In the late 1890s, Refshaleøen, on Copenhagen’s harbour, was one of the world’s largest shipyards, employing thousands in a thriving community. A century later, the dry dock went bankrupt and the neighbourhood was abandoned. Over the past few years, however, a crowd of foodies have moved into its run-down warehouses, transforming the island into a legitimate hotspot. First on the scene was Amass in 2013, a no-waste fine-dining restaurant from Matt Orlando, Noma’s former head chef, serving egg-white custard with lobster and potato-and-caramel ice cream. For his latest endeavour, Orlando has ventured into drinks, opening brewery-meets-bar Broaden and Build across the street.
Here, kitchen byproducts such as lacto-fermented fruit and fir pine are used to create one-of-a-kind beers that go nicely with the main restaurant’s spicy cod’s head. Down the road is La Banchina, an old ferry waiting room reimagined as a 16-seat farm-to-table spot beside the water, which turns into an urban beach club in summer. Book ahead for the weekend’s nine-course seafood or vegetarian suppers, where natural wines are paired with scallop roe, followed by rosehip sorbet and pistachio crumble. Nearby is kickstarter-funded Lille Bakery; here killer sourdough and raspberry Berliners – traditional German doughnuts coated with rose-pink sugar – are filled with bay-leaf custard and snapped up almost as soon as they’re out of the ovens.
The world-famous, relaunched Noma 2.0 with its waterside greenhouse is a short walk away, too. It is as brilliant as ever, serving marigold flowers topped with egg-yolk sauce and tofu with grasshopper mole. There are now three menus, so time your visit appropriately: vegetables are the focus from June to September; game and forest from October to December; and seafood is January to May. For more laid-back bites, there’s shipping-container street-food market Reffen, which opened last year with stalls selling dishes such as Skyr cheesecakes and cauliflower tandoori. But most exciting is soon-to-open Alchemist 2.0.
The brainchild of controversial flavour king Rasmus Munk – his fish served dead and alive saw him position a stick of hake on top of a goldfish swimming in a bowl. At his latest project, expect roaming artists, optical illusions and palate-bending feasts, such as ice cream flavoured with the lees left over from sake production. Not only has the most influential restaurant in the world chosen this zone as its new location, with menus that only last a few months, but innovators such as Munk are pushing its boundaries to a completely new story-telling level.
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