Kadeau has just earned its third Michelin star, joining Geranium, Noma, and Jordnær as one of only four restaurants in Denmark to ever reach this level. For us, this moment feels inevitable. We’ve been coming to Kadeau in Copenhagen for more than a decade. It’s one of our favorite restaurants in the world, and a place we return to every single year. We’ve watched the restaurant sharpen, evolve, and grow into the most confident version of itself.
And what makes this even more remarkable is that just a few years ago, we genuinely thought we’d lost Kadeau for good. The restaurant went bankrupt during the pandemic, and we didn’t think it would survive. Instead, they rebuilt, refocused, and came back stronger than ever. Now they’ve achieved the highest accolade in fine dining: three Michelin stars. Once you see our video and read this review, you’ll understand why.
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Kadeau
Address & Contact Information
Wildersgade 10B, Copenhagen, Denmark
Website
A Restaurant Inspired by Bornholm
On the cobbled streets of the charming Christianshavn neighborhood sits Kadeau – the Copenhagen outpost of a restaurant that began on the island of Bornholm back in 2007. Chef Nicolai Nørregaard and his partners built this place to celebrate the ingredients, landscape, and preservation traditions of their island home.
Even here in Copenhagen, that Bornholm identity is still at the core of everything they do. The menu is seasonal. In the summer, the “Growing Season” highlights fresh ingredients, fruits, and vegetables from Kadeau’s garden. In the winter, the “Preservation Season” features produce harvested and preserved during the summer, alongside sustainably and locally sourced seafood and meat.
We rang the iconic doorbell and stepped inside. The space feels like a Japanese zen garden meets a cozy Nordic home. There’s a beautiful open kitchen, rotating art on the walls, and even a hidden courtyard that makes it feel like a secret in the middle of Christianshavn.
Kadeau’s Three-Michelin-Star Tasting Menu
From the very first bite, you know you’re at Kadeau. The Growing Season menu opened with a bowl of foraged herbs with plums, walnuts, gooseberry dressing, and mahogany clams. Fresh, bright, and slightly tart – and instantly the taste of Kadeau. Their food feels rooted in the place, yet refined.
Next came raw mahogany clams with turnips, plums, a dot of Icelandic wasabi, and a sauce of blue mussels and peas – plated in the shape of a flower. Sweet plums, briny shellfish, and sharp wasabi heat – this was packed with flavor.
Then we were served what we can only describe as Nordic ravioli – tomato water transformed into a delicate fruit leather, filled with seaweed and fresh herbs like marjoram and lemon thyme, served in a sauce of plum, quince, and brown butter. Tart, herbal, slightly sweet, and unbelievably fresh.
And then came the tostada: raw Norwegian shrimp layered with a Japanese quince paste, ants, elderflower, and a plum glaze. This was our favorite bite so far – creamy shrimp, crunchy tostada, floral notes, and bright pops of acidity from the ants.
Next came steamed brown crab, cooked in its own shell and served with a crab shell sauce. This was delicate, floral, and clean, with seafood sweetness, a snap of texture from fresh hazelnuts, and sweetness from dried tomatoes.
One thing we did not expect? A seafood dish that tasted like dessert. Raw scallops were wrapped around kohlrabi and Havgus cheese, then finished with a pour of heavy cream infused with walnut oil. It was nutty, creamy, and slightly sweet – almost like a Nordic Waldorf salad. The way the oil and cream played together was unlike anything else. We haven’t had that flavor expression anywhere in the world – it’s such a unique Kadeau fingerprint.
The next course was a highlight of the meal: raw Danish squid served on potatoes from their garden with a dot of strawberry paste, brown butter, and a lacto-koji sauce. The textures were incredible. The squid had a slight chew – in a good way – while the potatoes were perfectly soft. The strawberry added a bright, tart pop, and that brown butter? Absolute heaven. Anders actually started laughing mid-bite because it was so good.
Garden vegetables followed, topped with seaweed foam, woodruff sauce, and a generous spoonful of caviar. Now that’s my kind of salad! Bright greens, saline pops from the caviar, and an herbaceous lift from the woodruff. Salad with caviar and a side of Champagne? Yes, please.
Kadeau’s Signature Smoked Salmon
But if there’s one dish that defines Kadeau, it’s the salmon. Kadeau’s signature cold and hot smoked salmon has become a staple on the tasting menu and an essential part of the restaurant’s identity. It’s a tribute to the island of Bornholm, where smoking fish is an important culinary tradition. Chef Nicolai Nørregaard refined that classic method – curing, cold smoking, and then hot smoking the fish, creating a crust on the salmon that seals in the moisture and keeps it incredibly juicy. The result is a uniquely creamy texture that literally melts in your mouth. The salmon is always on the menu, but it evolves with the seasons. This version featured lavender butter, sardine garum, a butter-poached sweet onion, and burnt garlic. On the side: salmon skin jerky and some pickles. This is a Kadeau signature for a reason.
Another bite that truly stood out was the rye cracker topped with lobster claw meat and petals of preserved tomato. This was one of the best dishes we ate all year. The cracker itself had an incredible sweet-and-savory quality, almost like a pastry. The lobster claw meat was clean and sweet, while the preserved tomatoes had a texture reminiscent of fruit leather – rich, concentrated, and intensely flavorful. It was a stunner of a bite – like impressionist art, with a rainbow of tomato colors.
The rest of the lobster followed – Danish blue lobster tail grilled and glazed with its own head juices. It was finished with bee pollen, saffron, roses, and ember oil. Saffron and shellfish can easily overpower, but the balance here was beautiful. The lobster was perfectly cooked – tender and sweet – and the sauce elevated it without masking anything.
The final savory course was Danish pork loin, aged for three weeks and served with different cuts – jowl, heart, and rib – with a reduction of red berries, chicken wings, and brown butter. The pork had incredible fat and intensity, and each bite could be paired with one of their house ferments to cut through the richness. This was bold and rich, rustic and refined.
Alongside the food, both a wine pairing and a house-made juice pairing are available – we tried one of each and both were excellent. The pairings brought out different nuances in each dish without ever overpowering the food.
A Nordic Finish
Dessert began with the most Nordic bite ever: a caramelized milk crisp topped with a cloudberry and sea buckthorn marshmallow, rose vinegar fudge, berry kombu, bee pollen, and a fire-baked beetroot. This had so many textures and flavors – like gummy candy and guf. Pine and spruce oil added an earthy edge, while plum jam and quince paste brought sweetness. It was wild and woodsy, and 100% Kadeau.
Mirabelle plum ice cream was served tableside, topped with plum jam, plum vinaigrette seasoned with honey from their garden, a drizzle of Mirabelle blossom oil, and a warm caramel made from fermented Mirabelle plums. This was perfectly sweet and floral, with warm caramel melting into the ice cream and tying it all together.
The meal ended with a warm walnut tart. Walnuts ran through every layer – from the walnut and rye crust, to the walnut and honey filling, to the shaved walnuts and walnut leaf oil on top. It was fudgy, nutty, and delicious – like pecan pie, but better. We topped it with a dollop of crème fraîche for a salty, creamy, and perfectly balanced finish. We’ll take this over chocolates any day.
Is Kadeau Worth It?
There are many New Nordic restaurants, but none quite like this. The food at Kadeau has such a clear identity, such a distinct flavor profile and fingerprint – you could blindfold us and we’d still know where we were. It’s as if they have a secret sauce they put on every dish!
We’ve been dining at Kadeau for over a decade. It’s a place we return to every year, and over time we’ve watched the food get sharper, bolder, and more precise – while always staying rooted in Bornholm. Internationally, Kadeau has sometimes felt underrated – a bit in the New Nordic shadow of Noma – but now they’re finally getting the credit they’ve long deserved.
This is truly one of our favorite restaurants in the world. It’s a place where you really feel welcomed and at home, with one of the kindest, most genuine restaurant teams out there. A few years ago, we thought we might lose this restaurant forever. Now it stands among only four restaurants in Denmark to ever earn three Michelin stars, the highest accolade in the culinary world. But for us, this isn’t a surprise. It’s what they’ve been building toward all along.
Have you been to Kadeau? Let us know how your experience was in a comment below.