Last week I went to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, for a 3 day IT training. The Danish kitchen is mainly known for meat and fish meals and Denmark claims to being the biggest pig meat exporter in the world (pig producers: 8.300, number of pigs produced per year: 25.800.000, number of live exports: 3.700.000), followed by Canada and the US. So I didn’t expect to be in vegan heaven and did my homework beforehand. I found at least 3 vegetarian restaurants in Copenhagen, all of them with some vegan choices as well. Next to these vegetarian restaurants, there are also some normal restaurants which also serve vegetarian and vegan dishes, but if I have the choice I try to avoid those.
The evening I arrived it was already late and trying to get to the hotel I had to live with some plain bread and a huge coffee at the central train station. It was simple but after a long day, yummy and enough to fill my stomach.
The next day after the training I took the metro and went over to Christiania, where the Morgenstedet restaurant is located. Christiania is a partially self-governing neighborhood of about 850 residents in the center of Copenhagen.
Without a map it took me a while to find it and on the Christiania territory I wasn?t able to find the restaurant and to be honest, I didn?t really feel comfortable there, so I decided to leave and try one of the other restaurants.
Two metro stations later I arrived at the Norreport Station from where it wasn’t too far to Govindas. Govindas is a Hare Krishna restaurant as you can find them in many cities. They serve vegetarian Indian food for an affordable price. The restaurant is kept very simple with Indian background music. As far as I know, Govindas serves at least one vegan menu every day, so the choice is easy. It was a good meal, although slightly overcooked and bland in flavor.
The next day I wanted to try out the Grønne Kælder after I had a few beers in the Nørrebro Bryghus. The Grønne Kælder is also in walking distance of the Norreport Station and I found it without any problems but unfortunately it was closed that day (with a note in Danish on the door). The restaurant is located in the basement and looked very cosy.
So I walked another 15 minutes and went to Govindas again, where they had a different, yet similar tasting menu.
The next day it was already time to leave Copenhagen again and decided to eat a good lunch at the airport before my flight at 12:22, since I had to go to the office directly after arriving in Amsterdam. I had a delicious and huge vegetarian pasta dish (Pasta Vegetar) at Gino?s Pasta, which was vegan as well.
If you arrive in Copenhagen or leave and don?t want to travel with an empty stomach, I can highly recommend this meal. It wasn?t as expensive as one would expect from an airport restaurant.
Addresses and links:
Govindas
Nøerre Farimagsgade 82, 1364 København K
phone: +45 33 33 74 44
www: http://www.govindas.dk
Den Grønne Kælder
Pilestræde 48, 1112 København K
phone: +45 33 93 01 40
Morgenstedet
Bådmandsstræde 43, Christiania, København K
on Apr 12th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Denmark really isn’t the best country to be in for vegan and vegetarian food. Sometimes when I go there it feels like buying pork is cheaper than buying vegetables. I’m sure it is! The prices on fresh vegetables are insane.
I’m happy you found somewhere to eat. We have Govindas here in Lund, Sweden too but it gets very boring. The food is good, but most of it tastes just the same.
Next time, try going to Malmö. There are two really fabulous restaurants there, and MANY of the normal restaurants have vegan and vegetarian options. Plus, we have kick ass falafel for almost no money at all in every street corner.
on Jul 29th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
hello
I live in Copenhagen and I have to say I totally disagree with Emmie. Sure Copenhagen is more expensive than Malmo, but that is something everbody knows but to answer this article I have to say there is quite many options to eat vegan or vegetarian in Copenhagen. You can go to the restaurants you have mentiones above but there is many other organic-vegetarian restaurants. In Chistiania you can find many of them, with super nice food and enviroment ( I think you should try them next time, people overthere is also very nice and friendly) and there is another one called “Riz Raz” with offer daily vegetarian buffet wich a very wide menu. I also have to say is quite easy to find vegetarian or vegan food in all the indian, thai, turkish restaurants that you can find around. For me it has been much easier to find vegetarian food in Denmark than in Spain, for instances…
Hope next time you come you find it easy to eat…It is very annoying not to find nice food wherever you go.