Kanal-Caféen — Restaurant in Copenhagen Municipality

Now this place is one of a kind. Let me explain…

So I arrived in Denmark to visit my brother and wanted the one food I really miss - Danish Smorgasbord, so he booked us in for the first day serving their Christmas special. We turned up to our 1pm reservation to start our just short of 5 hour marathon ‘jule frokost’ (Christmas lunch for the non-Danes).

So this is one of Copenhagens oldest traditional restaurants. There is a boat in the summer, but we were in the main dining area - a very cosy original setting. The staff were amazing throughout and attentive. So ambiance and service at a full 5, but let’s get on to the food…..

So my brother had booked the Xmas lunch, a set menu of 7 fish dishes followed by 7 meat dishes and finishing off with cheese followed by tradition Danish ris a la mande. 16 dishes. Crazy! But forget the numbers…

The food quality was amazing and the condiments were varied and plentiful. I can’t think of a situation in any restaurant where the servings were so ‘unmeasured’ meaning no thimbles or short measures. Neither of us could get through it all. Oh, and did I mention that it is all home made….

We washed it all down with the traditional beer and snaps. We tried 3 types and they leave the bottles and measure at the end how much we drank.

Value for money if you look at the enclosed menu, was excellent - other than this will become a yearly tradition now so I’m going to have to fly in the end of November now next year and going forward.

Truly amazing - thank you...

You go to Denmark, Copenhagen at that, you want to taste the local fare... they'll give you one word for that: smørrebrød. It translates literally to something like 'butterbread', but don't stick to the literal translation, for smørrebrød is a lot more. It is a whole universe of flavours generated by the various types of food that are placed on - or accompany - the above-mentioned bread. And, as far as smørrebrød is concerned, Kanal Caféen seems to know what they are doing, and they have also been doing it for quite some time. You have a great choice of different types of smørrebrød, and ideally your meal should be accompanied by shots of Danish aquavit (the local traditional spirit). Your soberness may not last too long on such a meal, but it is going to be a guaranteed experience. Another aspect to be appreciated is the fact that the menu prices are very decent, so your wallet won't suffer. With the summer setting and the barge on the canal open again, the experience is indeed complete, but also the space indoors is charming, with its atmosphere reminding you more of a museum than a restaurant. Don't forget to book in advance, as the place is...

Never again. Such a pity, As Danes living abroad, we have been coming here at least once often twice a year the past 5-6 years and always enjoyed the food. In July, however we went with 7 people, including three kids/teenagers with little interest in fish. So we ordered the small platte for the four of us (various dishes to share) and wanted to pick three dishes for the kids. That has worked out fine in the past. Now we were told that if the kids ate anything from the 'platte' , they would be charged the full sum!! How ridiculous, so you can't share a dish?? Even when you order for everybody at the table? They also forgot about bringing the extra rye bread as promised (gave up in the end, so never got it) and they forgot to bring one of the main dishes in the platte, so we had to ask various times for service we had paid for. What a disappointment, especially because we have told many of our foreign friends to have lunch there and not elsewhere. Needless to say, that they didn't get any extras this time. Such a disappointment, especially because it was a small birthday celebration… will miss the nice food but the popularity has obviously gone to...