Contrary to my time in Helsingborg, I only had a day to spend in Copenhagen. Since I had very little time, I decided beforehand that I would hang out in Vesterbro, near my hotel, rather than the touristy downtown (Indre By). This meant I wouldn’t be able to go to the Riz Raz (Kannikestræde 19) for the vegetarian buffet or to Falafel House (Købmagergade 23). Instead, I opted to go to Naturbageriet (Istedgade 98), a very vegan-friendly bakery, and to Solhatten (Istedgade 85), a natural grocery store.
I stayed at Wakeup Copenhagen, a very new hotel that’s just a short walk from the central train station. Its strong point is the design and it’s faults are somewhat thin walls and poor breakfast, which costs extra. The only vegan things were fresh bread, packets of jam, apples/pears, coffee/tea and juice, in case you were wondering. A vegan would do a lot better by going over to Naturbageriet, which opens early in the morning. So after a quick coffee with bread and jam to tide me over, I set out to explore and get the rest of the day’s food.
Naturbageriet sells coffee and other drinks, and even jars of Chocoreale (a vegan nutella-like spread)! I really, really, really wanted chocolate/plain croissants but they had run out by the time I got there. After staring at everything for about 10 minutes, I ended up with a romkugle (a gluten-free rum ball), mandelkræs (a cookie topped with dark chocolate and almonds), as well as rundstykker (poppy seed) and græskarkernebrød (pumpkin seed) buns. Solhatten was just a block away, and I walked away with some hummus and a large container of Bilberry soy yogurt. On my way back to the hotel, I stopped into a little corner food store and picked up a bunch of vine tomatoes.
The rum ball was really good, and I wish I’d have brought a few back home to share. The cookie was equally good and I’ll have to work on making my own versions soon. My sweet tooth is fading, so these were just right for me. The buns were used to make sandwiches with the very salty hummus. The soy yogurt was pretty tasty; I was impressed. This kind of eating is the most interesting to me, not to mention economical.
My souveniers for this part of the trip? Due to the lack of time I went mall shopping at the nearby Fisketorvet and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I picked up some interesting fabric for the house at STOF2000. I also discovered an cool knick-knacky store called Søstrene Grene – All Over the World — definitely worth a look.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to ride a bike around the city like I had hoped but, if ever I find myself in this city again, I hope to have a bit more time to explore the streets on two wheels.
I would choose Naturbageriet over Riz Raz any day. ;-) Glad to hear you enjoyed the treats, and hopefully next time you have more time to spend in our city!
You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve been to Riz Raz. It was maybe 5 years ago and I was very jet lagged. If I recall, it wasn’t that great. I can’t say it enough: Naturbageriet is the best!