'copenhagen'

Hotel SP34

April 20, 2015

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Despite being a capital with an abundance of great design, finding a beautiful and affordable hotel to stay at is not necessarily that easy here in Copenhagen. Most of these come with a price tag or a location that is a bit too far out in case you’re just in town for a few days and don’t want to spend too much precious time on the subway. Which is why this relatively new Hotel SP34 is a great choice that I would recommend to anyone coming to Copenhagen. Located perfectly in the Latin Quarter in Central Copenhagen, the hotel has beautifully decorated rooms and a nice and relaxed ambiance.

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These photos are all taken in different rooms, and since I haven’t stayed there myself, I can’t really do a full review of the place (our apartment is about five minutes from the hotel so spending the night here would seem a little foolish). But what I do know is that the staff are super friendly, there is a great burger restaurant called Cock’s & Cows plus a brand new Cofoco restaurant in the basement and a roof top terrace. And most importantly: the location is perfect, pretty much as central as it gets with the Town Hall Square just down the street, but still in a nice neighbourhood that doesn’t feel as touristy or crowded as it does around the square.

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SP34 is a boutique hotel decorated with Danish design classics and custom-made furniture. The style is typically Scandinavian but with a warm and cozy feel. Even the Single Standard Room was beautiful and if I were travelling alone or on a budget, I’d definitely book that one and save some money for restaurant visits and shopping. And if I wasn’t, I’d book the Penthouse with a balcony and a view to the Copenhagen skyline. Oh my, that one was beautiful!

Hotel SP34
Sankt Peder Stræde 34
1453 København K

Mielcke & Hurtigkarl

March 3, 2015

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Recently, I did a guide to the most beautiful design restaurants in town for Copenhagen Food and included Mielcke & Hurtigkarl, a heavy weight in the Copenhagen restaurant scene. When they asked if I wanted to come by one evening and taste the menu, I was excited to say the least. Praising reviews of this place are everywhere online as well as beautiful photos of the restaurant’s interiors that the chefs had some talented Danish designers and artists help decorate. And so, on a freezing cold Friday night in February, we went to Frederiksberg Have, one of the prettiest gardens in town and the location of the restaurant and were blown away by the amazing food, great service and beautiful surroundings at Mielcke & Hurtigkarl.

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The menu created by the two chefs Jakob Mielcke and Jan Hurtigkarl draw inspiration from all over the world but still manages to keep it simple, clean and local using herbs from the garden just outside the door. At Mielcke & Hurtigkarl you choose from two options; The Full Experience (around 140 USD) or An Experience (around 120 USD). We were treated with the full experience and the wine menu and this dinner was the most spectacular and delicious one I have had in a very long time. From scallops to miso to deer to cheese and croissant with truffle and macaroons made with herbs from the garden to finish off; everything stood out and made a lasting impression.

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One thing about eating out is the food which in this case was Michelin-worthy (why the guide has not yet provided Mielcke & Hurtigkarl with a Michelin star is a bit of joke according to Danish food critics) and just as important is the service and ambiance of the place. At Mielcke & Hurtigkarl you get the whole package, and it was so refreshing to be taken care of by professional waiters and sommeliers, who helped make this fine dining experience very pleasant and welcoming. Even on a cold winters evening, this place is magical and I can only imagine how a lunch or dinner here during Spring or Summer in the romantic garden is like. Definitely a night to remember!

Mielcke & Hurtigkarl
Frederiksberg Runddel 1
200 Frederiksberg

Botanical Garden

December 10, 2014

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There is something magical about botanical gardens, and this one in the center of Copenhagen is no exception. Ever since I went here on an overcast day this Spring to shoot it for an Instagram guide to Copenhagen for Guided by Cereal (some of you might recognize the first photo in this post), I have been meaning to go back and take some photos of the greenhouses from the inside. Yesterday, an opportunity finally arose when I met with Karen, a very sweet journalist and friend of mine. Karen is doing a feature on me for a Berlin based travel site, and when she asked me where we should shoot the photos, I immediately thought of these greenhouses.

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The Botanical Garden is a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city. As part of University of Copenhagen, the garden and greenhouses hold the largest collection of living plants in the country and the whole garden with hills and lakes is beautiful year round. The light in here is absolutely stunning, and the greenhouses hold collections of palm trees, cacti, succulents, and many endangered species. To be honest, I don’t know the first thing about botanics, but these surroundings are well worth a visit either way. Karen and I started contemplating the great potential of these glass houses – imagine having a big gathering here with long tables, white table cloths and the setting sun reflected through the windows? That would be pretty amazing. And probably impossible (or crazy expensive, at least).

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We had a lot of fun taking photos in here – mostly, she was shooting me; a situation I am not normally that comfortable in.. But the surroundings made for some pretty good shots! If you go here whilst visiting Copenhagen, please note that opening hours are kind of quirky. The garden is open all days until 4pm (winter) and 6pm (summer), but the different greenhouses are only open a couple of days a week – from what I can tell, coming here on a Wednesday at 2pm is ideal!

Botanical Garden 
Øster Farigmagsgade 2B, 1353 Kbh. K

Café Auto

November 30, 2014

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Quite often, when I’m making lists of places I want to include in guides to Copenhagen for different types of medias, I go out of my way to mention only the very best. The best coffee, the most beautiful and trendy café, the restaurant serving the tastiest Nordic dishes. I try to imagine where I would be happy to go if I were a tourist visiting Copenhagen for the first time. In this quest to guide people to the very best this city has to offer (as seen from a somewhat shallow point of view, some would probably argue!) I forget about a lot of places. The cosy neighborhood café serving a good and affordable breakfast, the best place for kebab on Nørrebro that often acts as a lifesaver a Sunday afternoons and the places I normally go for a coffee with my girlfriends.

So, I thought I would share Café Auto with you since it is one of my favorite places on Nørrebro, just a few minutes from where I live. This means that I frequent this café quite a lot and just within the last two weeks, I’ve had a great dinner here in the company of two girlfriends, a couple of hours of cosy work time with another girlfriend and yesterday, a great brunch with Esben. Café Auto doesn’t have marble tabletops or a crazy overpriced slice of bread with avocado. On the contrary, prices here are extremely reasonable, and the dishes are tasty and down to earth. A great burger, delicious french toast, steak tartare, chili con carne and goat cheese salad. Simple and good. The staff is friendly, the vibe is relaxed and you are welcome to stay for as long as you wish. I would recommend this place for both a fulfilling brunch and a low-key but tasty dinner and since you’re in the area, don’t forget to take a walk in the nearby Assistens Cemetery which will take you to Jægersborggade with a lot of nice places.

Ps. I apologize for the somewhat grainy photos. The light isn’t great in there and my beloved iPhone doesn’t suffice.

Café Auto
Griffenfeldsgade 22, 2200 Kbh. N

Round Tower

November 2, 2014

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Back in Copenhagen. Back to real life, overpriced coffee, everyone looking beautiful and exactly the same, dark afternoons and freezing nights, quiet streets in the city center and a very low-key ambiance all over the city. No more wonderfully weird New Yorkers, no more exploring new neighborhoods, no more of that breathtaking skyline as a constant reminder of the many different lives in that huge city.

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Moving from one place and back to the other hasn’t completely dawned on me yet, and this weekend, I needed a dose of Copenhagen. So I dragged Esben up in one of the city’s main tourist attractions; The Round Tower. He thought I was a little silly, but I needed to see the city from high above to really understand where I was. And doing a touristy thing in our own city did help a little, perhaps making the transition a little easier. Because Copenhagen really is a great city. And the view from this tower built in 1642 and now the oldest functioning astronomy observatory in Europe is spectacular. Built with a spiral walk so the astronomers’ heavy instruments could be transported up and down on wagons, the inside of the tower with brick floors and white walls is quite a pretty sight.

Although it takes a bit of a hike to make it all the way to the top (no elevators!) the view is definitely worth it. It does not compare to taking in the Manhattan skyline from Top of The Rock, but that’s OK. Because the two cities can’t be compared, and CPH does have a lot of good things that NYC lacks. Like most of my friends living in the same neighbourhood just a couple of minutes apart, thousands of bikelanes making it so easy to get around compared to the subway system in NYC, peace and quiet and a whole lot of stunning and historical architecture like this well visited tower in Central Copenhagen.

The Round Tower
Købmagergade 52A
1150 KBH K

Keramik og glasværkstedet

July 1, 2014

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In Central Copenhagen you will find this ceramics shop, that I have only recently discovered – but I’m glad I did, because I will definitely be coming back here next time I am in search of some beautiful ceramic pieces. Four Danish designers are displaying and selling their work, and the small but bright and airy shop is absolutely gourgeous in that cool, Scandinavian way.

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On the shelves of this little shop you will find one of my favorite Danish ceramicists Annemette Kissow who has designed the stylish VIPP ceramic pieces (see photos I have styled with the products here and here). Simple and clean, just how I like it!

The shop is open Wednesday through Friday from noon till 6 pm and Saturday from 11 am till 2 pm.

Keramik og Glasværkstedet
Kronprinsessegade 43, 1306 København K