Jordnær – down to earth, three stars above it

Jordnær occupies the first floor of a modest hotel on Gentoftegade, in the quiet, leafy suburb of Gentofte just north of Copenhagen, and its rise there ranks among the most striking stories in European gastronomy. It holds Three MICHELIN Stars, which makes it the third restaurant in the Danish capital to reach the Guide's highest rank, after Geranium and noma. Chef Eric Kragh Vildgaard and his wife Tina Kragh Vildgaard opened the restaurant in 2017, after the hotel's restaurant and kitchen had been fully rebuilt for the project; Eric leads the kitchen on the back of three years spent at Noma, while Tina runs the dining room and has since won the Michelin Nordic Welcome & Service Award. The honours followed quickly: a first star in 2018, a second in 2020, and a third in 2024. Behind the polish sits an unlikely past: before cooking turned his life around, Eric spent his teenage years in Copenhagen's crime underworld.

01The room and the setting

Jordnær sits one floor above an otherwise unassuming three-star hotel; the building itself dates back to the late 15th century and was restored in 2008, while the hotel was bought by Alf Arp-Hansen in 1960. Inside, the dining room is compact rather than grand, with a handful of tables positioned so that guests can watch the kitchen at work. The whole restaurant can also be booked for private dinners on any day of the week, for parties of twenty-five guests or more. Gentofte station, on the Kystbanen line, connects directly to Copenhagen Central, so the dining room is reachable without a car.

02The chef

Eric Kragh Vildgaard's route to the stove was unconventional. A troubled adolescence inside Copenhagen's crime underworld was interrupted by a cooking stint on a sailing trip for difficult teenagers, where he first cooked for a crew rather than for himself. A later job took him to a hotel north of the city called Fredensborg Store Kro, where its director, Tina, would become his wife. With support from his brother Torsten, he secured an internship at Noma under René Redzepi, the training that shaped his technique. When the couple opened Jordnær, there was no outside investment: they financed the first plates and glasses for the dining room by selling Tina's diamond ring and a Rolex watch. They now run the restaurant together while raising a combined family of six children. Beyond Michelin, Jordnær has entered the World's 50 Best list at No. 38 in 2022 and was named Denmark's Restaurant of the Year in 2023.

Insider tip

Reachable from central Copenhagen via Gentofte station on the Kystbanen line.

03The cooking

The kitchen's register is New Nordic bent toward Japanese technique, built on seafood and vegetables chosen for quality over convenience. Sustainability runs through the sourcing too: organic beetroot sits alongside sustainable caviar and seafood, with wild herbs and fish taken from the nearby lake of Arresø. On the plate, the style swings between the pared-back – a precise plate of hamachi with ponzu and wasabi – and the elaborate, such as a multi-layered chawanmushi. Fish and shellfish run through nearly the whole menu, from a langoustine essence early on to a whole turbot course served later with Banyuls and caviar.

04What to order

The evening tasting menu for 2026 opens with bleak roe, Jabara mandarin and buckwheat, before moving through king crab with sudachi and jabasco, lobster with yuzu and sansho pepper, bluefin otoro with myoga and kaluga caviar, and a rosette waffle with fjord shrimp and Baerii caviar. Later courses bring scallops with gooseberry and rose, an essence of langoustine with tomato and vanilla, Gillardeau oysters with buttermilk and horseradish, hamachi with ponzu and wasabi, a chawanmushi with king crab and galangal, and langoustine with sakura, alongside bread and butter. The main course is turbot with Banyuls and caviar, followed by a pavlova with Miyazaki mango and sheep's cream, and a final course of Shizuoka crown melon. In October 2026 the menu was priced at DKK 4,500 per person, with small changes possible on the night; the kitchen does not offer a vegetarian or vegan alternative.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar is deep enough that the team also offers a champagne pairing alongside the tasting menu, and the champagne selection is something the restaurant takes particular pride in. Guests who prefer to bring a bottle from their own cellar can do so through corkage, limited to two bottles per table: DKK 1,500 for the first and DKK 2,500 for the second, with wines already on the house list excluded, according to the restaurant's own wine page in 2026.

06When to go and booking

In October 2026, Jordnær served dinner Tuesday to Friday from 6pm, with lunch added on the first Saturday of every month from 1pm; the restaurant was closed for one week in February, three weeks in summer, one week in October and two weeks around Christmas, according to its own site. Any allergies or dietary needs have to be confirmed at least 48 hours ahead, and the kitchen does not run a vegetarian or vegan menu; guests are also asked to avoid strong perfume or cologne so scent does not interfere with the food and wine. Those after something smaller in scale can try Atelier, the same team's more relaxed counter-dining project, also in Gentofte.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.