Section 06 / Mode: Eat
06
Food Experiences.
Køge eats well and says little about it. A pasta room on Vestergade that sold out before anyone had reviewed it, a bakery a few doors down that opens at seven for anyone with the app, burgers off the square with the brewery’s beer on tap, a brewery with its own whisky, a square that has traded since 1288, a pizza oven in a village hall one stop down the line, a bakery by the square where the flødeboller grow eyes for Halloween, a pastry chef from La Glace on Nørregade who serves tapas and wine after the cakes, a rooster on Brogade pouring Italian wine over crisp pizza and gelato, a French bistro in the cellar of a party house on Jernbanegade, smørrebrød in the courtyard where Køge once distilled its brandy — and one week in October when the whole town cooks.
Location: Vestergade 19A, the sign · Gancio Pastaria · Photo: Signal Digital · CC BY 4.0
File: 05-SIGN-CUT / the sign as shot, the street a halftone
Food Experiences 01–04 · one page each — open for the story, the data and the booking link
Food Experience 01
Gancio Pastaria
Handmade pasta on Vestergade, opened in March 2026 and sold out before anyone had reviewed it. Pasta 150 DKK, lunch 220, the sharing menu 325.
Location: Vestergade 19A · Phone +45 27 83 68 17
14–17
October
2026
Week 42 · twelve restaurants · three courses each
Food Experience 02
Smag på Køge
One week every October when Køge’s restaurants each put a three-course menu on the table at a special price. Gancio’s entry is a lunch, Konditoriet, Tapas og Vin’s a dinner in two seatings: 249 DKK each.
Location: all over town · Time: 14–17.10.2026
Food Experience 03
Halifax Køge
Burgers on two floors in Strædet, next to the cinema, with Braunstein’s beer on the taps since before the burgers arrived. 109–149 DKK.
Location: Antoniestræde 4 · Phone +45 82 30 43 08
Food Experience 04
Organic Market
An organic bakery and food market with nobody behind the counter: the door opens for the app, seven in the morning to eleven at night, every day.
Location: Vestergade 11 · Time: 07:00–23:00 · Phone +45 93 10 77 77
Food Experiences 05–11 · new, pop-up, seasonal and the ones the town keeps — one page each: the kitchen on the square, the pop-up down the line, the baker’s Halloween counter, the pastry chef’s three courses, the rooster’s pizza and wine, the bistro’s French feelings, the smørrebrød in the courtyard
Food Experience 05 / opening
Wokshop
Thai food on the market square: curries in three heat levels, a sharing menu that changes five times a year, rooms dressed with rattan lamps and objects brought home from Asia. The chain’s fourteenth restaurant, Køge’s first table on Torvet.
Location: Torvet · Opens: date to be announced
Food Experience 06 / pop-up
Lillesyd
A pizza pop-up on Fridays and Saturdays at Lillesyd — the farm shop, café and village hall that Peter Aalbæk Jensen and his family run in Herfølge, one stop south of Køge. Sommerlunds Grill & Italienske Madunivers cooks Italian regional pizza from the oven, four till nine; eat at the long tables or carry the boxes home.
Location: Bjergvej 8, Herfølge · Time: Fri & Sat 16:00–21:00 · Phone +45 31 19 91 03
Food Experience 07 / baker · Halloween
Lagkagehuset
The bakers’ entry: Lagkagehuset’s Køge bakery on Rådhusstræde, a few steps from the square, open from half past six — and in October a counter of Halloween cakes: a pumpkin flødebolle, a bat muffin, a mummy træstamme, a monster, a witch and two ghosts, 30 kroner each. Printed here as a specimen sheet.
Location: Rådhusstræde 8E · Time: Mon–Fri 06:30–19:00, Sat–Sun 07:00–17:00 · Phone +45 70 70 50 14
Food Experience 08 / baker · Smag på Køge
Konditoriet, Tapas og Vin
Cakes by day, tapas and wine after them, on Nørregade a minute from the square — where Sara Henriksdottir Joensen, who has baked at La Glace and d’Angleterre and been on the national team, now bakes her own. For Smag på Køge: three courses at 249 DKK, two seatings a night, Thursday to Saturday 15–17 October.
Location: Nørregade 11 · Smag på Køge: 15–17.10, 17:00 & 19:00 · Phone +45 30 70 74 77
Food Experience 09 / new
Hanen, enotek og pizza
New on Brogade: Louise and Joseph Chmeis of Il Gallo — “the rooster” — have opened its Danish namesake across the street. Crisp Italian pizza, handmade gelato and wine imported straight from Italy, in a yellow half-timbered house a few steps from the bridge over Køge Å.
Location: Brogade 24 · Opened: October 2026 · Phone +45 21 71 16 93 (Il Gallo)
Food Experience 10 / bistro
Odd-Fellowgaarden
No fine dining, only French feelings: a bistro of starter-sized plates — pick three to five — in the cellar of the old party house on Jernbanegade. Bread and ice cream made in the house, a small wine list, and in summer a covered courtyard for eighteen under heat lamps.
Location: Jernbanegade 10 · Time: Wed–Sat 17:30–22:00 · Phone +45 56 63 63 32
Food Experience 11 / lunch · smørrebrød
Frokost MALT
Smørrebrød, built high and made from scratch, on rye bread baked in the house, with snaps from family recipes and beer from the harbour — in CF’s Gård off the square, where Torvet 19 once ran a brandy distillery. Mortensaften on 7 and 10 November.
Location: Torvet 19C, CF’s Gård · Time: Mon–Sat lunch · Phone +45 42 92 02 53
Food Experiences 12–15
12
Braunstein
Brewery and whisky distillery on the harbour since 2005. Beer tasting and brewery tour from 195 DKK, one hour; whisky tastings from 300; Braunstein Whisky Day on 10 October 2026; Sunday lunch jazz, free.
Location: Carlsensvej 3–5, the harbour · Mode: Taste
13
Skippers Dreng
Brasserie, bar and lounge on the harbour front. Brunch at ten, dinner at ten; 350 seats, 80 of them on the harbour terrace, 90 in a year-round orangery called OASE.
Location: Havnen 25 · Time: 10:00–22:00, Fri–Sat to midnight · Phone +45 25 28 28 23
14
Hugo’s Kælder & No. 19
Two rooms at one address on Brogade: a beer bar in the vaulted cellar, a wine bar with tapas at street level. Køge’s living room after dark.
Location: Brogade 19 · Time: Evenings · Phone +45 56 65 58 50
15
Køge Torv, market day
Every Wednesday and Saturday, all year: fruit, vegetables, flowers, cheese, fish, the odd argument. The largest provincial square in Denmark, trading since the market-town charter of 1288.
Location: Torvet · Time: Wed & Sat, morning
A day of eating
01
Market morning
Wednesday or Saturday. A sesame roll from the unmanned bakery on Vestergade at seven, then the square: cheese and fruit from the stalls, a look at the half-timbered street behind it.
Location: Vestergade 11 → Torvet · Time: 07:00–09:00
02
Il Pranzo
Two courses with a pause at Gancio, 220 DKK. Book ahead — even lunch.
Location: Vestergade 19A · Time: 12:00 · Phone +45 27 83 68 17
03
The brewery
Braunstein: one hour, the beers, the whisky stills in the next room. 195 DKK.
Location: Carlsensvej 3–5 · Time: 15:00
04
The harbour
Skippers Dreng — the terrace if the wind allows, the orangery if it does not. Copenhagen can wait.
Location: Havnen 25 · Time: 19:00 · Phone +45 25 28 28 23
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