Almanak

I REALLY wish we could have gotten to the point where we could have visited here. My family is Norwegian and as a result I love smørbrød and classic Scandinavian food (even as a vegan), but the customer service we experienced will probably eliminate that from happening in the future.
While attempting to plan a special dinner in Copenhagen, we reached out to Almanak to see if they could help us with our small party of 5. While our family are omnivores, my partner and I are vegan. We had hoped to have some delicious smørrebrød (something my own family was very excited about), but instead we received a terse email telling us to contact Verandah. We explained our interest in having a more traditional Scandinavian dinner instead of Indian and all we got back was a lifeless ‘we won’t be able to help you’. One star for at least starting that one line with ‘I’m sorry’.
Basically, if you have any special requirements, don’t even try. I’m sure it would have been delicious (the other reviews are great!) and I won’t knock them for having a vision, but we could see quickly that we weren’t welcome.

Amazing food! Great service that explains you a lot about your food. Bit expensive, but you will really eat things that are out of the ordinary and will give you a memory! Really nice waterfront view!

This is a review solely on dining week at Almanak.
I have to start off this review by saying that I think it’s REALLY important to get greeted by smiling and happy staff. When first entering Almanak the hostess seemed SO angry and like she hated her job so much. A constant frown on her face and wouldn’t even respond to you when you’d say thank you. Not a nice way to start the evening, and you also had to go through this same hostess at the end of your meal to get your coat again. Not a nice way to end your night either. I would seriously consider some more training as even if you hate your job (or whatever else is wrong) you need to be able to hide it and smile to the customers.
Now that that is out of the way, we can begin.
I absolutely love the location of this restaurant. My boyfriend and I were seated overlooking the water and it was beautiful. I also love that it’s an open kitchen and you can see them hard at work preparing each meal.
We already had our bottle of S. Pellegrino water on the table when we arrived. Which I personally loved as it means it’s not super cold (I prefer water more at room temperature), but my boyfriend however didn’t like it as he loves it ice cold.
We immediately got a bag of fresh bread with creamy butter. The bread was SO delicious and so soft. I loved it! Great addition to start.
I ordered a glass of Riesling white wine and my boyfriend got a beer from Nørrebro Bryghus (which he said was amazing).
Our first course was a creamy cauliflower soup with a fried scallop and truffle oil. I don’t eat scallops often, but I really enjoyed it! It was an amazing combo and a new way for me to enjoy cauliflower.
The second course was veal brisket, beetroot & liquorice with mashed potatoes and a little gravy. I thought this was a really tasty dish! I loved the beetroot with a hint of liquorice taste. Super interesting! The meat was perfectly cooked and everything was delicious together.
The third course was milk ice cream with beetroot, malt merinque & caramel. This was a complete miss for me. I didn’t think the ice cream had much flavor and to be honest, the whole course as a whole didn’t have much flavor.
I read a few of the other reviews on here, and I’d have to agree that a lot of the ingredients they use are quite cheap ingredients, yet it’s quite expensive. If it wasn’t dining week, I wouldn’t come here for dinner with these prices. It was GOOD, but not WOW — and with these prices it should be more amazing. Still enjoyed it though and it still gets 4 stars as it was really enjoyable and our server was fantastic and you could really tell he loved his job and was passionate about it.

Almanak is part of The Standard, which is placed right on the waterfront. Really cosy area, and you can go upstairs to the Jazzclub after eating (very 1920’s atmosphere, often with live music).
The restaurant, Almanak, is kind of just a big room, but the interior makes the atmosphere pretty nice and so does the staff.
I was there in December on one of the big nights for company ‘Christmas lunch’, so naturally it was busy, and the priority was on those tables. However, our waiter apparently just started working at the restaurant, which is OK, but the problem was he failed to reply to our questions about the menu, seemed pretty annoyed by them, and didn’t bother to ask any of his colleagues for the answers. He also forgot a lot of things (like sauce for the meat, bread and water, which we had to ask for ourselves (had to ask other waiters as our waiter simply looked the other way when we tried to contact him)). By chance, one of the other waiters noticed the missing sauce half way through our meal, and brought it for us.
All of the other waiters seemed super nice and accomodating, though, but this had quite an effect on our experience.
Good price for water, which is one price per person (think it was 25 DKK), and then you get it ‘ad libitum’ with/​without sparkles.
The food was great (apart from the problems with our waiter) — beautifully served and really interesting combinations of taste — would definitely go there again!
Toilets are shared for the 3 restaurants and the jazz club, and are therefore upstairs, a bit far away and a bit hard to find. Not sure if there’s an elevator.

Hier gib es das klassische dänische Smörebrod zum Lunch oder Abendessen. Leider sind nur 2 Geruchte warm, sonst ist alles kalt. Die Küche ist offen und man kann die appetitliche Zubereitung gut beobachten.
Man sitzt sehr schön am Wasser und freut sich (drinnen oder draußen) über die Mittagssonne.

Awesome food. Went here with Danish friends. This is a great restaurant close to Nyhavn. The food is VERY high quality. We had the daily menu and the starter, main and desert was very delicious. I would strongly suggest you go to this place next time you are in Copenhagen. Greta service, wonderful ambience just off Nyhavn and a culinary treat. go go go. !

I was invited here for a company dinner for the EADV congress meeting .and really enjoyed the gastronomic experience. Such a fresh menu and presentation of dishes. They had the open kitchen experience. I always enjoy that in restaurants. And the friendly till you walk out the door experience. I enjoyed! It was new exorbitance to my taste buds.

Let me start by saying it is VERY expensive. Very very expensive. However, that did not mean it was not worthwhile. The open faced sandwiches tasted delicious, but they were a little undersized. If you’re in Copenhagen on a budget I definitely would not recommend, as you can probably find similar quality for more than half the price. If not, I would recommend trying it out!

Came here for lunch.
Not the cheapest option but you’re also paying for the location — it’s right on the water and has a gorgeous view. Friends and I all had the open-​faced sandwiches (which I believe are their only lunch offering). Everything was beautifully presented and delicious. Service was quick and very friendly and helpful.
I had the roast beef and the egg salad sandwiches — my friends had a variety including tartar and everything was very well done.
Definitely recommend if you’re in the area.

Sunset in Copenhagen is gorgeous and enjoying the last bits of daylight while dining at Almanak is an experience not to be missed.
While not the most economical dining establishment in the area, the quality of the ingredients and the attention to detail by the waitstaff is impeccable.
Try the prix fix 3 course menu to sample to cuisine and you’ll be back for more.

Yummie place next to the water !!
Part of the standards, Almanak is the cheapest (a la carte) restaurant. And the food is good. Even very good. But don’t expect that you are at Noma. The price is also an OK (danish) price.
I took the menu (3 courses) you get almost the dessert for free. It all tasted good.
The staff is really nice and friendly and they have a clue about wine and know how to combine which wine with each dish.
The outside terrace is amazing. You have a nice view and a very nice location.
I’ll come back for sure !!!

Improved over our last visit a few years ago. Nice grey tones and views of the water.
Servers have fake smiles. Orders the expensive wine or you fall out of favor. The white asparagus entrée was tasty but small. One piece cut down the middle.
Lamb was better with a nice quality cooked well. Rhubarb chutney was a seasonal touch.
The place is filled with large groups from companies. Only one or two couples or singles. Not what they prefer. You need to bring your boss to pick up the check.

We had a lovely dinner at Almanack. They give diners a choice of a three course set menu or you can choose your own. It’s not an extensive menu but everything we had was excellently prepared. My main dish of hake was beautifully cooked, for example, and came with sautéed kale and trumpet mushroom as well as a side of mashed potatoes. It’s not playful or clever – for that, go upstairs to Studio – but earnest, carefully cooked food. The portions are on the small side but the food quality is top notch.

Excellent food that challenges the mind and soothes the palette; attentive and friendly staff; fresh, Scandinavian interior design; great value for money; with a sophisticated and yet welcoming atmosphere.

Alan and I had a late lunch here this afternoon. There are three restaurants in The Standard, which also houses a jazz club, and this is the only one open on a Monday, though the hours posted on Unilocal say it’s closed. I have written to Unilocal HQ about this. The lunch menu is pretty much limited to smørrebrød, the Danish open-​faced sandwiches. Our server’s name was Mary, although I’m not sure that’s how she spells it. She was very helpful. Alan explained his low salt diet and ordered a roast beef sandwich w/​o all the pickled accompaniments. I ordered the warm liver paté w/​beets, blackberries and forest acid herbs. I also ordered Earl Grey tea and Alan ordered water.
The tea arrived in a huge, elegant glass teapot. I love Danish design and this was a lovely example. I was determined to finish it, but couldn’t. The cup, saucer and other dishes are made exclusively for the restaurant by a local potter and are lovely. Mary offered to direct us to his studio, which is nearby, but I explained my rule about not being able to buy a piece of pottery until I had broken one. Alan’s water came in a large glass carafe. When his sandwich came it was covered w/​a bunch of lettuce and herbs to compensate for the pickled vegetables. Mary went above and beyond, using her creativity to assure he didn’t have a boring beef-​only sandwich. My paté came in a round, shallow pottery dish about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. On the side were a couple of half slices of the dense, grainy Danish bread I love. On top were wedges of baked beets, thin slices of dried beets, two sweet blackberries and a bunch of what looked like red clover, but when I bit into one stem it tasted like sour grass, which I loved as a child. Mary’s colleague confirmed when she cleared our plates that it was oxalis, though it is a different variety that what I’m familiar w/​. It was she who told me the name forest acid. The pâté was tasty. I put it on the bread topped w/​the sliced beets and forest acid. It was very tasty. I would have liked more bread, but Alan requested some, ate half the piece and I ate the other half. It was a delicious and interesting lunch and I would have the paté again if we were here longer.

We were in Copenhagen for a convention and The Standard was highly recommended by locals for everything food and fun. We decided to eat at the Almanak which is one of the restaurants there. The good, yes I was blown away by the burnt hay which garnished the potato offering. A really neat idea, I had never seen that before. Burnt yes, but not so much that you could not taste the hay. A smokey undertone with a nice earthy flavor. Burnt hay on potatoes, who would have ever thought of that. It is really good. One of these days I am going to do some experimenting and see if I can reproduce it.
Now if the only great thing you can say about a 5 star restaurant is the hay garnish was good, there is a problem. Yes the meal was fine. The issues are bigger then that.
You get to watch the chefs work. That sounds fun until you see the head chef plop some balls of butter into the potatoes offering he is finishing up, then pops his fingers in his mouth. Did that really happen. Yes I saw it. Unbelievable.
When you get your meal, again, it is good. My wife had the pork. She ate most of it before I could give it a try. Good, but over. Not much, but enough that it did not melt in your mouth. Did I mention this place got 5 stars.
When the waiter reappeared, I mentioned the pork. «Oh, you should have told us, we would have made a new one». Really, told who. You where not around. By the way, I just told you, so now what. It was obvious, they where good and no one was allowed to say different.
We ate in many wonderful places on Copenhagen, this was not one of them. Keep walking up the street to the canal. Find one of the great outdoor places there. You will be much happier. It does rain in the evening, so be prepared for that. You can get a table outside, but they will not guarantee you will not get wet :)
If you are an American and reading this, be aware, water is not free in Denmark. Not even tap water. They don’t just charge you a little either. Water is expensive. It took us a while to figure this out. We started carrying a water bottle with us to avoid the issue. If you are Dutch and reading this, you are probably thinking «just another wasteful American». Not at all. Yes, I get 1,000 gallons of water here for what I paid for a glass full there (no refills). But I definitely do not waste it.

Came here on the recommendation of a foodie friend whose opinion I trust. He told me the tartare was out of this world. Being a curious cat, I couldn’t resist the urge to find out if he was right (because there’s some damn fine tartare in this town, and I need to know if my favorites have contenders).
There were some pros about this restaurant that I feel are worth mentioning first. Numero Uno was that the cocktail of the day was a Pisco Sour, and since I recently got back from South America where I fell totally madly deeply in love with the food and beverage, this fact tugged on my heart strings a little bit. It was also really spectacular (and big). I also mentioned to my waiter that I was gluten-​free and after waiting a bit longer than I would expect in such a nice restaurant for our food, I felt guilty when she brought out my own basket of gluten free bread. #winning
These were the only highlights of my meal, however. Almanak definitely has the ‘little things’ figured out, but now I feel like they need to focus on the bigger ones. Tartare was unimpressive. It lacked flavor and had a bizarre texture (partially due to it being small cubed pieces of meat rather than ground, as is typical when you eat tartare). To be totally fair, my dinner date loved the cubed version, so this is maybe subjective.
Generally I feel like most of the meal was, however, not memorable. Nothing blew my mind after that first Pisco Sour, and for a 2000kr bill, I’d hoped for a bit more ‘shazam’ or maybe an inkling of a foodgasm. For less money I can foodgasm my way all around this town, so Almanak needs to step up their game if they want to stay in business.
Pro-​tip: they do have outdoor space, and if you’re only there for cocktails, get the pisco sour and sit on the canal and enjoy the sunshine.

Danish smørrebrød (open faced sandwiches) at its best.
We had the potato with rapeseed oil mayonnaise, malt & Indian cress and tatar of deer with ceps, lingonberries & red sorrel which was excellent.
Situated with two other restaurants and a jazz club in «The Standard CPH».