Denmark hadn’t been particularly high on my travel bucket list – that is, until I found $375 tickets round trip to Copenhagen from Tampa. Tyler and I quickly snapped those up and got to work researching everything there was to do in Copenhagen.
While scouring the web for Copenhagen insights, I stumbled upon this article from Cupcakes & Cashmere. The author studied abroad there and had many recommendations that we considered for our own travel plans. However, the biggest takeaway from her post was the food. We learned quickly for ourselves that Copenhagen abounds with amazing food options, whether you’re looking for a Michelin star meal or the best hot dog of your life.
Side note: as someone who really doesn’t “do” hot dogs, the ones we got from John’s Hotdog Deli really were excellent. Would recommend.
Since we like to splurge on a nice vacation meal or two, and we don’t often have so many Michelin star options to choose from, we decided it was something we wanted to look into. Our only concern was whether or not we could do it without throwing down an entire paycheck.
Fortunately, we found Marchal. Located inside the d’Angleterre hotel, Marchal offers an amazing selection of French and Nordic dishes and excellent service. They also offer a 2-course lunch menu for only 50€ (or the 3-course lunch menu for 63€), which is pretty unbeatable in terms of bang for your buck.
We made a reservation there for a Monday lunch in March 2019, and we both opted to order the 2-course menu, which is composed of the chef’s selections. We were able to choose either the appetizer or dessert to accompany our entree, so we enjoyed the rack of lamb for lunch, followed by brioche and ice cream with rum drizzle for dessert. The food was delicious, and we were even treated to a chocolate “snack” between courses.
We found everything about Marchal, including the food, felt so luxurious, from the attentive staff, who never let our glasses sit empty, to the thoughtful details, like the personal rack I was brought to keep my purse from touching the ground. In total, with wine and tip, we spent 1,190 DKK (~$180 USD at the time) for the both of us, which we felt was well worth the experience. We would absolutely go again, and I would consider it a must-do for anyone who has champagne taste but doesn’t want to spend the champagne budget.
Bonus: it’s super conveniently located to Nyhavn, which is where we spent the morning before heading over to Marchal.
If you want to explore other Michelin star restaurants in Copenhagen, the Visit Copenhagen website keeps an updated list of them. While we didn’t make it to these spots, we found excellent reviews in our research for noma, Geranium and AOC, though I’m sure you can’t go wrong with any on the list. Just remember to make a reservation, as many of these restaurants fill up months in advance.