Indre By Restaurants

French classics all day, with a focus on seasonality and sustainability—and a view of Tivoli Gardens. Located in the beautiful and bustling Hotel Nimb, this is the place for the escargot or steak-frites with a side of history: The entrance to the hotel is the original 1909 Moorish façade. The Brasserie serves breakfast, brunch (overvactioned? Green juice served here), lunch, and dinner and has a children’s menu. If you’re visiting in the warmer months, grab a table on the balcony on for the Friday Rock dinners, a menu that starts with bubbles and serves dinner while musical acts perform in the garden below.

Best described as Nordic-Japanese fusion, Admiralgade breaks Copenhagen's carb-loading breakfast tradition with a full Japanese spread (pickled fish, rice, miso soup). Open all day, the kitchen formally closes at 10 pm, but in the laid-back spirit of the city, the cooks rustle up sensational late-night snacks for the barflies. Aside from the food, the decor is another reason to make a reservation. The building dates as far back as 1796 but the interior is all washed stone walls, mismatched chairs, and bleached wood. Owned by the same people as the always full Ved Standen 10 wine bar, the wine list does not disappoint with a stellar selection available by the glass.

Chef Frederik Bille Brahe's (of Atelier September fame) latest food and wine venture has one of the most beautiful settings in Copenhagen—the modern art-filled Charlottenborg gallery. The restaurant space employs Mondrian-esque color blocking with navy velvet seats, white walls, and a red bar. No matter where you sit you'll catch glimpses of the marble busts and modern artworks housed in the adjacent gallery. An added bonus in the warmer months is the picturesque courtyard, ideal for a pre-dinner drink.

Hallernes Smørrebrød's glass display cases at their stand in Torvehallerne Market are full of the artfully presented open-faced sandwiches that are this café's namesake. Small rye bread slices are topped with every Nordic ingredient imaginable—classic herring, liver paté, salmon... There are about three bites to each slice so order a few to-go, pick up a coffee from the nearby Coffee Collective, and spend an hour exploring this world-famous food market.

Høst has the most atmospherically beautiful dining room in Copenhagen (the critics agree, it's won several design awards). The look is renovated barn-meets-greenhouse, with white painted brick walls, rustic, raw-wood tables, and plenty of greenery in big terracotta pots. Sheepskin throws are slung haphazardly over the backs of some of the chairs and antique wood cooking tools line the walls. The set menu is three courses, but the kitchen sends out other surprise plates to try, making it more like six courses. While Høst's dishes are among the best you'll eat in this food-obsessed city, the birch bark ice-cream is next level.

This is the ultimate destination to try the open-faced sandwiches, or smørrebrød, you'll notice on menus around town. Generally consisting of toasted and buttered rye bread, and topped with meat or fish and garnishes, the smørrebrød is a great vehicle for trying the smoked and pickled fish Denmark is famous for. Palægade serves over forty varieties of toppings at lunchtime, to be washed down by one of the beers or traditional aquavits (herb and spice infused liquor) they have on tap.