Copenhagen: La Banchina

Perhaps more than any other Copenhagen eatery, La Banchina embodies what it means to live (and eat and drink) in the city today. This pierside all-day café and wine bar is located on the banks of Refshaleøen, a small island in Copenhagen with an important industrial past. La Banchina’s special appeal is not only the location, but also how adaptable its concept is: from morning to night, and summer into winter.

Each morning, bread, coffee, and pastries are served, and from afternoon until evening, small plates, bar bites, and wines are on offer. La Banchina also serves a twelve-course tasting menu in winter. No matter the season, however, the food served is always organic and locally sourced, making use of responsibly caught fish and seasonal vegetables from regenerative farms.

In the summer, Copenhageners flock to La Banchina to grab a bottle of wine and sit on the floating pier. There, they’ll sunbathe, drink, and swim all day. On particularly sunny days, the pier can be so full of wine drinking swimmers that it, too, starts to dip under the water. In the winter, diners sit at cosy candlelit tables which peer out across the water over central Copenhagen. The on-site sauna, tucked amongst the outdoor kitchen and raised beds of herbs, can be booked in both winter and summer. Most sauna-goers jump straight into the harbour immediately afterwards – even (or perhaps especially) in winter.

Discover more in Issue 12: Copenhagen


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