Guide to Copenhagen
and a quick buttery, flakey scone that tastes like almond croissant
My time in Copenhagen didn’t go as I had imagined or planned.
I’m very much a type B person (on holiday) with a sprinkle of A - I save all my recommended restaurants/places I want to see pre-flight, but I never end up actually planning or looking at the map until I’m there… I’ve realised, thats a bit of an issue. I miss out on lots of places I want to visit because I don’t look at their opening hours...
I’m sure you’ve heard multiple times that Copenhagen is a mecca of good food places (the most concentration of Michelin starts or wtvr it is…) and whilst I had some great bites, it’s not the food I loved the most - it was the city, sauna and wine.
I went May 2024 and got super lucky with the weather - most of the time it was sunny and warm. We had 1 morning of torrential rain, which we spent indoors, in a cafe we stumbled into, eating the most perfectly simple whipped butter, bread and cheese (at Orsa). The other times, I was living life, playing monopoly deal in the sun, enjoying the city and drinking wine.
Now, to be extremely honest, I found out whilst there that my palate doesn’t fully appreciate Danish flavours (apart from their baked goods). But, let me tell you more about what I did love:
La Banchina - we treated ourselves to the sauna, and a few plunges in the wildly cold river as well as lunch of the day - It was a phenomenal way to spend a clear, but cool spring day. The lunch was a fried fish burger, cooked to perfection in pillowy buns, but their short menu changes daily.
DØP - The Danes know how to make a good glizzy, and DØP specifically rocked my world. Our first order was conservative, 3 hotdogs between 2, and in the end, we basically ordered the whole menu. They make all kinds of flavoured hotdogs, but the one I enjoyed the most was the wild garlic pork, classic and merguez. Get them with all the toppings for a+++ enjoyment.
Sadly we only were able to visit 1 bakery: Hart. Extremely popular, it was featured in The Bear and their treats were very good. They’re well known for their cardamom croissant/bun. Yes, it was great - a bit like a kouign amman with cardamom, what’s not to love? But, the standout for me was the terbike. A poppy seed crusted pastry, with lots of buttery layers and a hint of marzipan.
Look at that caramelised crunchy crisp chewy skirt Propaganda - This was a godsend after a few meals that I didn’t enjoy. The first bite of food almost brought me to tears. I love punchy flavours and this mod Korean resto brought me back to life.
Now, for wine, I’ve got a couple places:
If the weathers nice: Rosforth & Rosforth. Sit by the river, soak up the rayas and drink wine. Because they’re a wholesaler, the bottles there are cheaper than other places.
Pompette - sit outside and people watch. There’s a very busy fried chicken shop next door called Poulette and you get to smell all of it, people watch and sip on lovely wine.
Ved Stranden 10 - another one for when the sun’s out. They had a dock on the water where you could sit on and enjoy your glass. It’s in a super busy area, so also great for people watching (theres a lot to look at, it’s like a walking fashion runway.)
Even if I didn’t enjoy the Danish food much, I did love the city so much that I kept on saying how I would move there. Whilst that probably won’t happen (I’ve heard winters are HARSH, and I can’t handle more than London/Geneva winters), it still did inspire me to make a recipe that I think most people would love.
I’m not one to put myself through the gruelling process of home laminating dough to make croissants etc… BUT an extremely easy way to get those buttery, flakey layers is to whip up some scones. So, I used the most perfect scone recipe made by Jodie, and turned the base recipe into Terbike scones by spiking the dough with some grated marzipan and finishing them with a poppy seed crust.
I enjoyed them with a pad of crunchy salted butter and also plain (they’re that good), but I know they would be delish with clotted cream, whipped cream, jams… anything you usually eat with a scone.
Flakey Terbikes Scones
Prep/Baking Time: 1-1.5hrs
Makes: 6-8 scones
Ingredients
120g Butter
200g Marzipan
425g Plain Flour
1 Tsp Salt
1 tbsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 ½ tbsp Sugar
275ml Plain Kefir
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
½ tbsp Water
30g Poppy Seeds
Method:
Dice the butter and coarsely grate the marzipan onto two separate plates. Place both in the freezer for 15 mins.
To a large bowl add flour, salt, baking powder, bicarb and sugar. Mix well.
Get the butter out of the freezer. Using your hands, squish the butter flat into the flour. Make a well in the mixture and add the grated marzipan along with the kefir and vanilla. Fold with a spatula until combined.
Tip out onto a clean surface and roughly form into a cohesive dough (there will be dry bits, don’t worry).
Roll the dough into a rectangle about 36 x 18 cm. Scoop any dry bits and scatter over the dough, then fold the top ⅓ of the dough down into the middle, then fold the bottom ⅓ into the middle, so both seams meet. Fold the bottom over the top and rotate 90°. Roll the dough out, once again until 2-3cm thick, then perform the double fold once again. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to fan 220°C. Crack the egg and whisk with the water. Add the poppy seeds to a plate.
Once the dough has rested and chilled, portion into 6 equal pieces (or 8 if you’d like smaller ones), pop onto a tray and brush the tops with the egg wash. Dip the egg washed side of the scone into the poppy seeds to coat, then place back onto the tray, seed side up. Slide into the oven and bake for 15-17 mins, turn the heat down to 180°C and bake for another 5-10 until golden and baked through.
Transfer to a cooling rack and serve warm.