Where to eat in Copenhagen without spending a fortune
Copenhagen has a reputation for being expensive, and it’s not entirely undeserved. But the city also has a serious food culture at every price point, and once you know where to go, eating well on a budget is genuinely possible. These are the places the team recommends when a guest asks at the desk.
Gasoline Grill
Landgreven 10, 1301 Copenhagen
Probably the most famous burger in Copenhagen, and the reputation is earned. Gasoline Grill started in 2016 when Klaus Wittrup opened a burger stand inside a working gas station at Landgreven, with a short menu, organic beef ground fresh in-house every day, and absolutely no compromise on quality. Bloomberg listed it among the 27 best burgers in the world. It was featured on Netflix. It now has seven locations across the city.
Go to the original. The gas station at Landgreven is still operating, the outdoor seating is still limited, and eating a cheeseburger in the former shop of a working petrol forecourt is the kind of experience the other locations can’t replicate. It opens at 11am every day and closes when it sells out. The butter burger is the one to get.
Comé Rice Kitchen
Flæsketorvet 44, 1711 Copenhagen (Meatpacking District)
A small Japanese rice concept store in the Meatpacking District that has become the city’s onigiri favourite. Comé (the name is Japanese for rice) makes its onigiri fresh in a continuous stream throughout the day, in rotating flavours from tuna mayo and salmon to seasonal specials. You can also get karaage chicken, sashimi, daikon salad and tempura. The queue out front looks long and moves in five minutes.
Two onigiri come in at 65 DKK. A full lunch with karaage comes in well under 150 DKK. By Copenhagen standards, that is a remarkable lunch, and the quality is genuinely good.
- Good food in Copenhagen. You just need to know where to look.
- Good food in Copenhagen. You just need to know where to look.
- Good food in Copenhagen. You just need to know where to look.
Smagsløget
Vesterbrogade 19, 1620 Copenhagen
A sandwich place on Vesterbrogade that bakes its own bread, makes its own sauces and does one thing with complete commitment. The sandwiches are enormous (one can genuinely feed two light eaters), the ingredients are serious, and the prices sit around 75 to 90 DKK per sandwich. The flæskestegsandwich (roast pork with crackling) is the local recommendation, but the salmon with crab salad is worth knowing about. No beer licence, which is an odd detail for a Danish sandwich spot, but the food is good enough that it doesn’t matter.
Harry’s Place
Nordre Fasanvej 269, 2200 Copenhagen
Harry’s Place has been at the same spot on Nordre Fasanvej since 1965. Harry Löfvall was a trained sausage maker who supplied Copenhagen’s prisons. Inmates were supposed to receive the equivalent of 1.5 standard sausages per meal, but cutting the sausage in half meant one person always got the bigger piece, and arguments followed. Harry solved the problem by creating a single oversized sausage that contained the full portion, named it after a prison guard called Børge, and started selling it at the stand. Harry passed away in 1989. The Børge is still on the menu, still served with “Krudt” (gunpowder) sauce, and the recipe for that sauce has never been shared.
It is not close to the hotel. It is about 20 minutes by bus. It is worth the trip.
Order the Børge med Krudt. Wash it down with chocolate milk, which is the Danish way and less strange than it sounds. Stand up to eat it. That’s how it’s done.
Nam Thai
Abel Cathrines Gade 6, 1654 Copenhagen — [Google Maps]
Literally around the corner from Capsule Hotel Copenhagen. Nam Thai serves authentic Thai food at prices that are reasonable even by non-Copenhagen standards, with a warmth of service that makes it feel like a neighbourhood place rather than a tourist option. The kind of spot you end up going back to twice in the same trip without meaning to.
Pastabro
Halmtorvet 46, 1700 Copenhagen
A small, no-reservations pasta place facing the Meatpacking District with communal tables, a short menu and an entirely justified following. The pasta is made fresh daily, the sauces change, and the menu is small because it doesn’t need to be anything more. Ragù, pomodoro, carbonara, fungi — whatever is on when you arrive is what you get. The bruschetta to start is worth ordering. Expect to wait for a table at peak hours, and don’t come if you’re in a hurry.
Folkehuset Absalon
Sønder Boulevard 73, 1720 Copenhagen — about 8 minutes on foot from the hotel
Not a restaurant, but worth knowing about. Folkehuset Absalon is a former church converted into a community house that runs daily communal dinners alongside a rotating programme of ping-pong, yoga, talks and concerts. The dinners are the main draw: a set menu, long tables, whoever turns up that evening. You book a spot in advance, pay around 80 DKK and eat with strangers. It is the kind of social experiment that sounds slightly awkward on paper and tends to be excellent in practice. Check the current programme at absalon-kbh.dk before you go.
related articles
Foods and drinksSwitzerland
SwitzerlandThings to do
Foods and drinksSwitzerlandThings to do
SwitzerlandThings to do
SwitzerlandThings to do
