Bistro Lupa – Østerbro's vegan bistro named for the wolf's spirit

Bistro Lupa occupies a corner of Melchiors Plads in Østerbro, a quiet residential square that became, almost overnight, one of Copenhagen's more unexpected dining addresses. The restaurant opened in 2021 as the third project from Jason Renwick, the Australian entrepreneur who had already built the city's vegan café Souls and the tasting-menu restaurant Ark, and it now holds the MICHELIN Guide's Bib Gourmand distinction. Everything on the plate is plant-based, built from seasonal produce and whatever the kitchen's own foragers and mushroom farm can supply that week. The cooking is led by British chef Brett Lavender, whose route to Østerbro ran through hotel and fine-dining kitchens in England, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Lupa shares its name with the Latin word for wolf, a reference the owners use deliberately: protection, leadership, spirit and the pull of a shared table, rather than any claim to severity in the dining room itself.

01The room and the setting

Lupa sits at Marstalsgade 8, on the square the Danes call Melchiors Plads, in the residential stretch of Østerbro away from the harbour promenades that draw most visitors to this part of the city. It is a neighbourhood address rather than a destination one, with a terrace that opens onto the square in fine weather. The restaurant describes itself as a bistro reimagined: full table service and a serious kitchen, but a relaxed, unfussy room rather than a formal dining salon.

02The chef and the team

Brett Lavender runs the kitchen as Executive Chef, drawing on nearly two decades of experience across England, Australia, New Zealand and Japan before joining Jason Renwick in Copenhagen. He first partnered with Renwick in 2020 to open Restaurant Ark, bringing fine-dining technique to a wholly plant-based menu, and now leads Lupa's bistro-format kitchen, where the same vegetable-driven philosophy has to work at a faster pace and a lower price point. Jenia Nelisova, Creative Director and Brand Manager, oversees the look and feel of the restaurant, from interiors to the menu itself, while Renwick continues to forage ingredients himself alongside running the wider business.

Insider tip

Book via the restaurant's own website; terrace seating in summer; closed over Christmas.

03The cooking

Every dish at Lupa is plant-based, built around what is in season and what can be foraged locally, alongside produce from a small number of carefully chosen suppliers. A significant part of the kitchen's supply chain is its own: Funga Farm, the group's urban mushroom-growing operation, feeds directly into the menu, and the wider foraging programme has been led by Christina Rasmussen, formerly head forager at Noma. The result is cooking that leans on vegetable technique and layering rather than substitution, treating mushrooms, roots and brassicas as the main event rather than a meat replacement.

04What to order

The dish regulars ask for by name is the LFM, a Southern-style fried blue oyster mushroom served with a tamarind-spiked glaze, crunchy and assertively spiced. It has been on the menu since the restaurant's early days and remains the kitchen's calling card, the dish Lavender himself points to when asked what sums up Lupa's approach to plant-based cooking.

05Wine and drinks

The drinks list runs to natural wines, craft beers and a house-made kombucha that is brewed on site and served sparkling alongside the tasting courses. The pairing is deliberately informal: cocktails and natural wine sit next to kombucha and coffee, built for a bistro that is as happy serving a quick lunch as a full evening menu.

06When to go and booking

Bistro Lupa serves dinner Sunday to Thursday from 17.00 to 22.00, with last orders at 20.30, and stays open later on Friday until 23.00, with last orders at 20.45. Saturday adds a lunch sitting from 12.00 to 15.00 before the evening service runs from 17.00 to 23.00. The restaurant closes for Christmas between 23 and 29 December. Tables are booked directly through the restaurant's own website.

07The neighbourhood

Østerbro is one of Copenhagen's quieter, more residential districts, and Melchiors Plads sits well back from the harbour-front crowds, a square of apartment blocks and local cafés rather than tourist traffic. Lupa is part of a small family of restaurants built by the same team: Restaurant Ark and Beyla Bar & Eatery operate elsewhere in the city, Kiko Izakaya adds a Japanese-inspired menu to the group, and Funga Farm, the mushroom operation that supplies Lupa's kitchen, runs its own tours for anyone curious about where the fried oyster mushrooms actually come from.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.