SOMMER CANTEEN
THE BEST BAKERY IN DENMARK?
Jesper Gøtz has been a shifting figure in the Copenhagen food and beverage scene. Having worked in fine dining, he turned his attentions to baked goods opening the (now legendary) Lille Bageri, out by Reffen. In the summer of 2024, his attention moved north to the small seaside town of Taarbæk, almost half way between Copenhagen and the amazing Louisiana Art museum.
The canteen sits in a white pyramid-like building, one block from the water. Out front are some tables for the bright sunny days, which Denmark gets a few of, and inside some more seating and an overflow room that was closed at the time of our visit.
As visualised by the fantastic video made by Frederik Winther Larsen, the canteen plays off the English version of the name, being a jack-of-all-trades. This is not only a bakery, Sommer Canteen serves plates of food, sweets, bread, buns, and coffee from famous roaster Prolog.
This is a house where experiments can be done with seasonal vegetables and produce, changing regularly, and pushing into a more fine-casual vibe when it comes to exciting flavours and combinations. This does not translate into a stuffy or snobby atmosphere, as the vibe here is uber relaxed.
Our coffee was tasty, as you'd expect from Prolog, but the highlight was most definitely the BMO (Brød med ost). The quintessential Danish breakfast, lunch, brunch, snack, bread with cheese is synonymous with almost every aspect of life in Copenhagen.
The bread here has that wonderful texture, that chew, but not a tiresome workout for your jaws, that pleasing resistance of good flour and yeast and methods combining. We also tried their regular bread and whipped butter, and it too had that satisfying texture. Absolutely craveable.
Our next visit will have to be to try some of the plated meals, but as this was only a quick stop on the way to Louisiana, we'll have to return soon.
All I can say is the BMO and regular bread was definitely the best we've ever tried in Denmark. The only other bakery that came close in terms of textures and colour was Batting in Charlottenlund.
