Bobe – Bo Bech's return to a 1731 square in old Copenhagen

Bobe occupies a yellow townhouse on Gråbrødretorv, one of Copenhagen's oldest squares, raised in 1731 and still carrying the weight of that history in its protected façade. The restaurant is the work of Bo Bech, the chef-owner who developed his culinary skills over more than 30 years in restaurant kitchens before opening Bobe here in November 2023, in an address that for a generation had been home to restaurant Peder Oxe. Vegetables are deliberately placed at the centre of the plate rather than pushed to its edge, and the à la carte format keeps the kitchen honest: Bobe's à la carte menu offers dishes prepared with quality ingredients at reasonable prices, a combination that has earned the restaurant a coveted Bib Gourmand recommendation. It holds one Bib Gourmand distinction in the MICHELIN Guide. For Copenhagen, where Bech is already a known quantity from two earlier kitchens, Bobe reads less like a comeback than a settling-in, built for the long, unhurried evening rather than the occasion dinner.

01The chef

Bo Bech is one of Copenhagen's defining chefs, a Danish cook and restaurateur who has run the restaurants Paustian, from 2004 to 2010, and Geist, from 2010 to 2020, the first of which received a Michelin star in 2008. His training reached well beyond Denmark: Bech trained at Krogs Fiskerestaurant, qualifying in 1998, and during his apprenticeship worked at several Michelin restaurants abroad, including Arpège in Paris and Le Gavroche in London, cooking under figures such as Alain Passard, Marco Pierre White, Alain Senderens and Michel Roux Jr. That itinerant decade shows in how he talks about his own food: not a tasting-menu sequence but a looser, more generous language built from decades at the stove. He has run Bobe on Gråbrødre Torv since November 2023, and in May 2024 the restaurant was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the MICHELIN Guide.

02The room and the setting

The building predates the restaurant by nearly three centuries, and the renovation treats that history as material rather than backdrop. The historic premises have been newly restored by the architectural duo Atelier Axo, comprising Caroline Sillesen and Rose Hermansen, who drew on medieval Copenhagen for a minimalist interior, open fireplaces integrated with natural tones and carefully chosen wooden furnishings. Nothing was shipped in wholesale from the previous tenant: the J39 chair by Børge Mogensen is used throughout the room, and because these particular chairs originated from the previous restaurant, they carry a sustainable dimension into the new decor. Elsewhere, Mogensen's 2333 Sofa and the Spanish Chair sit alongside Keiji Takeuchi's Seto Stool, with Maria Bruun's Pioneer Collection stools, in varying heights, adding a sculptural touch across the space. As you move through the rooms you'll find a maze of spaces and an open kitchen, where it's not uncommon to see Bech himself on the pass.

Insider tip

Open daily for lunch and dinner; book ahead, especially for evening wine-bar sittings.

03The cooking and what to order

Bech's cooking at Bobe stays close to produce without much theatre. Among the dishes that keep regulars coming back is a venison tartare with chopped beetroot, sharpened by a well-balanced smoked soy, and a grilled heart of lamb with cherries and wood sorrel. Dessert leans sweet and unembarrassed: a personal interpretation of arme riddere, butter-fried bread paired with an ice-cold, creamy cardamom ice cream, and a cheesecake finished with smoked maple syrup that is regularly singled out by visitors. Lunch runs separately as a smørrebrød list, the Danish open sandwich kept on its own card rather than folded into the evening menu.

04Wine and drinks

Bobe's extensive wine list extends into a wine bar located in the cellar, and the pairing of produce-driven food with serious wine has not gone unnoticed: Star Wine List ranked Bobe the number one wine list in Copenhagen in both 2024 and 2025, a run that places its cellar above lists at considerably more expensive addresses in the city. The bar itself keeps separate, later hours, open Thursday to Saturday into the early hours for guests who want to stay on after the kitchen has emptied out.

05The neighbourhood

Gråbrødretorv is one of Copenhagen's oldest public squares, a cobbled rectangle ringed by ochre and terracotta buildings that predate the city's modern restaurant scene by several centuries. The square fills with office workers and tourists moving between the Latin Quarter and Strøget at lunch, quiets briefly, then fills again with a more deliberate evening crowd. It sits a short walk from Strøget's shopping streets and the Round Tower, close enough to the centre that a reservation, rather than luck, is the more reliable way in.

06When to go and booking

Bobe keeps long hours by Copenhagen standards. In October 2026 the kitchen serves smørrebrød for lunch daily from 11:30 to 15:00, and dinner nightly from 17:00 until 01:00, with the bar running Thursday to Saturday until the same late hour. The restaurant can also be booked privately: the main room seats 80 for a meal or takes 200 guests standing for a reception, the adjoining Salon holds 30 seated or 60 standing, and the bar alone can hold 120 for a reception.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.