A Galaxy of Stars
Denmark is a quietly under-the-radar gastro-mecca with an impressive 37 Michelin stars and more than 100 recommended restaurants in The Michelin Guide Nordic Countries
Photo Courtesy of Wonderful Copenhagen
It all started in Copenhagen in 2003 with Chef René Redzepi’s vision for a New Nordic cuisine at Noma. His focus: bring back heritage ingredients and prepare them with old methods like pickling, canning and smoking. Since then, Noma has earned three Michelin stars and been named Best Restaurant in the World four times.
Also in Copenhagen, the three-star Geranium (located, improbably, on the top floor of the National Football Stadium) serves a hyper-local, pescatarian-centric menu—with about 20 bite-sized courses over three hours of dining.
Photo Courtesy of Alchemist
Copenhagen’s Hotel d’Angleterre is a stately historic landmark. Hans Christian Anderson stayed there. So did author Isak Dinesen (Out of Africa), and you can, too. Book a table at Marshal (one Michelin star since 2014). The seasonal eight-course menu there may include smoked salmon tartare, whole black lobster, and stuffed quail with morel sauce. Also in Copenhagen: Alchemist (two stars) for high-concept dishes (menu changes daily) in a dramatic setting; reservations (tickets) are released every three months. Koan (two stars), helmed by a Noma alum, offers haute Korean cuisine creatively reimagined with Danish ingredients. One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is kimchi-cured eye of rib eye served with Norwegian langoustine; another is kombu (kelp) ice cream with hazelnut oil and caviar.
Photo Courtesy of Jacob Lisbygd
If you head northeast from Copenhagen, you’ll end up in North Zealand and the Danish Riviera. Dine, or stay at, the one-star Søllerød Kro, a 17th-century thatched-house with French-Scandi cuisine and three rustic-chic guest rooms. At one-star Mota, the ingredients are fished, foraged or obtained from neighboring farmers and served on plates made by the chef. Three-star Restaurant Jordnær serves a French-inspired 10-course menu. Every dish is almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
Photo Courtesy of Soren Reed
Drive northwest out of Copenhagen and you’ll be in Jutland, familiar to fans of the popular Danish period drama Badehotellet (“Seaside Hotel”). Henne Kirkeby Kro (two stars) has been hosting hungry travelers since 1790. The cuisine is homegrown, home raised and locally fished. Its 12 stylish bedrooms have dreamy Hästens mattresses. In an architecturally significant building on the water, Lyst (one star) has a new menu every day, but it always includes fresh-caught and just-picked ingredients, accompanied by an impressive wine list. Restaurant TRI (one star) with seven tables in an unpretentious wood-and-glass building in the tiny coastal town of Agger, offers a brilliant nose-to-tail menu—simple food, well cooked—paired with wine or artful juice creations. On a cliff overhanging the North Sea, Villa Vest (one star) features a hugely creative, seafood-centric menu. The pan-fried plaice with piquant remoulade is worth the journey. Linger over a second bottle of wine, as it’s just a short downhill to the classic Villa Vest Badehotel.
Photo Courtesy of Mette Johnsen
Seaside Hotels
Seaside hotels (there used to be hundreds along the coasts of Europe) still exist in Denmark, many dating back more than 100 years. Some of these badehoteller are luxurious; some are quaint. The most historic are on North Jutland’s rugged-and-wild coast—the northernmost point of Denmark, where the North Sea meets the Baltic. The 36-room Svinkløv Badehotel was built in 1925 and rebuilt (after a devastating fire) in 2016. The interiors are simple and casual with a nautical blue-and-white theme and tall windows that catch the stiff North Sea breeze. Brøndums Hotel, built in 1874 in Skagen (a once-remote fishing village), was a favorite meeting place of the renowned Skagen painters, who, attracted by the spectacular scenery and crystalline light, summered here in the late 1800s. Many paintings given by artists in exchange for food and lodging still hang in the sitting rooms. Ruth’s Hotel, also in Skagen, has been welcoming guests since 1904. Now expanded to 52 en suite rooms, it still maintains its considerable charm. Strandhottelet Blokhus (opened in 2017) sits near windswept dunes and a huge expanse of white-sand beach (the largest in Europe, they say). In serene North Zealand, Hotel Hornbækhus (built in 1904) has 36 en suite rooms and living rooms decorated in colorful Danish modern furniture and vintage paintings.
Photo Courtesy of Mette Johnsen
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