The Ultimate Dining List for Copenhagen

I am leaving Copenhagen this weekend and sad to be leaving Denmark.  A new adventure is underway. I am headed to Silicon Valley in California.  I am looking forward to new dining experiences and design.

This past year living in Copenhagen I’ve tried my hardest to dine around town.  If you are headed this way soon here are a few not to miss…. (in no particular order). I hope this list points you in the right direction…. there are many wonderful things to eat in Copenhagen. It is one of my favourite culinary cities.

• Aamanns (modern smorebrod)
• Cock’s and Cows (burgers)
• Gorm’s Pizza (thin crust pizza)
• Schonnemann (classic smorebrod and herring)
• Salon 39 (cosy/bistro like)
• Relae (michelin star- not as expensive as noma :))
• Ved Stranden 10 (wine bar/charcuterie)
• Geist (fun atmosphere/new nordic)
• Famo (italian)
• Host  (new nordic mid priced)

• Mad Klubben Bistro deLuxe (affordable bistro type nordic cuisine)
• Fiskebaren (fish/raw/cooked)
• Mielcke & Hurtigkarl (a stunning showstopper of a room and meal with juice pairing)
• Oliver and the Black Circus (affordable three course meals)
• Kjobenhavn (breakfast and affordable three course meals)
• GoodMorning Vietnam (go for the pho)
• Pho Saigon (go for the bun and spring rolls)
• Grod (porridge)
• CheFe (sister to Era Ora- reasonably priced 90-100% organic restaurant)
• Era Ora (michelin italian)
• Dagh (decent brunch)
• Beyti (best kebab)
• Ahaaa (best falafel)
• Democratic Coffee (best croissants)
• Coffee Collective (coffee + breakfast pairings)

• Atelier September (breakfast, coffee, matcha tea)
• Beau Marche (salads, wine)
• Kaf’ Bar 9 (breakfasts/tea/coffee)
• Sticks and Sushi (sushi)
• Mad Hatter Bubble Tea Emporium (bubble tea)
• Hache (burgers)
• Nordisk Brodhus (bakery/breakfast/bread anything)
• Mother (sourdough pizza)
• Meyer’s Bakery (bread)
• Bageriet Brod (bakery)
• The Next Door Cafe (pulled chicken sandwich, biscotti, ginger lemonade)
• Food Shop No. 26 (lunch/bakery)
• KH Clausen (veggie sandwich/burgers)

• Joe and the Juice (avocado shake, tunacado sandwich)
• The Yogurt Shop (yogurt/skyr/muesli)
• Serenity Cupcakes (cupcakes)
• Strangas Pastry (macarons and other beautiful things)
• Sing Te Hus (tea and mochi balls)

May this list bring you good eats in your travels- see you state side next time we speak.

October Photos In and Around Copenhagen

A few visitors later and you really get around the city.  Here are a few of my favourite shots this month. Ahhh Copenhagen, such a beauty!

01 Lover of the sandwich in all shapes and sizes

02 Inside and outside cultural institutions

03 A short castle trip outside of the city

04 Admiring the beauty of a different time period

05 Multiple cafe visits for cosy (hygge) moments….

06 Interesting and unusual architecture and urban art

07 Touring old monuments with old friends

08 and making sure to start the day off right, Copenhagen style with some grod, muesli or Øllebrød!

Warning: A Lot of London Food Photos

A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting one of my favourite cities in the world to celebrate my sister-in law’s birthday and to visit friends.  I can’t get enough of London. Ever changing architecture, in particular some of the modern buildings in the City, is spectacular to look at and the food could keep me occupied for weeks on end.

I had 48 hours in the city and wanted to maximize my time with family and friends, which is why most of the photos below are of food.  I tend to socialize around food, eating as I converse, browsing markets and eating… I could have easily shot buildings, graffiti, or fashion but my group and I were after flavours!

I did manage one double decker bus ride from Borough Market to Notting Hill which was a blast, especially if you can score the window seats up top. It’s way easier to take the Tube to zip around London but you miss so much of the streetscape underground. If you haven’t been on a bus in London in a while- do it. I felt like I was back in Hong Kong on a double decker bus.

I walked Clerkenwell, Shorditch, Islington, Notting Hill and the City (not in that order….)

Here is my London map, a growing list of fun spots in the city that I like:

View London, England England in a larger map

If anyone is heading to London soon, I hope this map gives you a few handy tips.

Hope to see you again soon, London!

When in Copenhagen…. Learn how to bake bread

When you want to learn about your surrounding when living in a foreign country, start with the food and build from there.  In an effort to get in touch with our Danish-ness and celebrate my husband’s birthday, I put him (and me) to work on Sunday in a four hour bread baking class with my favourite cooking teacher in the city, Mia from CPH Good Food. I wrote her to organize the class and mentioned that I wanted the focus to be on all the delicious Danish breads and pastries we find around Copenhagen.

I am obsessed with eating Danish rye bread. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t have a slice.  I prefer to eat it with almond butter or a bit of cheese on top.  Danish rye is nothing like the rye bread in North America- you know the white kind with seeds that you find sandwiching deli meat.  Danish rye is dark, and as dense and heavy as a plate- because it was used as a plate to make open face sandwiches way back when.  You bake it in a loaf pan and cover/fill it with lots of nice seeds and nuts.  Scrumptious.

As we got started on our baking morning, I barely got a chance to stir a thing as my husband dove into the art of Danish bread making. He kneaded, stirred, rolled, spread, measured, and used the “magical” electric mixer with a dough hook when he became tired of kneading.

I managed to get into the action too!  But hey, who am I to hog a birthday present.

We baked four types of bread and pastries (rye, cinnamon swirls, a wheat bread and a white bread) and Mia baked a sourdough with us that she started from the day before.

Brussels: Architecture and Graffiti Hunting in the Rain

Okay… so Brussels- it’s a government city, it’s a transportation hub and it’s sprawling.  It may not have the design or fashion reputation of Antwerp but that did not deter your trusty Lamb411 tour guides from packing their rain accessories, jumping on a plane and spending a weekend touring the city.  Our goal was to hunt architecture (specifically Art Nouveau) and cartoon graffiti.

Typically when we travel, our exploration revolves around food and design.  Perhaps living in Copenhagen, a city full of both food and design, has spoiled our eyes and stomachs slightly, because if I were to judge Brussels on this criteria, I would not rush back.  It doesn’t have the bakeries of Paris or London.  We both found the food in Brussels rather mediocre- as in fine, but nothing to write home about. The customer service was also veering on the very laissez fair side.  We very much enjoyed spending time around Rue Antoine Dansaert,  and the Sablon, Ixelles and Uccle areas- they seemed to have more action going on and had a nice mix of retail/residential/arts/design, otherwise we found the city to be rather quiet, a typical touristy center and a tad boring- The mobs of tourists clustered around the little peeing statue- I don’t get it!  Haven’t people seen a statue with water coming out of it before? I believe it is called a fountain!

However- with a big BUT– if you like looking at buildings and appreciate street art (and of course antiques), Brussels is a wonderful place with a little from column A and a little from column B- throw in all the antique stores and markets and it can make for an exciting little weekend trip.  At the bottom of this post, I included my extensive Brussels map with lots of restaurant, retail, coffee, bakery and gallery recommendations.  We tried to visit as many as possible but like all good European cities, Sunday most things are CLOSED- which is why we save the museums/galleries for the city’s day of rest.

Breakfast of champions at one of the few places in Brussels that will make filter coffee: Or Espresso Bar.  The other one, AUB SVP, was closed when we arrived.

Lunch of champions at God Save the Cream: British inspired cafe

On to cartoon mural and graffiti hunting in Brussels….  Brussels is the comic book capital of the world and throughout the city you will see the most beautiful cartoon murals on the facades of buildings.  There is an official comic book mural walk which you can follow- We did not do the walk because we wanted the challenge of finding them ourselves. You can see more of the murals on the Mattador website article about comic book murals too.  We were not as successful as the article but made a nice dent in tracking them down!

There are lovely details on and around the buildings throughout the city including decorative cast iron doors, and random artistic adornments on the exterior of buildings.

Another thing that stood out to me was the use of symmetry in the design of public spaces and buildings.  Here are a few of my favourites in the photos below.

I admired how diverse the architecture of residential buildings were in the various neighbourhoods.  You could be looking at the style and architecture of 10 different decades on one street!

We found beautiful examples of street art in the most random places.  Graffiti that tells a story, in contrast to tagging adds to the feel and community of a neighbourhood.

There were also several examples of tiles on the street and on the sides of buildings which I thought was neat. I walked into an antique store and the guy had a big box of individual tiles that came off buildings. I was tempted but did not purchase one.

My favourite was hunting for examples of Art Nouveau around Brussels- a great reason to visit the city if you are into that style/time period.  We visited the residence and museum of the famous Belgian architect who championed the Art Nouveau style, Victor Horta to get a better understanding of the public and private houses and buildings he designed around the city. Four of his buildings are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Brussels is, no doubt a great starting point and base from which to travel to other places around Belgium or western Europe.  Two days is more than enough in my humble opinion to observe, walk, taste and see.  Next time I visit, I would rent a car or buy a train ticket to see the countryside and other smaller cities.   Even in the rain- and there was a consistent mist-like rain, the city is a beauty.  As for the hair- that is another story….

Sunday NOTE:  There is a new cafe called JAT’ that is open on Sunday. We visited twice and it is a wonderful spot (free wifi, good snacks, nice atmosphere/design).

My Map of Everything Wonderful in Brussels

View Brussels 48 Hours in a larger map