack. For £10 we got a substantial sharing board with meat, crisps and a delicious dip. The open kitchen added to the great ambiance in the store and our server Rune made our visit enjoyable. The drinks were reasonably priced. Beer was about £6 and my cocktail (Bob’licious) was £8 which was reasonable. If we had time we would have returned for a meal because the burgers looks so good here.
  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• Johns Hotdog Deli: Another restaurant in the Meatpacking District. Copenhagen’s best hot dogs are apparently at Johns Hotdog Deli. For £15 you can get a pimped up hot dog , fries and drink. The hot dog was delicious and being able to add unlimited topping was just a great idea. We loaded our fries too. The Deli served a range of hot sauces made in conjunction with Mikkeller beer if you wanted to spice things up.
  
  

  

  

  

  
• Christmas Markets: Pork rolls filled with juicy pork, crispy pork crackling, red cabbage always go down well. Costing around £8 we enjoyed a couple of these in as lunch. There was another Danish dish,  Burning Love (Brændende Kærlighed) which I enjoyed. Creamy mash potato, crispy pork belly, bacon and beetroot, this calorie-filled dish was comforting. We also tried bacon wrapped hot dog which is a thing in Copenhagen. It was good but more on the salty side. These are available from some hot dog stands for about £5.
  We walked to Christiana to have a look at the markets there and enjoyed some chicken and asparagus pies and rice pudding boiled with cream ( a Danish favourite this time of year).
  
  

  

  

  

  

Drinks:

We did visit Copenhagen for the Christmas Markets and the drink I had the most frequently was Mulled Wine. Priced at around £6 the warm wine went down a treat. I also discovered a warm drink made with Aperol, mango, cinnamon, apple juice and white wine. Wish this was available at all the markets but I only saw it in Nyhavn.

Joe & Juice is a Danish brand and you see their stores all over the town. Juices are priced around £4/5 which again is similar to UK prices. The store is perfect to get the vitamins in after all the pork.

Our friends like craft beer and it turned out Copenhagen had a great selection and is home to many of the famous brands like Mikkeller and War Pigs.

---

The food in Copenhagen was amazing but I am a meat-eater. I think the only vegetables I consumed while there was red cabbage and beetroot. I would have liked to easten more Smørrebrøds (especially a seafood one called the shooting star) but time ran out ( an excuse to go back).

---

Neha 

x