Press Information
December  2008

Eat with the In-crowd

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, Quote (situated on the exclusive Kongens Nytorv Square) and Bistro Boheme, situated in the royal and financial district, open from breakfast to supper. An innovation is Bistro Boheme's wine-o-tec, where apart from the wines on the list it is possible to buy 32 different wines by the glass. 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 Generation
Three 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 there is Restaurant Sult located in The Danish Film Institute (Filmhuset), and named after the 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. Sophisticated 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.

They have taken over the Café à Porta on Kongens Nytorv. This is one of Copenhagen's oldest cafés. 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.

Another group of restaurants that have become immensely popular started off with the Cofoco Restaurant (short for Copenhagen Food Company) and now consists of four restaurants. At restaurants Cofoco and Les Trois Cochons you can order a three course meal for DKK 275, at Auberge, a deluxe version of a three to six course menu for DKK 275 - 500. Vespa recently opened and is Cofoco's first restaurant in the city. They serve a five course meal of Mediterranean cuisine every Friday and Saturday that costs DKK 300, with a 50 crown discount Monday through Thursday. Finally there is the "break-away" Madklubben where the three course menu is offered at DKK 200. In July 2008 the people behind the popular restaurant Madklubben opened their second restaurant and named it quite naturally, Den Anden (The Second One). A modern rendition of a Parisian bistro deluxe.

A newcomer among the in spots is Hotel Twentyseven in Løngangsstræde 27 - hence the name. Just check in with one of the Live Life-packages; enjoy life in The Wine Room, experience food and wine from all over the world; enjoy classical and molecular drinks served in the Honey Ryder Cocktail Lounge and get a cool experience in the Absolut Icebar Copenhagen, built uniquely with ice from the Torne-river in Lapland. Even the restrooms are designed to give you an extraordinary experience!

May 2008 saw the opening of a delicatessen with its own dairy, bakery, kitchen and chocolate production. A gourmet restaurant, Restaurant Herman, dedicated to Danish classics like "Burning Love" and "Shooting Star" - but be prepared for a radical and affectionate interpretation! A more informal brasserie, Nimb Restaurant, where the kitchen is the restaurant, you sit next to the chef and your meal is prepared virtually under your nose; no obscure tricks, no shortcuts. And finally a charming all suite hotel with 13 rooms, all under one roof. In the basement the Vinotek offers more than 30 wines by the glass and 1000 wines on display plus a hotdog stand with homemade brioche and onions fried in duck's fat and rosemary. All this is the recipe for Løgismose-Tivoli's ambitious transformation of "NIMB". The former grandeur is now being revived at the legendary address in Tivoli. The key word of the whole project is quality - in the architectural expression, in the furniture, and in everything that the new house will be producing. The building will undergo extensive renovation to restore the famous facade facing Tivoli to its original appearance from 1908.

Conran now in Copenhagen
Directly 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 opened in November 2006. The building dates back to 1937 and is built in a distinct functionalistic ‘jazz-modern' style. This is 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 consists 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.

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.

On the ground floor of the old department store Daells Varehus on the corner of Krystalgade and Fiolstræde is a café, which has taken over the store's nickname Dalle Valle and seats 100 persons indoors and 100 outdoors. It opens for brunch from 8am and stays open until 2am when the DJ stops the last vinyl on the record player.

Also worth mentioning is Plaza Library Bar - a stately, wood-panelled library bar similar to a London gentleman´s club and was voted by Forbes Magazine one of the ten best of its kind in the world. Saturday live jazz from 10pm.

East meets West
Close to Sankt Hans Torv in Guldbergsgade and opened in September 2006 is the gourmet restaurant KiinKiin (in Thailand this means ‘eat eat' or ‘come-and-eat' and is heard all over at mealtime). From the restaurant there is a beautiful view over the Jewish Cemetery and the interior has been put in the hands of the group Panta from Bangkok, especially known for their organically formed furniture of bamboo and water hyacinth.

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.

The super-modern minimalism of Søren K in the Black Diamond has won praise from the Danish press. Restaurant Viva is 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

Everybody who is fond of good food should also pay a visit to the Østerbro district, where ‘hot spots' are 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 meat dish, everything is in the hands of the chef himself.

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'. Both on www.visitcopenhagen.com/press