Tag Archives: Denmark

Café Bang & Jensen in Copenhagen

Ok, I just have to introduce you to one more of my favourite cafés in Copenhagen: Café Bang & Jensen, which is situated in an old pharmacy in the nice end of Istedgade on Vesterbro. If you look closely at the picture below you can just make out the beautiful old Art Nouveau frieze/mural on the back wall.

This place is very special to me.

When I first moved to Copenhagen many years ago I shared a flat on a Vesterbrogade with a good friend. We were both single, so all weekends were spent partying, and on lazy late Saturdays and Sundays mornings we would drag our hung-over bodies down to Bang & Jensen to recuperate over brunch. You order brunch by filling out a slip, indicating how you want your egg, if you want plain or chocolate croissants etc.

And a few years later Sam and I went here on our first date. We had been to the cinema to watch The Sixth Sense and ended up having quite a few pints here, as you do when you’re a bit nervous on a first date.

So this is a place I’ll always return to and I often arrange to meet up with my friends here when I’m in Denmark. And I quite like the haphazard decor with red café tables in the front room and a sofa and armchair lounge in the back. In the summer you can sit outside.

The menu is just as unassuming with cheap and easy-to-prepare café fare (they don’t have a proper kitchen) such as baba ghanoush (see pics), chili con carne, burritos and sandwiches.

In the evening Bang & Jensen turns into a proper bar and is open until 2 in the morning.

Café Bang og Jensen
Istedgade 130
1650 København V
Website
Map

Copenhagen’s best shawarma

I’m slowly…..very slowly coming out of my Christmas holiday/energi-sucking winter blogging-hibernation. And today I want to point you towards THE best place to fill your stomach with comfort food in Copenhagen.

Because that’s what your body screams for, when it’s cold outside, isn’t it?

When I’m in Denmark, it’s become a tradition that I meet up with my good old friend Tine at Shawarma Grill House at Strøget. (There’s another similar joint a few metres down the street, but it’s nowhere near as good as this one).

Here we choose between lamb or chicken (lamb is best) which has been marinated in a secret spice mix and is served up with salad and yoghurt dressing in home-made pita bread. The shawarma menu also gets you fries and a soft drink for 67 DKK (£ 7.70).

Then we head towards the kitschly decorated first floor, clutching our precious meal. We find a window seat near the gleaming red neon signs and chat and eat and occasionally look down at all the people running past on the busy shopping street.

Fast food doesn’t get much better than this! Even our eerie former Prime Minister loves this place (click and scroll down for pictures).

Damn, now I really feel like eating one again…

Shawarma Grill House
Frederiksberggade 36
1459 Copenhagen K
Website

Cold Christmas Copenhagen by night

The cold Copenhagen weather has turned evil and given me a bad cold. Add to that my constant running around town to catch up with good old friends and the poor blog has had to suffer a bit.

But I have four new Denmark-themed posts in the pipeline. One about my new practical black boots, another about where to find Copenhagen’s best shawarmas and then two about my favourite cafés.

But today I’ll leave you with a few pictures of cold, cold Copenhagen by night.

Snowed in

We arrived in Copenhagen yesterday and this morning I woke up with a sore throat only to be greeted by this Winter Wonderland outside the windows. Brrrrrrrrrrr.

It’s THE perfect weather for cosying up on the sofa with chocolate and a cup of hot steaming tea. Not so much for venturing out. Oh well, at least the Metro is not far away…..

Northern Sky

Jeg elsker den allestedsnærværende himmel i Vendsyssel, især når den går i ét med det brusende vilde Vesterhav. Det var lige før jeg pakkede badedragten i sidste uge, så jeg kunne hoppe en tur i bølgerne. Men det satte vild vestenvind og kølige temperaturer hurtigt en stopper for, og jeg nøjedes med at beundre på afstand.


I love how the sky seems to be everywhere you look in Vendsyssel. It’s particularly beautiful and expressive when it joins forces with the North Sea. I actually considered packing my bathing suit before leaving London, but quickly changed my mind when I read the weather forecast: very windy with rain. The rough summer weather provided some dramatic cloud formations and wild waves which I enjoyed from at safe distance.