On our first morning, Copenhagen offered petrichor, pastries and perfect coffee as bicycles ticked past. Minutes later we had passed a palace and watched pedestrians await green lights despite empty roads. The streets looked as if litter required planning permission, though 14 of 40 fountains remained dry after two specialist staff resigned - an embarrassment measured in empty basins. Those basins were conspicuous precisely because almost everything around them worked.
Noma reopened a fortnight before we arrived under executive head chef Pablo Soto, with René Redzepi returning as creative director rather than daily operator after renewed scrutiny of the restaurant’s working culture. Yet Copenhagen no longer needs one restaurant - or one chef - to speak for it.
