75 Best Restaurants in Denmark

This lively eatery, which looks exactly like your favorite bistro in Paris, is the place to go for French favorites. Its accomplished chef and owner, Mikkel Egelund, satisfies with classics like entrecôte with béarnaise and crispy fries, mussels steamed in white wine and herbs, or salade niçoise. Enjoy a pre-dinner drink at the brass bar or have after-dinner coffee or Cognac on the patio.

The basement of City Hall, near the cathedral, houses this charming and popular café-restaurant with exposed brick walls, curved white ceilings, and low lights. The dinner menu features French-Danish dishes and various cuts of beef and lamb grilled on a lava-rock barbecue. The decor is as old-fashioned and traditional as the menu.

This classic Danish lunch restaurant is in a creaky, half-timbered building dating from 1694 with off-kilter floors, low ceilings, and lots of charm. It's a good place to stop for a "shopping lunch," a hearty platter with homemade Danish specialties. The outdoor terrace is surrounded by a cozy garden.

The Danish-American couple behind this restaurant met when Camilla Hansen walked into Nick Curtin’s restaurant in New York to go on a blind date with another man, and the rest is history. The restaurant, which serves French-inspired menus in a former band room in Islands Brygge, quickly got its first Michelin star. The five-course menu changes based on the seasons, available produce, and the creative ideas of the chefs. 

This handsome restaurant in the center of the town has rustic stone floors and green-and-gold-painted doors. It's named Beghuset (Pitch House) because this is where Dragør's fishermen used to boil the pitch that waterproofed their wooden ships. The Danish dishes on the menu include lemon sole with pearl barley risotto and chive sauce.

Just south of town lies Marselis Harbor, a bustling little sailboat cove surrounded by waterfront restaurants and cafés that draw big crowds on sunny summer weekends. Restaurant Seafood has an interior of light-blue walls, and its signature dish is a seafood bouillabaisse heaped with tiger prawns, squid, Norwegian lobster, and mussels and served with aioli on the side. Other dishes include oven-baked catfish with asparagus and warm ginger butter.

The snug corner restaurant is situated in the same cozy, cobblestoned neighborhood as Hans Christian Andersen's birthplace. It serves seasonal Italian- and French-inspired dishes using Danish ingredients, such as grilled redfish with boiled potatoes, and is also a popular brunch and lunch spot.

Noma’s former dessert chef has been drawing a crowd since she opened a street-food stall at Torvehallerne (still going strong), where she serves the best tacos in Copenhagen. Now she’s opened a full-service restaurant, too, on hip Istedgade, where the tacos are just as good.

At first this place seems very unassuming, but it faces one of the two marinas that dock private yachts, and in the summer the restaurant's terrace is the place to see and be seen by the denizens of these vessels. Whether you dine on the ground floor in the pub or upstairs in the blue-and-white restaurant that resembles a warehouse attic, you must try the fiskefrikadeller (fish cakes). Made from three Nordic fish and gently creamed with herbs and potatoes, they are one of the restaurant's most popular items. Wash them down with a frosty Danish beer or lemon soda.

The harbor-facing garden at this boisterous restaurant is always packed, which has as much to do with the excellent open-faced sandwiches as the prime location on the harbor.

Microbreweries normally aren't upscale, but this brew house, set on a picturesque city square not far from the cathedral, is a cut above the rest. The spotless interior, piping hot food—think barbecued ribs, fried or marinated fish, steaks, and fries—attractive atmosphere, huge outdoor terrace, and merry diners, not to mention the excellent beer brewed on the premises, make this pub special. Tastings and tours can also be arranged, and if you're in Aalborg for a couple of days you can buy a liter of your favorite homemade brew in a Danish-designed bottle and return for refills.

Located on the Roskilde Harbor, this seafood restaurant has views of the Roskilde Cathedral. Menus here change monthly; its five-course tasting menu, with matching wines, represents the best of each season.

Located in the very carefully curated design and furniture shop Studio X, this café attracts a hip crowd with its simple yet playful breakfast and brunch dishes. 

The 400-year-old canal-side tavern named after the seals often spotted on the nearby coast can seat up to 60 people, but it feels smaller, and its coziness draws both wayfarers and locals. The only seal mementos left are a few skins and pictures, but you can still order a "seal's special" of cold shrimp, sautéed potatoes, and scrambled eggs. In summer, you can sit outside by the river or in the courtyard.

The six tables at Vår are a popular place to get a taste of Funen, as the small restaurant uses only organic produce from local farms. You can opt for five, seven, or 10 small dishes, such as scallops with buckwheat, zucchini, and peas, and pair them with organic and natural wines from Europe.