Eight of the best smorrebrod restaurants in Copenhagen (2024)

From designer-style open-faced sandwiches at Selma to Aamanns 1921's elegant take on the classics, these eight restaurants showcase the city’s most exciting smørrebrød offerings.

The open-faced sandwich, or smørrebrød, is as Danish as a block of LEGO. It is a mini design marvel in its own way too: a delicately balanced dance of textures, flavours and colours piled in a tower built on a buttered rye bread base. Classic varieties include pickled herring topped with onions and capers; prawn, boiled egg and aioli; chicken salad with mushrooms and bacon; and warm liver paté with beetroot.

The dish dates to the 19th Century when agricultural workers would pack rye bread and leftovers from the previous night’s dinner to eat for lunch. In Copenhagen, today’s top restaurants have evolved this hearty worker’s food, keeping the heavy rye bread but adding international ingredients like yuzu and kefir to create a fresh take on an old tradition. These modern iterations takes certainly look as good as they taste, focusing heavily on visuals with perhaps an extravagant cloud of micro herbs, a vermillion-bright accent of beetroot and a perfectly sliced, perfectly positioned pickle.

Considered one of Denmark’s national dishes, alongside the hot dog and flæskesteg (roast pork), smørrebrød comes in hundreds of varieties, most with the standard heavy rye bread base. These eight spots bring together the city’s most cutting edge and traditional smørrebrød offerings in one list.

1. Best for elegant, seasonal dishes: Aamanns 1921

With marble tables, a mirrored dining room and soaring ceilings, Aamanns 1921 is where Jay Gatsby would eat if he was keen on rye bread. Run by restaurateur and TV chef Adam Aamann and located down a quiet cobbled street in the heart of Copenhagen, the upmarket eatery is known for its local and seasonal focus, along with its homemade snaps (a shot of strong aquavit-style alcohol).

Snaps is the traditional accompaniment to a smørrebrød plate, after all, and the tastefully lit bar is lined with bottles with handwritten labels, giving it the air of a 19th-Century apothecary shop.

Aamann runs three other restaurants serving smørrebrød in the city, including one at the Royal Playhouse, and a further two takeaway delis. At 1921, you can expect an elegant take on the classics, with plenty of herring and a changing menu that reflects what is in season in Denmark and the Nordics – perhaps a thick slab of herring with crème fraiche, blackcurrent and rose atop your bread, hand-peeled shrimp with sliced egg, tomatoes and a sprinkle of chives, or fried and breaded plaice with herbs, lemon and a remoulade sauce. Smørrebrød is, as it has always been, the staple food at lunchtime; in the evening, the menu includes other classic dishes.

Aamann has a commitment to producing local and sustainable food, serving up to 90% organic ingredients, using Danish producers as far as possible, avoiding bottled water and setting the tables with 100% biodegradable tablecloths and napkins.

2. Best for a liquid lunch: Schønnemann

Award-winning Schønnemann is a cosy and welcoming cellar restaurant that has been serving smørrebrød to Copenhageners for more than a century. According to a framed cross-stitch picture on the wall, there was once sand on the floor and herring on the table, referring to the days when it was a regular haunt for farmers and their dirty boots.

The restaurant is owned and run by husband-and-wife team Juliette and Thomas Gaarn Rasmussen, and is known for its classic smørrebrød dishes including rolled pork slices; multiple types of marinaded herring; perfectly pink Greenland prawns in a tottering pyramid atop a slice of bread; and plenty of duck, pork and chicken all on top of dark and nutty ryebread.

You might be mistaken for thinking this place is all about drinking, not eating, given the enormous display of snaps bottles on the counter, numbering 140 in total. A note nearby reads: "Lunch without snaps is called breakfast", and diners can choose from Danish and imported liquor shots in measures described as "embarrassing", "reasonable" and "large" for 2cl, 4cl and 6cl, respectively.

The restaurant is only open for lunch from 11:30 to early evening, with two seatings. It’s extremely popular: weekend bookings are taken three months in advance and even on Monday and Tuesday, it’s best to book a month ahead.

3. Best for contemporary versions: Selma

Smørrebrød doesn’t have to be classic, it can be contemporary too. Selma, run by Swedish chef Magnus Pettersson, does not play by the traditional rules. Named after the chef’s daughter, the restaurant has risen to the challenge of modernising the dish – and reaped the rewards in 2019 when it was awarded with a Bib Gourmand in the Nordic Guide Michelin. To date, it’s the only smørrebrød restaurant in Copenhagen to enjoy this accolade and is known as one of the best lunch spots in the city.

It’s a place where you’ll want to take photos of your food – flavour is key, but so are good looks. Expect beautiful dishes topped with micro herbs, dusted with cress and decorated with vibrant wildflowers and a backdrop of handpainted wallpaper and stylish lighting.

A friendly, hip kind of eatery, the designer-style open-faced sandwiches are washed down with craft beers by Copenhagen’s own brewery Mikkeller and spirits from Copenhagen Distillery. Menus are devised with their own beer pairings and you can, if you’re brave, tackle a five- or seven-course tasting menu introducing you to the delights of smørrebrød, where smaller-than-average servings allow you to try the full range of tastes available, including fish, meat, vegetarian and even sweet, dessert-style sandwiches. As a typical smørrebrød meal would only involve two or three varieties, it’s a great way to explore what’s possible.

4. Best for delicious North Sea flavours: Restaurant Barr

Located in noma’s original building on the quay at Christianshavn, and opened in partnership with acclaimed Danish chef René Redzepi, Thorsten Schmidt’s Restaurant Barrcelebrates the food of his childhood. Dubbed "North Sea Cuisine", flavours cover the ground from Germany to Denmark, not forgetting the sea that links them. That explains why the menu includes smørrebrød but also herring and meatballs.

Schmidt’s background is in molecular gastronomy, so don’t expect homely food; it’s satisfying and classic, but elevated at the same time. With harbour views and a refined atmosphere, the setting provides a great backdrop to his classy take on Denmark’s hearty traditional cuisine.

The name "Barr" has a resonance across the the North Sea region: meaning "crop" in Old Irish, it’s also the name for "barley" in Old Norse, a staple food for all these countries going back centuries. Barr is a classic Copenhagen restaurant: relaxed, welcoming and low-key, and yet chic at the same time. As well as the dining room, there is a 30-seat beer bar and a wide range of beers to choose from, plus outdoor seating along the waterfront.

Lunch includes a smørrebrød dish of herring with red berries, pork fat and thyme over a ryebread base, along with shrimp with dill, lemon and a soft boiled egg served on white bread, and eel tartare and salted smoked beef with horseradish on heavily seeded rye. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants compared dining here to "a gastronomic bear hug" and we can see why.

5. Best for a Danish herring experience: Palægade

There’s a little drama on the menu at Palægade, a restaurant routinely listed by Danish newspaper Politiken as one of the best places to eat smørrebrød in the city. In a great central location close to Nyhavn (the tourist heart of the city), the restaurant was originally in a different building that burned down in 2020. Rebuilt and reopened, the new Palægade serves a classic, modern and gourmet open-faced sandwich menu for lunch that is worth waiting for.

Part of the Formel B family of restaurants – which includes Formel B, a Michelin-starred spot since 2014 – the restaurant is owned by four friends who met as student chefs. It’s the best place in town if you want to dive into a Danish herring experience. Their menu is heavy on herring, with six different options for smørrebrød, ranging from classic to experimental. The deep-fried herring with creamy leek, Brussel sprouts and yuzu sauce is one you won't find anywhere else.

TIP: Palægade has an excellent wine selection, especially French wine. In addition, don't miss the custom-designed cake trolley.

6. Best for dining like a king: Meyers i Tårnet

Run by Claus Meyers, co-founder of Meyer and a chef-food entrepreneur with seemingly a finger in every pie in Copenhagen, Meyers i Tårnet gives you the chance to dine like a king, eating smørrebrød while surrounded by marble busts once beloved of Denmark’s kings in Christiansborg Palace.

Part of the Danish Parliament building and formerly a royal palace, Meyers I Tårnet opened 2014 with a view of the Queen’s stables and royal parade ground. A brief security check on the way up in the elevator is all part of the appeal. Then it’s on to the Danish smørrebrød classics: shavings of cucumber piled atop smoked salmon with herbs, spirals of white onion and rye bread. Breaded and pan-fried fish fillet served with the classic condiment remoulade, all served on rye.

Easter specials include platters of smørrebrød, Danish apple cake and filled chocolate eggs; at other times of year, notably Christmas, they also offer special menus. Part of the non profit organisation Foodprint Nordic, Meyers i Tårnet donates 1% of profits to help climate change projects.

7. Best for a maritime atmosphere with gourmet cuisine: Lumskebugten

In the mid-1800s, this little spot near the old custom’s house was a hive of activity, particularly for badly behaved sailors. Here, at the end of the historic harbour, treacherous sandbanks created by strong tides lay in wait for unsuspecting sailors, and equally treacherous, a pub called Lumskebugten lay in wait for their wages as soon as they set foot on Copenhagen’s soil.

Keeping the name, but now a light-filled and elegant restaurant where drunken sailors would get short shrift, Lumskebugten is run by Danish gastronomical icon Erwin Lauderbach, a chef, restaurateur and cookbook author who has been at the helm since 2011. On the menu, you’ll find daily specials and plenty of classics, such as cured veal tongue, sweetbread and mushroom smørrebrød, and fried flatfish fillet with shrimps, piled on a rye-bread base. It’s also a place you can try the curiously named "vet’s night snack" smørrebrød, a confection of liver pate, salt beef, aspic and red onion named for a former royal vet.

If the location looks familiar, it could be because it was featured in the Oscar-winning film Another Round as the location for Mads Mikkelsen’s fantastic dance sequence, which culminated in a show-stopping swallow dive into the harbour.

8. Best for heritage and tradition: Told & Snaps

If you like your dining with a little more regal charm, Told & Snaps has the starched white tablecloths for you. This basem*nt restaurant on a side street between Nyhavn and the palace at Amalienborg has walls lined with royal portraits in gilded frames and runs with a rumour that the Queen gets her smørrebrød here. (She only lives a short walk away, after all.) Historical details abound – there are even ashtrays in the toilets – and plenty of older patrons are known by name by the staff. Forget New Nordic, this is more of a classic affair.

In fact, heritage and traditional are the keywords for this storied spot. Classic smørrebrød dishes are served on Royal Copenhagen porcelain, including pickled herring with shrimps and homemade mayonnaise, beef tartare with freshly shredded horseradish and – perhaps the most Danish of all – warm liver paté with cucumber salad, pickled beetroot and bacon. Vegetarians are out of luck.

Traditional dishes are accompanied by a choice of organic beer and more than 20 varieties of snaps, all homemade at the restaurant according to the season. Expect anything from walnut snaps to a spicy star anise and cinnamon brew, or a shot made with violet heritage carrots.

BBC Travel'sThe SpeciaListis a series of guides to popular and emerging destinations around the world, as seen through the eyes of local experts and tastemakers.

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