Hallernes Smørrebrød

Lecker, wenn auch echte Tourifalle. Teuer! Aber hey, wer will schon in Kopenhagen gewesen sein, ohne ein Smørrebrød gegessen zu haben? Wir nicht! Sie sind auch wirklich mehr als reichlich belegt und sehr lecker. Aber echte Dänen sieht man hier weit und breit nicht.

Enjoyed two samplings of Smørrebrød along with a nice bottle of elderflower soda. Nice stop at Torvehallerne food market.

Are you looking for a quintessential Danish meal in Copenhagen? Are you pretty hungry and do you have about 120 DKK? Well, if you said yes, this place has your answer. This place sells probably Copenhagen’s and probably Denmark’s most famous dish, smørrebrød, and I had a delicious lunch here at Copenhagen’s market, Torvehallerne. A local Danish girl told me that smørrebrød is a dish that I should eat at least once during a first time visit to Denmark, so I went hunting for the most popular place to find it.
Smørrebrød is a dish that usually has a slice of rye bread with a variety of toppings like seafood and cold cuts on top, so it’s pretty much an open face sandwich eaten with a knife and a fork. Please do not confuse it with the Swedish smörgåsbord (it’s a very different word), even though both words are similar and the Danish language and the Swedish language are somewhat similar.
I ordered the Fiskefilet smørrebrød, which is pretty much a fried fish doused with capers some lemon juice and remoulade. I also got another smørrebrød with sliced hard boiled egg, pickled herring, and red onions. My friend also got the Fiskefilet smørrebrød and also the roast beef smørrebrød. I also got a glass of beer which was a refreshing complement to the smørrebrød. I really enjoyed my smørrebrød, the fish filet had a nice crisp and the flavour of the remoulade made the fish even tastier to eat, making it delicious. The eggs and the herring were very fresh. I also sampled the roast beef, and I thought it was good, but I would recommend the seafood smørrebrød due to the variety of flavours of the ingredients used. 2 pieces of smørrebrød should be enough to fill the stomach of a hungry man.
We didn’t eat inside the market, but we went outside because the weather was so nice and ate at the picnic tables. Expect to pay about 120 DKK for 2 pieces of decently good smørrebrød.
Overall, I think this place is probably the best place for an introduction to smørrebrød in this part of Copenhagen. I know for sure that I probably did not have the best smørrebrød in Copenhagen nor in Denmark, but this place does a pretty good job in making smørrebrød and they seem pretty committed to making the freshest smørrebrød in this part of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is an expensive city… I’m going to offend someone by saying this but they have ALMOST no regional food of their own aside from smorrebrod. Big disappointment. Hallernes was good, but the portions are small… I mean it was around 9 USD for a very dainty slice of bread with various toppings (depends on what style you order).
I ate most of my meals at 7 – 11 honestly; those chicken tikka skewers are heaven. Cause walking down the street, you will just find overpriced, inauthentic Chinese, pizza, 18 USD fish and chips, etc… Hot dogs for 6 USD, seriously?

This place is located in the super cool Farmers Market in Copenhagen and in the sea of take out places, Hallernes really stood out. First there is the long line of folks waiting for their beautiful smorrebrod and second everything looks so fresh and tasty. I had the shrimp and egg and the roast beef. The roast beef is a real stand out since I think they make their own cabbage pickles sauce, sometimes called Picadilly but they labeled it cervera pickles. There is a eat in portion on the side and back. The line moves quickly and the food will not disappoint!

As overwhelming as the food market is, Hallernes Smørrebrød stuck out to us. We only tried one open-​face sandwich, but they all looked delicious! They use a ton of high-​quality, different ingredients that all seamlessly blend well together! A bit pricey, but to be expected in almost any food market! Must try!

Show me a food market where I wouldn’t want to become the resident troll-​under-​the-​bridge. Can’t be done!
I went here with a couple Danish friends showing me around the city and even though I can’t pronounce smørrebrød, it is tasty! One of the Danes even said it was among the better he’d ever had. We sampled four different open sandwiches: shrimp and egg, fried fish, potato, and beef, each with so little bread that it wasn’t visible under the tummy-​tickling treats that topped the toast.
All were good, though the potato and beef smørrebrød stole the show. Potato on bread excited very few in theory, but in practice, with a heap o’ mayo, crunchy onions, chives, and some more onion, we we pleasantly surprised. The beef smørrebrød looked tasty and exceeded appearances with crunchy onions and an interesting chutney.
Top everything off with a couple beers to go around and great company… What more could I ask for?

The food is pretty good, but the service is really sub standard. The prices are as high as the good open sandwich restaurants in the city — and who really wants to eat a classical Danish open sandwich off a cardboard platter?

This is one of the best places I ate the entirety of my trip to Copenhagen. It’s just a little stand/​takeaway inside of a market, but man are their smørrebrød good and reasonably priced. They have a variety of different types, and seem to change regularly.
I believe I must have stopped here about 4 – 5 times. I had the salmon, the fried herring, the steak tartare (my fav), the Danish pâté & bacon, and something else that I don’t remember at the moment. They also sell glasses of Mikkeler draft beer to drink at the 4 – 5 little counter seats they have here.
If I lived closer I would be in here all the time.

On voulait absolument le typique smørrebrød, tartine de pain de seigle.
Nous avons été servis au Hellernes Smørrebrød du marché Torvehallerne.
Le personnel est adorable, j’aime beaucoup les couverts en bois.
Le smørrebrød au saumon était excellent, frais et pas du tout salé. Un intermédiaire entre le saumon cru et le saumon fumé.
En revanche celui aux harengs n’avait pas beaucoup de goût, de même pour ceux au roastbeef et aux oeufs de poisson.
We wanted to try the famous smørrebrød and we found a smørrebrød shop inside a lovely market (Torvehallerne).
People were so nice and I loved the wooden cutlery ^^
The salmon was amazing ! Not too salty, a mix between smoked salmon and raw salmon. However the herring, roastbeef and fish eggs ones were tasteless.

Just as we were about to sit down at this shop, four ladies clutching beers swooped in and took the seats at the front portion of the bar. I was initially just going to give up having lunch here on a crowded Saturday. Luckily, two very nice gentlemen squeezed over and made room for us at the end of the bar. I ended up perched on my seat right at the kitchen entrance so that the staff had to apologetically ask me to move every 10 minutes so they could get in and out.
Even with the seating difficulties, I had a great lunch of fiskefilet smørrebrød and apple cider with elderflower (adds a fresh and interesting taste to the apple). The best part of the sandwich is definitely the sauce and capers that came on top. The fish was lightly breaded and fried and no too greasy. The sandwiches are a good size for Kr 48. I only had one and was full, but I’m small. I think two for lunch was be perfect for most people.
If you see an open seat on a busy Saturday, grab it! If you hesitate, you might loose it.

Incredible.
This is the smørrebrød we’d been dreaming of since we first planned our trip to København. Good hearty rye bread — but each slice disappearing beneath mountains of lox, smoked herring, shrimp, boiled eggs, or chicken salad with mushrooms, and slathered with butter or mayonnaise.
Most people were ordering one piece each — we were looking for more of a lunch, and ended up with two each. That, plus a bottle of good dark beer, make one of the best lunches we’ve had in a good long while.
Next time, we’ll get the lox and herring again — and continue sampling our way through the sandwich case.