In Part 2 of his treatise on Copenhagen, Tom Bangay explores an altogether more bohemian side to the Danish capital…
Copenhagen, Copenhagen. Hipster hangout du jour, Borgen heaven for the Guardian-reading muesli-crunchers, a cyclist’s playground where the beards are shapely and the drinks are strong, warming and expensive. Our hotel is within stroking distance of the red light district, which is in fact a very pleasant part of town, and occupies a large, townhouse type building. Axel is its name and it’s part of the Guldsmeden family of hotels, which began with the 15-room Guldsmedgade in Århus in 1999, and now extends to four hotels in Copenhagen, with outposts further afield in Oslo, Bali and Menton on the Côte d’Azur. All of them share a commitment to organic living and sustainable practices: the food and drink in these places is certified at between 90 and 100 per cent organic, and the aesthetic reinforces the Balinese clean-living vibe: lived-in wooden floors, recycled and repurposed fittings, Apple Macs everywhere. It’s like a Hackney café has infected a hotel. Perhaps most impressively, the whole place is powered by renewable energy.
I’m not sure that the best use of that energy is the under-floor heating in my bathroom upstairs, but I’m glad of it all the same on these misty Copenhagen mornings. The room here at Axel has a generous four-poster, a petite balcony, the aforementioned toasty bathroom and access to the steamy spa downstairs. And the breakfast. Oh, the breakfast. Divine rye bread piled high with honey, nuts, cinnamon-infused yoghurt, crunchy cereal, flavoursome sausage and bacon if you’re that way inclined – the morning meal was genuinely a treat and quite different from the limply delivered boilerplate continental breakfasts that plague luxury hotels throughout Europe.
From Axel it’s a short walk to several of the must-see attractions in Copenhagen: the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek houses an immense art collection, taking in huge numbers of sculptures as well as works from Monet, Renoir, Cézanne and Toulouse-Lautrec. Around the corner is Denmark’s national museum, and behind this, the Christiansborg Palace which houses the Danish parliament, familiar to all those Borgen watchers out there. We actually spotted a male member of the Borgen cast during a fact-finding mission across the water to Christiania, the self-proclaimed autonomous region of Copenhagen with a famously relaxed attitude to cannabis use. Winter was perhaps not the best time to check out Christiania, resembling as it did a kind of damp, dingier Camden, but with more dogs. However, it’s an interesting part of town nonetheless.
After all that culture we whip into a bar called Kassen (Nørrebrogade 18) where we happen upon their Friday happy ‘hour’ that apparently runs from 2 till 10pm. Who am I to argue with this liberal interpretation of 60 minutes? The cocktails during this period are 2 for 1, and several Lynchburg Lemonades later, we slink back to Axel and get ready for dinner. Tonight’s victuals shall be provided by Jonas Christensen’s team at Höst – recent recipient of the annual Restaurant and Bar Design Award. It’s a magnificently handsome venue, with its rough-hewn tables, exposed brick and rustic fittings, and this does serve to distract us a little from the elegant but severely limited menu. The only options seem to be some of the courses or all of them, and bearing in mind both the not inconsiderable cost, and the sheer quantity of fish-laden smørrebrød we put away at lunch, we opt to share one set of three courses between us. The meal is a wild tour through lobster, seabuckthorn, cheese-soaked ribeye, various indecipherable but tasty amuse-bouches, and a final flourish of birch bark ice cream with cocoa-dusted chervil and white chocolate. The drama of the meal is fantastic – one of the courses arrives flanked by a flaming bush of herbs – but we can’t shake the feeling that, for the price, there’s at least an element of style over substance. It is fine food though, and in a beautiful setting.
The next morning it’s time to check out of Axel and into Babette: Guldsmeden have opened a brand spanking new hotel on the other side of town, right on the corner of Bredgade and Esplanaden, where the city meets the pentagramic park that houses Kastellet, the star fortress that has stood since 1662. This is a more refined, sleepier, and dare I say upmarket neighbourhood than that of Axel across town, and it feels a little like moving from midtown to Chelsea in New York. Tasteful designs boutiques abound, and even the ubiquitous cycle traffic is a little more genteel than the bustle around Nyhavn or Strøget.
Babette itself is immaculate, and the smaller room count (just 98) and quieter neighbourhood do combine to make it feel rather intimate, residential almost. We land on our feet in a small suite, which counts a huge suede sofa and a proud four-poster bed amongst its Balinese amenities. In the bathroom, the sink is hewn from a large stone, and the shower is almost a room in its own right, gleaming in white brick tile. The hotel’s naughtiest secret, however, is up on the roof – its sky spa opens this summer, offering a sauna, steam bath and cold tubs with an unbeatable Copenhagen skyline view.
When it’s time to leave, I find myself regretting that there wasn’t more time to explore Babette, but a hotel that stylish will no doubt have a long life and there’ll be ample time to return. When I’m back in London I find myself stocking the house with cucumber, yoghurt, cinnamon, honey, and various types of rye flour in a futile attempt to recreate some of the magic of the Guldsmeden breakfasts, but I’m destined to fail. Perhaps I’m just not organic enough. There’s nothing for it – I’ll have to plan another trip.
