Copenhagen is full of adorable cafes and bars but none as hipster cute as Parterre. First, it's in the Christianshavn neighborhood which I loved - it's a wonderful part of Copenhagen separated from the rest of the city by the inner harbor and it has a much more local and liveable feel to it. If I ever moved here, I could see this being the part of Copenhagen I would live in because it just oozes with charm.
While I loved this place, it's definitely much more coffee shop than breakfast place. Regardless, it's a wonderful place to spend some time. Hipster location? Check. Gorgeous minimalist Danish design? Check. Hipster avocado toast on the menu? Check. Totally indifferent but adorable staff? Check. This was actually the first place in Copenhagen that I experienced where they didn't really try to accommodate English but hey, I guess we are in Denmark afterall. I settled on a cappuccino and yogurt with fresh berries (95 Krone) and Lav got avocado toast and a soft boiled egg. They have a few small seats outside with warming lamps (yes, even though it was July, we still needed warming lamps) and it was great people watching out there. The presentation of all the food was super Instagram worthy - beautifully sliced avocado on local rye bread and covered in some kind of health crunch on top and the yogurt was served with super fresh bright strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and combined with a sweet rhubarb jam (the Danes really like their jams). Side note, the coffee is pretty great there too.
You can tell that it was a pretty local joint as it is a bit out of the way of anything else and everyone there looked like they rolled out of their apt to enjoy some coffee. I could have stayed there for hours reading the paper and hanging out. My only wish was that they had a bigger food menu because it's not really a place to go if you're really hungry but then again, most people aren't going to a coffee shop if they are looking for a full meal. This place is definitely worth checking out if you are on your way to Freetown Christiania - an interesting autonomous, hippie "free town"that's a 5 min walk away.
Photo Credit: Yelp
Fru Nimb Bernstorffsgade 5, 1577 Copenhagen, Denmark 2.5 Forks
By total coincidence, 2 of my good friends Greg and Sarah from NYC happened to be in Copenhagen the same week as us but due to the timing, the only overlapping day we had was July 4th (which seemed appropriate - Go America). We decided to meet up at the Tivoli Gardens which is a fun, fairly large amusement park right in the middle of the city. It's a step up from a local country fair but it's definitely not on par with a Six Flags or other large scale amusement parks in the US.
After walking around a bit, we wanted to grab some lunch and I had read about this place in a blog as having good authentic open face sandwiches, which is a big Danish dish. Up until this point, I hadn't really had one yet, so we figured why not? Plus it had nice outdoor seating which was nice for Eli. The menu here has over 30 different kinds of open faced sandwich (which really just means it's missing the top) ranging from fish to shrimp to meat to a few veggie options - the most famous kind is a pickled herring with egg but I just don't love herring and settled on a roast beef one (125 krone or $18.5 USD). Luckily, Lav ordered a side of fries (didn't I tell you that would be a theme?) which honestly saved the meal.
This was the one meal I had on my entire trip where I thought it was way expensive and overpriced. The "sandwich" that came out couldn't have been more than 3 bites and without the top half of the bread, it was not filling at all. The roast beef itself was a bit dry and there was nothing inspiring about this "national" dish at all. Thank god Lav got the fries, those were nice thick cut steak fries that helped to fill me up for the rest of the day until dinner. While I don't want to necessarily poo-poo the open face sandwich concept, I think you're better off going somewhere else for it outside of the amusement park. If you do want to eat in Tivoli, there is a Wagamama there and you definitely can't go wrong with a meal there.
Photo Credit: Yelp
Paper Island Trangravsvej 8, 1436 København, Denmark 4.5 Forks
Complete obsession. Greg reminded me that this place is very similar to Smorgasburg at home, so maybe that's why I loved it so much. It's a food hall/market but it's right by the water in this very industrial warehouse setting with great views of the city on the other side. When you turn the corner and actually see the set-up, it's pretty cool because it's just throngs of people but in a very organized way sitting on communal tables or in lazy chairs drinking and hanging out. So much fun.
When you go inside, it's a bunch of different food stalls from all parts of the world: burgers, Thai, Mexican, Korean, beer, mojitos, etc. It's funky, creative, sustainable and affordable street food all in one place. After touring the space multiple times, I ended up getting an egg wrap with pulled pork and shredded pickled veggies. I know, it sounds kind of weird and not something that I would get, especially when there were giant burgers, but I was trying to be slightly healthy. It was a like a savory crepe but made with an egg base instead. It was filling and delicious. Lav got Mexican (she apparently ordered a quesadilla but it still turned out to be a taco - maybe something was lost in translation?) and Greg and Sarah got these giant plates of yummy looking Middle Eastern food. I don't remember how much it was but everything was pretty cheap.
I had walked by this doughnut stall earlier and had to go back because (A) the guy who worked there was super hot and (b) he was serving creme brulee donuts. What?!? It was exactly how you would imagine it - a fluffy sugar donut, stuffed with vanilla creme and then burned on top to give it a sweet crunchy glaze. Amazing. I could have easily eaten another one but refrained.
I was bummed that we couldn't get a seat outside, especially in the lazy chairs by the water but it looks like people had gotten there super early and just parked themselves there all day. It seemed like the place wher people get there early and just park themselves all day if it's nice outside. While I do love fancy experiences like BROR, it's places like these that really bring me the most joy.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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