New Restaurants in Copenhagen to Know in 2026
Copenhagen has spent a decade exporting its cooks. The kitchens that made the city — Noma, Amass, Kadeau, Relæ — trained a generation that has now struck out on its own, and 2025 into 2026 is the year a lot of that talent opened its own front door. Some of it took a Michelin star within months.
What follows are the openings that have settled into themselves and are worth rearranging an evening around, grouped roughly by where they sit and the kind of night they suit. It skips launch-week noise and the reopenings dressed up as debuts.
Nordhavn, and a first fistful of stars
The reclaimed harbour district in the north has become the address to watch. On a restored 1895 warehouse quay, Esse (Trelleborggade 13, opened October 2025) is Matt Orlando's return — the Amass and Noma alumnus back with a 42-seat, zero-waste tasting room built on fermentation, ageing and the creative reuse he's known for. It took its first Michelin star in the 2026 guide, in its first year.
A few steps along the waterfront, Akmē (Sandkaj 39, opened February 2025) is the quieter breakthrough: a 16-seat counter from Emil Hassan Lyngbæk and Valdemar Junge Norvang, both out of Sushi Anaba, where French craft meets Japanese technique through Danish produce and a French-heavy wine list. It, too, earned a star in the 2026 guide. Two harbourfront rooms, two first stars, one district.
Counters where one chef sets the tempo
In the old centre, the story is smaller rooms and single hands. Udtryk (Teglgårdstræde 8, opened May 2025) is the personal omakase project of Edward Lee — the name means "expression" — blending Asian and European technique across one tasting menu. It won a Michelin star just forty-one days after opening, among the fastest ever awarded.
Nearby, Magny (Ny Adelgade 3, opened April 2026) seats sixteen at a counter run by Jonas Mikkelsen, head chef of the Michelin-starred Hotel Frederiksminde, who named the place for his grandmother and cooks a twelve-course menu shaped by the Nordic seasons. And Abigail (Nørregade 30, permanent since March 2025) turned a 2024 pop-up into a single-seating tasting room from the Norrlyst team — wine-forward and knowingly playful, down to a course where you paint flavours onto bluefin tuna yourself.
From morning coffee to late wine
Not every good opening is a tasting menu. Bottega Barlito (Esplanaden 7, opened January 2026) is the third room from the Bottega Barlie team — an all-day, share-plate place with an adjoining wine-and-snack bar, the kitchen led by Svend Hviid of the two-star Kadeau, built for lingering rather than timed seatings.
Over in Østerbro, Solène (Århusgade 1, opened early 2026) is the all-day Iberian-leaning charcoal bistro from the team behind DONDA and KHANA: coffee and breakfast plates by day, then small plates and charcoal-kissed mains — gambas, txuleta — as it tips into the evening.
A mill on the water
For the room alone, Lille Mølle (Christianshavns Voldgade 52, opened October 2025) is hard to beat — it sits inside a listed 1669 Dutch windmill on the Christianshavn rampart. Chef Christoffer Sørensen, a Michelin Young Chef Award winner, cooks a modern Nordic menu built on seasonality, fermentation and pickling. Part of the Norrlyst group, it took a first star in the 2026 guide too.
One to keep half an eye on: Noma is due to relaunch out on Refshaleøen under new leadership — a reopening rather than a new room, but the city will be watching.
How to keep up
A list like this is accurate the week it's written and slowly drifts after. The point of Better Taste is that the Copenhagen catalogue is curated and kept current, so you carry the whole edit in your pocket rather than bookmarking a post — filter it by restaurant or wine bar, and save the rooms you mean to get to.
Start with the openings above, then browse the full Copenhagen catalogue.