Copenhagen: These restaurants serve delicacies

Metre by metre, the wooden slats disappear deeper into the sandy ground until they are finally swallowed whole. Dune grass rustles in the late summer wind, the sea, the Baltic Sea, cannot yet be seen, but it can be smelled. Sea buckthorn berries dab the green landscape bright orange, branches full of purple, almost black elderberries are gently brushed out of the way by Jason Renwick. Then, with a grand gesture, the top chef spreads his arms and says, "Welcome to my garden."

Apart from stalks and herbaceous growth sprouting from the sand, however, there is nothing to be seen. Garden? At the water's edge he bends down, plucks, passes around, lets people taste. Some taste pungent, others bitter, cucumber-like, like horseradish, seaweed, mustard.

What ordinary market or supermarket shoppers identify as weeds is precious to him and ends up in his cooking pot. "I try a lot, sometimes even my tongue was numb," says the young restaurateur and laughs.

Jason Renwick is forager and owner of Copenhagen's first vegan fine-dining restaurant Ark.

Foraging is the current trend

So this is the foraging trend that is currently moving the global food scene after fermentation. It was started, as so many things are, by René Redzepi and his restaurant Noma, considered one of the best addresses in the world (three Michelin stars), as part of the New Nordic kitchen revolution over the past 20 years.

Foraging means to search for food. In Jason Renwick's case, gathering plants by the wayside and making them edible, and cooking with only local ingredients even in the Scandinavian winter. Like so many of Copenhagen's up-and-coming food scene, Renwick, a well-travelled Australian by birth, worked at Noma.

It is therefore not enough for him to cook only herbal soups from the herb: He develops purely vegan nine-course menus, which he serves in his equally modern and dignified restaurant Ark, in the middle of Copenhagen. It is the first vegan fine-dining restaurant in the city to be awarded a green Michelin star.

The classic menu at Ark in Copenhagen consists of nine vegan courses with dishes like this essence of white beet, radish, apple and macadamia nut.

With an armful of greens, blossoms and berries, Renwick hurries back to the kitchen from his garden, or the Beach, as Copenhageners call the strip of the Øresund just a 30-minute drive away. Until he welcomes us to the Ark in the evening, there is time to visit a few other trendsetters of the new Copenhagen culinary scene.

Refshaleøen peninsula: Plenty of space for creativity

The peninsula, Refshaleøen, only 15 minutes by bike from the city centre, is a perfect location to discover creative cuisine. In a rough industrial setting, where Burmeister & Wain, one of the world's largest shipyards, once wrote Danish industrial history, the Michelin stars in the harbour line up like comets in the Milky Way: Noma, Amass, Alchemist - the top addresses of the New Nordic, in the city that likes and can afford this luxury.

Between the top addresses, with their own huge fruit and vegetable gardens, there is enough space in the disused warehouses and workshops for art galleries, tech companies, sourdough experiments, design schools and houseboat idylls. Or even to spawn and thrive such a beautiful general shop as La Banchina restaurant.

La Banchina resembles a surfer's shack with panoramic windows, it is beer garden, sauna, sun deck, swimming pool, café and restaurant with open grill - all at the same time. This is the place where Copenhageners relax and swim in the harbour basin in crystal-clear water - weather permitting.

Sustainability is becoming more and more important

The chef, Christer Bredgaard, has never worked at Noma, but he takes the idea of sustainability to the extreme. His credo: "If you don't have lemons in Denmark, use sour apples." He serves only fish from the Baltic Sea, Danish natural wine and buys only organic products. "Ninety-eight per cent of our ingredients are locally produced," he says.

Only vanilla, cinnamon, pepper and salt are imported from overseas. And explains, before serving delicious mackerel with grilled leeks, "Before the Noma revolution, we Danes ate fish, factory-farmed pork and potatoes. Fortunately, that has changed."

La Banchina owner Christer Bredgaard (right) and his chef Julian Mathisen focus on sustainability.

Future is uncertain

As is so often the case in former industrial wastelands, where first the artists and then the hip scene move in, the charming and creative Refshaleøen also faces an uncertain future. Real estate developers threaten its existence. Everyone here knows the problem. The owner of the largest urban vegetable garden with an accompanying restaurant, Christian Skaarup, has already taken precautions and built his Øens Have in Tippis: "The plan was to dismantle it quickly and be able to set up again somewhere else, because the contract only runs until 2027." What will happen then, no one knows at the moment.

Øens Have in Copenhagen is both a restaurant and an urban garden.

But since it is not only tourists from all over the world who frequent the top restaurants for a menu around 600 euros, but the harbour area is loved and cleaned up by the locals, one almost wants to believe that the relaxed scenery will continue for a long time.

Explore the city with Green Kayak

Green Kayak is one of the many good ideas that have come out of Copenhagen and are now also being implemented on the Alster and the Spree: Danes, but also tourists, paddle for free in kayaks provided and collect floating rubbish in return. "After the first season, we collected 1.4 tonnes," says Skaarup in farewell.

Back in town at the Ark restaurant. The vegan menu by Jason Renwick and his team is waiting - and offers all kinds of surprises. Some of it has been created in the kitchen since noon, others months ago through fermenting, smoking and pickling.

Our herb can be found in all kinds of textures and flavours, such as in the cold seaweed jelly soup, it decorates sourdough tarts, mixes with potato millefeuille, hides in cherry sorbet, and sours strawberry-rhubarb ice cream. Finally, the chef toasts us with a round of White Russian. If you think this classic cocktail is made in the usual way, you're completely wrong. He makes the base from coffee grounds and the cream comes from coconut.

At the popular Nyhavn, travellers like to enjoy the classic Smørrebrød with fresh crabs.

Enjoying classics at Nyhavn

If you're in the mood for something hearty after so much green, we recommend a walk to Nyhavn the next day - including the classic Smørrebrød with a mountain of fresh crabs, beer on the quay wall and a postcard motif. Because that's also what Copenhagen's diverse food scene offers.

Tips for your trip to Copenhagen

Getting there:Copenhagen is easy to reach by train via Hamburg. There are also direct flights from various German airports.

Date tip: A culinary trip to Copenhagen can be easily combined with the annual Copenhagen Cooking Festival. It is on the calendar in late summer. It kicks off with the Harvest Feast, where the city's restaurateurs serve food to their guests at hundreds of tables in the open air.

Food:La Banchina, Refshalevej 141: open daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (café) - limited kitchen hours.
Restaurant Ark, Nørre Farimagsgade 63: open Tuesdays to Thursdays 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 5 p.m. to midnight.
Øens Have, Refshalevej 157: open Thursdays 5.30 p.m. to midnight, Fridays and Saturdays 11.30 a.m. to midnight and Sundays 11.30 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The trip was supported by Food Organisation of Denmark, Visit Copenhagen and Visit Denmark. The editorial team alone decides on the selection and direction of the content.