VEGAN FOOD GUIDE | COPENHAGEN

To me, traveling and discovering new places would not be the same without simultaneously checking out new restaurants, coffee shops or bars. I feel as though you get to know the atmosphere of the location more with each Cappuccino you savor, Açai bowl you spoon or drink you sip. Therefore, whenever I travel to a new city or area, I love to inquire beforehand where I can drink and dine. I might spend hours searching the internet for “best vegan food“, “açai bowls“, “best coffee shop“ at that specific location. This brings me the greatest joy and gives me something extra to look forward to, amazing food and drinks! As I love to invest time in this food-hunt I thought I would share my inquired spots with you and save you the time to do so.

When deciding on what search result to click, I always opt for local pages, even though that might restrict me with the language. However, pictures can speak more than a thousand words, so I do eventually find my way around things. Reading up on what locals like and where they go is always advisable, since they know their city best. In case you have friends at that specific destination or have a friendly Airbnb host or a helpful concierge why not ask them too. As a vegan you are somewhat limited when it comes to going out, but even though the restaurant might not advertise itself as vegan, they might still offer a vegan dish or you can always tweak and change things around to MAKE them vegan. This might occupy a little more time when ordering, however, also allows you to have a nice chat with your waiter or waitress. Without much further ado, let’s get into it:

Souls

At Souls you “eat like you give a fork“ about what you fuel your body with. As if the mantra of the restaurant (printed onto the backs of the employee’s T-Shirts)  wouldn’t be convincing enough, the interior is everything you would expect of a consciously-minded, danish restaurant. Small, squared wooden tables placed near the windows which flood the inside with light. Pillows are scattered around the window ledges, inviting you to succumb to the hyggelig atmosphere ( I hope I am using this danish word correctly, danglish is a thing now, trust me) and sit for a few hours over the delicious food served at Souls. I went to Souls two times, once for breakfast and once for dinner. It seems to be a very popular place amongst locals, as we did not get a seat inside at first and spent some minutes at a table outside, cuddled in blankets. Thus, I recommend to make a reservation just in case.

For breakfast I got the açai bowl, which was topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries, bananas, granola and coconut shavings. Additionally we ordered the Avocado smash, which was the typical avocado on toast, only that the toast was rugbrød, which is danish rye bread- very delicious. To make sure we are not missing out on anything, we also ordered the brunch plate, which encompassed all the other brunch/breakfast dishes on the menu, such as the pancakes, hummus and guacamole, avocado smash and cashew yogurt. I absolutely loved the breakfast and savored every bite. The only thing that did not strike my fancy as much was the cashew yogurt, but that of course is a matter of taste. When we went for dinner I went for the Viking Salad, with “meat balls“, cashews, broccoli, olives, lentils, a mix of leafy greens and truffle dressing. As soon as I read truffle the decision-making wasn’t too hard after all. The coffee was also absolutely amazing with an amazing selection of milk alternatives such as almond, oat, coconut (my three personal favorites) or soy. The hot chocolate was the perfect treat for after dinner: it tasted a little like liquid bounty because they make it with coconut milk, so good! To conclude my ravings, I can only recommend Souls. They have a variety of offers, which I am sure any non-vegan will fancy as well!

Location: Melchiors Pl. 3

42 Raw 

“…is a celebration of food and drink served in their natural state. Naked, nutrient rich and delicious just as nature intended“ is what covers the walls of the hip and vegan-heaven of 42 raw. I received this as a recommendation of being similar to Daluma in Berlin, which I absolutely love. However, what places 42 raw over Daluma in the ranking is that absolutely everything is vegan and they couldn’t out-do themselves any more. The menu is absolutely amazing and has a huge variation from sweet to savory to small bites and bars. There are four bowls you can choose from for breakfast (Açai, Chia, Matcha and Granola) and pancakes. I tried the pancakes, which I believe are made from some kind of nut flour (like almond) topped with bananas, coconut shavings and chocolate sauce…heaven. I also had the açai bowl, again…I know. What stuck out to me was the granola! I loved it so much that I purchased a bag of it and took it home with me, at least that was the plan…it didn’t even survive the day. There’s also an array of sandwiches, smoothies and hot drinks you can choose from such as a matcha latte, golden latte (turmeric) or beet latte. I absolutely regret not trying one of these, as I opted for coffee again, but here I have one more reason to return to Copenhagen and eat my way through my second stay as well. 42 Raw has three locations in different parts of Copenhagen, but judging from my single visit I could tell that this is where the cool kids of the city meets and dines and I didn’t mind gathering some new style inspirations while enjoying my delicious breakfast.

Location(s): Pilestraede 32 / Waterfront- Tuborg Havnevej 4-8 / Falkoner Allé 21

Yellow Rose 

It was raining buckets outside that day and Yellow Rose was the perfect shelter to keep us from getting wet. You had to go up a small staircase,  which led you to the restaurant that is located on the first floor above the shops on the ground floor. This is definitely something I was not used to, but absolutely fascinated me, making it even more of a place to retreat to. The interior was very hyggelig, in fact, this is where I first laid my hands on The Little Book of Hygge and was instantly fascinated by hygge and how the Yellow Rose implemented its ideas into they interior. The colors were kept very warm, white and yellow, and the materials used natural, such as wood. The offer differed a lot from what we had in the other two restaurants, but not less tasty. I am unsure if they serve lunch and dinner as well, however, for breakfast they offer “breakfast“ buns with a variety of spreads, such as avocado/hummus or peanut butter/banana, which are the two options we chose. The buns were very delicious and fluffy themselves, which filled up my belly quite quickly. I also, once again, had a coffee with oat milk. At the yellow rose they use the Oatly barista edition for their oat milk, which is one of my favorites I like to have my coffee (made) with. Across from the counter, there is a selection of vegan danish sweets and snacks, such as chocolate and cookies. This was definitely more of a “soul food“ type of place than the other two, but that was exactly what we needed on that rainy day.

Location(s): Peder Hvitfeldts Straede 17

Original Coffee 

It wouldn’t be a food guide made by me if I didn’t mention coffee. I believe I have done so in all three of the restaurants, but you know, you can never have enough coffee (with a glass of water on the side of course), unless you cannot fall asleep at night anymore. Original Coffee is a very cool coffee chain I discovered by just walking around the city. They have multiple shops all over the city, among them a rooftop location in the ILLUM mall, which treats you with an amazing view of the city. Original Coffee has their own roasted coffee as well, which I always- to try new, small and different roasteries. The coffee was amazing, they had a delicious vegan date bar and some danish magazines to flip through. In conclusion, I was happy.

Location(s): Bredgade 36 / ILLUM Østergade 52 / Nordre Frihavnsgade 2

I hope that this vegan food guide will be an inspiration to you on your next visit to the Danish capital!