Summer 2036 · Kongens Nytorv · Copenhagen

Thirteen kitchens. One square. Everything Denmark eats.

Not the new nordic tasting menu. The food Danes actually grew up on — served on the square where Copenhagen has met the world since 1670.

Get a wristband See the thirteen kitchens
Dates
11–13 July
Hours
12:00 – 22:00
Entry
Free
Metro
M1 M2 M3 M4
Food stalls on Kongens Nytorv on an overcast day. A bread cart, a pale blue smørrebrød trailer, a tarteletter stall and a frikadelle grill stand in a row, with people eating at long benches and the equestrian statue of Christian V behind them.

Kongens Nytorv, day four. The square does the work: stalls in a ring, benches in the middle, Christian V watching.

The idea

Taste your way
around a country

You land in Copenhagen. Fourteen minutes later the metro puts you on Kongens Nytorv, and the first thing you meet is not a souvenir shop — it is thirteen kitchens serving the dishes Danish families have argued about for a hundred years.

Buy a wristband. Every stall costs one clip. Portions are small on purpose, so you can taste six things instead of filling up on one. And on the band sits a small bronze viking — when you go home, he twists off and lives on your fridge.

0 Kitchens
0 Days
0 Hours a day
Kongens Nytorv seen from above. The thirteen stalls stand in an unbroken ring around Krinsen, the oval lawn with the equestrian statue at its centre, with tables and benches between the stalls and the lawn.
The square already has the shape. We only put stalls on it.
Why this square

Copenhagen has been
showing off here
since 1670

  1. 01

    It is the arrival hall

    The metro from the airport stops beneath the square. Nyhavn is around the corner. For most visitors this is the first real place they stand in — so this is where Danish food should meet them.

  2. 02

    It was built to be looked at

    Christian V laid out the square in 1670 as the city's stage. A national food festival belongs on a stage, not on an industrial site out by the water.

  3. 03

    The shape does the work

    Krinsen — the oval lawn at the centre — is already a circle. Put the stalls in a ring around it and the square itself becomes the floor plan. Nobody has to design a route.

  4. 04

    The city already uses it this way

    Ice rink in winter, footvolley in summer, Distortion in June. We are adding a chapter to something the square already does — not inventing a new venue.

Plan of Kongens Nytorv with thirteen kitchens in a ring around Krinsen The oval lawn Krinsen sits at the centre with the equestrian statue of Christian V. Thirteen numbered stalls are placed evenly in a ring around it, with the festival drinks cart inside the ring. The Royal Danish Theatre is to the south, Magasin to the west, Charlottenborg to the south-east, the French Embassy to the north, and the metro entrance to the south-west. FRENCH EMBASSY · STORE KONGENSGADE THE ROYAL DANISH THEATRE MAGASIN DU NORD CHARLOTTENBORG · NYHAVN KRINSEN CHRISTIAN V · 1688 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 DRINKS M FROM THE AIRPORT BANDS WELCOME STALL BUY OR COLLECT Stall — 1 clip Drinks cart — paid Welcome stall

The thirteen kitchens

  1. 01 WienerbrødSankt Peders Bageri
  2. 02 SmørrebrødAamanns
  3. 03 FiskesmørrebrødRestaurant Palægade
  4. 04 TarteletterCafé Alrø
  5. 05 FrikadellerRestaurant Kronborg
  6. 06 Stegt flæskGrøften, Tivoli
  7. 07 FlæskestegssandwichSlagter Lund
  8. 08 PølserDØP
  9. 09 Boller i karryMeyers
  10. 10 KartoflerChristianshavns Færgecafé
  11. 11 Rødgrød med flødeSchønnemann
  12. 12 KoldskålArla
  13. 13 KransekageLa Glace

Drinks come from our own bike cart inside the ring — paid there, never clipped. The welcome stall sits by the metro exit, so the band is the first thing you get and the food is the second. Toilets are on the theatre side; seating, shelter and sorted bins are inside the ring.

The line-up

Thirteen kitchens,
thirteen dishes

One dish per kitchen, and every one of them a place that already exists in Copenhagen. Small portions, so you get further. Danish names stay Danish — asking for them is half the experience.

A student project. These are the kitchens we would like to ask — none of them have been approached yet, and none of them have agreed to anything.

01 Bakery

Wienerbrød

Sankt Peders Bageri

Pastry from the oldest bakery in Copenhagen. The morning bun Danes queue for, and the layered pastry the rest of the world calls Danish.

from 28 kr. 1 clip

02 Lunch

Smørrebrød

Aamanns

Open sandwich on dark rye, built until you need a knife and fork. Roast beef with remoulade, egg and shrimp, liver pâté with bacon.

50–65 kr. 1 clip

03 Lunch

Fiskesmørrebrød

Restaurant Palægade

The same rye bread, but from the sea: pickled herring, warm fish cakes, and shrimp piled higher than seems reasonable.

55–75 kr. 1 clip

04 Lunch

Tarteletter

Café Alrø

Crisp pastry cases filled with chicken and white asparagus in cream sauce. Served at every Danish confirmation since roughly forever.

45–48 kr. 1 clip

05 Lunch

Frikadeller

Restaurant Kronborg

Pan-fried meatballs of pork and veal. Every Danish family insists their grandmother made the correct version.

35 kr. 1 clip

06 Hot plate

Stegt flæsk

Grøften, Tivoli

Voted the national dish of Denmark. Thick slices of pork belly fried until they shatter, with boiled potatoes and parsley sauce.

115 kr. 1 clip

07 Hot plate

Flæskestegs­sandwich

Slagter Lund

Roast pork with crackling in a soft bun, red cabbage on top. The crackling has to snap — if it bends, send it back.

75 kr. 1 clip

08 Hot plate

Pølser

DØP

The organic sausage cart from outside Rundetårn. Remoulade, roasted onion, raw onion, pickled cucumber, mustard, ketchup. All of it.

45 kr. 1 clip

09 Hot plate

Boller i karry

Meyers

Pork meatballs in a mild curry sauce with rice. Denmark met curry through the spice trade and made it gentle enough for a Tuesday.

75 kr. 1 clip

10 Side

Kartofler

Christianshavns Færgecafé

Potatoes three ways: browned in sugar and butter, baked in cream, or boiled new with dill. Denmark does not consider these a side dish.

45 kr. 1 clip

11 Sweet

Rødgrød med fløde

Schønnemann

Summer berries cooked down and served with cold cream — and the sentence Danes use to test whether you can really speak the language.

45 kr. 1 clip

12 Sweet

Koldskål

Arla

Cold buttermilk soup with vanilla and tiny crisp biscuits. Danes drink it for lunch in June and refuse to explain themselves.

45 kr. 1 clip

13 Sweet

Kransekage

La Glace

Marzipan rings baked into a tower, from a patisserie that has stood on the same street since 1870. Sweet, chewy, and gone in four bites.

40 kr. 1 clip

— Drinks

Drikkevognen

Run by the festival

A bike cart parked beside the ring with cold Cocio, Faxe Kondi, elderflower cordial, beer and water. We buy it in and sell it ourselves, so the kitchens can concentrate on the food.

from 20 kr. Paid, not clipped

The hot plate row: a blue-and-white stegt flæsk stall, a red flæskesteg truck, a pølser cart and a yellow kylling i karry trailer, with people queueing and eating at benches.
Hot plates, west side. Stegt flæsk 115, flæskestegssandwich 75.
The pot row: a timber Vikingegryde hut with a cauldron over an open fire, a dark red Hakkebøf trailer, a Kartofler stall and a Risengrød og Risalamande wagon.
The pots, north side. A cauldron over fire, and sorted bins in front of it.
The dessert row: a red Æbleskiver wagon, a pale blue Koldskål trailer, a Rødgrød stall, a Softice van and a Risalamande stand, with families eating at tables.
Desserts, east side. A chalkboard reads: god mad, bedre selskab.
Close-up of a stall sign: a dark blue board reading Nordisk Gadkøkken, Flæskestegs-sandwich with a short Danish description, a dashed line, and the same in English below. Behind it, the equestrian statue and people queueing in the rain.
Every stall carries the same sign. Danish on top, English below the line.
The wristband

One tap.
One clip.
One dish.

A chip woven into a fabric band, held by a little bronze viking on a shield. Hold it against the reader at the stall — one clip gone. The reader shows you how many you have left, so you never have to check anything yourself.

No queue at a ticket booth. No coins, no card, no account, and nothing to install. You buy the band on this website before you come, and after that the phone can stay in your pocket all day.

Buy your band

A wrist wearing the festival band — a red and white woven strap with a bronze viking shield holding the chip — held against a contactless reader on a wooden stall counter.

Taster

2 clips

75 kr.

37,50 kr. per dish

  • Two stalls, two dishes
  • For a stop between trains
  • Top up at any stall
Most chosen

Explorer

5 clips

160 kr.

32 kr. per dish

  • Five stalls — a whole meal
  • Enough to reach the dessert row
  • Top up at any stall

Feast

10 clips

280 kr.

28 kr. per dish

  • Ten stalls, or share it with someone
  • Valid all three days
  • Top up at any stall

Every band comes with the viking, whichever one you pick — he is yours to keep. Clips cover food only; drinks come from our own cart and are paid there. Buy online, pick up in the airport arrivals hall, or get one on the square. Prices shown are placeholders until the group decides.

Take it home

The souvenir is
already on your wrist

The little bronze viking on your band is not decoration. He is the one holding the chip — and when the festival is over, he twists off.

There is a magnet in his back. He goes on the fridge when you get home, next to the postcards and the takeaway menus, and he is still there long after the band itself has ended up in a drawer.

That is the whole idea. You do not buy the souvenir in a shop on your way to the airport. You wear it while you eat, and it quietly becomes the thing you keep.

The band taken apart: the bronze viking lifts off the shield, which holds the contactless chip, which sits in a black base woven into the red and white strap. Beside it, the band assembled.
Four parts. The viking lifts off — the magnet is in his back.
Why 2036

Built for the city
Copenhagen is becoming

Three things will be truer in ten years than they are today. The festival is an answer to all three.

In 2036

Nobody wants the tourist version

A decade of over-tourism has made visitors allergic to the staged experience. They can tell the difference between a place that lives and a place that performs.

That's why weserve what Danes eat on a Tuesday, at the price a Dane pays, cooked by the people who normally cook it.

In 2036

Waste is the thing you get judged on

Portion size, packaging and leftovers are no longer a footnote in an event application — they are the first page.

That's why weserve tasting portions, sort at every stall, and let the kitchens buy for a known number of clips instead of guessing.

In 2036

The phone has eaten everything else

Ordering, paying, queueing, choosing — by 2036 a visitor does all of it through a screen, and the algorithm has already decided where they will eat.

That's why webuilt the festival around a band you tap — not an app you download. Everything else sits on one web page you are free to ignore all day.

Practical

Everything else
you need

Free to enter. You only pay for what you eat.

  • WhenFriday 11 – Sunday 13 July 2036, every day 12:00–22:00. Lunch, dinner, and the long light evening in between.
  • WhereKongens Nytorv, 1050 Copenhagen K. Stalls in a ring around Krinsen.
  • Getting hereMetro M1, M2, M3, M4 stop directly under the square. Fourteen minutes from the airport, no change.
  • EntryFree. A wristband is only needed if you want to eat.
  • Your bandBuy it on this site and collect it at the welcome stall, which stands right by the metro exit — or simply buy it there on the spot. Also handed out in airport arrivals.
  • AccessibilityA level route is laid across the cobbles between all stalls. Step-free counters, accessible toilets on the theatre side.
  • AllergiesEvery dish is labelled at the stall and on the website. Vegetarian options at stalls 01, 02, 03, 04, 10, 11, 12 and 13.
  • WasteSorted at the stall itself — affald, plast, pap. Reusable bowls, returned for a deposit.
  • WeatherIt is Copenhagen in July, so it will rain at least once. Every stall and every bench is roofed.
Questions

Before you come

Do I have to buy a wristband?
No. Walking in, sitting down and listening to the square costs nothing. The band is simply how you pay at the food stalls — it replaces cash and card — and the viking on it is the thing you take home.
Can I use clips on beer?
No. Drinks come from our own cart inside the ring and are paid there. That is a deliberate choice: clips are for tasting your way around Denmark, not for drinking your way around it.
What if I run out of clips?
Top up at any stall in ten seconds, or on the website. The reader at the next stall keeps counting from where you left off.
Do I need an app?
No. There is no app and nothing to install. You buy the band here on the website, collect it when you arrive, and from then on the band is the whole system. The reader at each stall counts your clips and shows you what you have left.
Is there anything for vegetarians?
Seven of the thirteen kitchens serve a vegetarian version — including smørrebrød, tarteletter, potatoes and every dessert. Denmark is more pork than most countries, but not only pork.
What happens if it rains?
Nothing. The stalls, the serving counters and the seating are all covered, and the festival runs in any weather. Some of the best evenings on that square have been the wet ones.