The guide to Copenhagen’s 10 essential bakeries (and must-try pastries)

Set inside a Frama-designed space in Copenhagen neighbourhood Østerbro, Juno the Bakery keeps the formula tight: sourdough loaves, a short pastry line-up and a steady queue. Baker Emil Glaser, a former Noma pastry chef, built its reputation around one signature – the cardamom bun. It comes warm, sugar-crusted and heavy with cardamom, with laminated layers that still feel light. Black coffee is brewed with beans from Swedish roaster Koppi, a clean match for the sweetness. The best moment is when the trays are turning over and the room smells of butter and spice.

Out on Refshaleøen, an industrial peninsula in Copenhagen, Lille Bakery feels like a working canteen for people who care about bread. The room is a lofty space with floor-to-ceiling windows, long communal tables and an atmosphere that shifts with the weather. The menu runs through breakfast and lunch with a mix of savoury bakes and sweet pastries, plus the occasional pop-up dinner. The place got so over-photographed it now runs a no-photography policy, which suits the mood. The signature is the pink sugar berliner, either plain or filled with custard, soft inside with a crisp sugared shell. Coffee is solid, the pace unforced.

With bakeries across Copenhagen, Hart is now everywhere, but the original in Frederiksberg still sets the tone. It opened in 2018 as a partnership between René Redzepi’s Noma and British baker Richard Hart, formerly head baker at San Francisco’s Tartine. The operation feels more workshop than café: brisk counter, serious sourdough and tight lamination. The cardamom bun is the call, made from leftover croissant dough rolled in cardamom sugar and baked until the outside caramelises. It reads as a smart house move that became a signature. Catch it when fresh trays land and the room turns buttery, by mid-morning most days, without any performance.

What happens when a two-Michelin-star restaurant opens its own bakery? Kong Hans Bakery brings Kong Hans Kælder’s discipline to Østerbro, turning French technique and Nordic restraint into everyday bread and viennoiserie. The parent restaurant is led by chef Mark Lundgaard. Expect long-fermented sourdough, classic Danish rye, baguettes, brioche and croissants – and a queue out the door. Pastries include Paris-Brest, citrus tart, drømmekage and a traditional fastelavnsbolle filled with remonce, pastry cream and vanilla and tonka bean cream, then finished with 70% Nicaliso chocolate glaze, olive oil, roasted Piedmont hazelnuts, cacao nibs and fleur de sel. Sandwiches cover smoked Faroese salmon and jambon-beurre.

In inner-city neighbourhood Carlsberg Byen, Københavns Bageri opened in 2023, founded by former Noma bakers Rasmus Sjødahl and Anders Lorenz. It sits in Flaskehalsen and pulls a morning crowd for long-fermented sourdough, laminated pastries and a counter that shifts daily. Both have roots in the teams behind Alice and Benji, and the baking sticks close to Danish standards, sharpened by technique. Alongside croissants and buns you’ll see træstammer, the marzipan-and-chocolate “tree trunk” cake. The Spandauer is the one to order – flaky, buttery and neatly structured, made for eating on the spot with black coffee.

Apotek 57 is as much a sit-down café as it is a bakery counter, and that’s the point. Set inside the Frama Studio Store in Nyboder, it pulls you into a calm, design-led room and then keeps you there with food. Chef Chiara Barla shapes a tight menu of pastries and small plates with a seasonal, local tilt, served throughout the day. The round croissants are the headline: deep lamination and proper butter hit. The other signature is honey butter toast – warm sourdough topped with whipped mascarpone and a touch of lemon zest, sweet but clean. You can queue, or you can settle in.

With branches across Copenhagen, Andersen & Maillard is the rare chain that still feels plugged into the city’s coffee crowd. Co-owner Hans Kristian Andersen leads the coffee, Milton Abel, formerly at Noma, sets the pastry standard. The sharpest stop is in Copenhagen neighbourhood Nordhavn, where architect Danielle Siggerud has built a bright, pared-back room that reads like a studio. The chocolate croissant is the steady bestseller, dark, glossy and tightly laminated. The cube croissant is the showpiece, all corners and crunch with a butter hit that lingers. Espresso comes from their own roast, served without fuss. It’s quick in-and-out, but the details reward a second visit, even midweek in winter.

Read the article on Andersen & Maillard.

In Copenhagen neighbourhood Amager, Alice is a small bakery counter that leans into Danish classics when the weather turns. Winter brings brunsviger, almond croissants with tight lamination, straight butter croissants and tebirkes, the poppy-seed favourite, baked in small batches that disappear fast. The coffee is brewed on beans from Swedish roaster Koppi, keeping the finish clean beside rich pastry. Locals treat it as a quick stop. Outside the colder months, the same shop shifts focus to ice cream, still made in-house year-round, with a milk base served in a tonka bean waffle cone as the signature. It earns its place on a bakery list because the bakes are the hook.

Andersen Bakery is where Copenhagen’s pastry crowd goes for Japanese flavours without the gimmicks. Close to the waterfront, the space is pared back and the counter is disciplined: a few things done properly, rotated with restraint. Croissants land with tight lamination and a clean butter hit. The signatures are the matcha bun, green tea bitterness kept in check, and a yuzu custard Danish that cuts through the usual Danish sweetness with sharp citrus. Bread is taken seriously too, with long fermentation giving the sourdough real depth. There are sandwiches and focaccia when you want something savoury, but most people come for the bakes, eat one standing and then grab a second for later.

Benji is where Copenhagen’s bread crowd goes when they want proof, not vibes. The counter is small, the standards are high and sell-outs are routine. You’ll find it on Fælledvej in Copenhagen neighbourhood Nørrebro, run by Rasmus Kristensen, who came through Noma before moving fully into baking. The sourdough is the backbone: dark crust, proper chew, fermentation you can taste. Pastries follow the same logic. The almond croissant is the signature, packed with almond and butter without turning cloying. Around the holidays, Benji does kransekage towers for pre-order – stacked almond paste rings iced in white lines.