The Samuel – an apothecary's villa turned one-star table

The Samuel occupies a red-brick villa on Hellerupvej, a few minutes north of Copenhagen, that has stood since 1891. The restaurant takes its name from chef and sommelier Jonathan K. Berntsen's son, a personal gesture in a dining room otherwise built on precision rather than sentiment. Berntsen previously ran Clou, the Copenhagen restaurant that held a MICHELIN Star for six years before he closed it to move his team here; The Samuel earned its own star after only four months of service. It holds one MICHELIN Star. The house runs on an unusual logic for fine dining: wine comes first, the dish is written afterwards to suit the glass. Downstairs a circular marble bar faces the open kitchen and a cellar built around one of the world's deeper Dom Pérignon collections; upstairs, white linen and Danish design frame a menu of South European classics reworked with Nordic produce and uncompromising technique.

01The room and the setting

The villa's ground floor is built around a circular marble bar, the kind of room designed as much for a drink before or after the meal as for waiting. From the bar you can enjoy the view of the open kitchen and explore the grand wine cellar, and the restaurant is furnished with iconic Danish design and art. A 400-kilo cheese cabinet, custom-built, greets guests near the entrance before they ever reach a table.

Dinner itself happens upstairs. The tables are set with ironed white linen and silverware. If you need a pause between dishes you can take a stroll in the herb garden or have a seat in the lounge area on the raised terrace. The private dining room, named after Berntsen's daughter Josephine in earlier write-ups of the house, seats a small party for a closed door dinner, while the whole building can hold a total of 42 guests for larger occasions.

02The chef

Jonathan K. Berntsen runs the kitchen as both chef and sommelier, a dual role that shapes everything that leaves the pass. He was long-term owner and chef of Clou, the Copenhagen restaurant that retained a Michelin star for six years in a row, before deciding to close it and move his creative energy to Hellerup. The gamble paid off quickly: within months of reopening as The Samuel, the restaurant had its own star.

Insider tip

Open Wednesday-Saturday, dinner only; single Signature Menu with optional wine pairing.

His standing as a wine man is not incidental. Berntsen's devotion to pairing has been acknowledged with awards including winning the Copa Jerez in 2013 and again in 2019, the most prestigious international competition in food and wine pairing, and he now consults for the Danish Copa Jerez chapter. He also sets the tone for how the house is staffed: The Samuel does not take in stagiaires, interns or unpaid students; all staff are paid and on contract, working a maximum of four days a week.

03The cooking

The kitchen's starting point is deliberately southern. Berntsen describes building on South European classics not as a rulebook but as a foundation, refining techniques and distilling flavours until the dishes become something that could only exist here. Falstaff's 2026 Nordics guide, awarding the restaurant 95 points, describes Berntsen crafting a confident fine dining language with southern French accents, alongside a menu that includes both a Dom Pérignon interlude and a dedicated cheese cabinet.

What sets the process apart is sequence: wine before food. His passion for wine is so large that he uses it as a starting point for almost every dish he creates, building dishes from notes found in a glass of sherry or an unusual vintage rather than the reverse. On the current Signature Menu, that logic is explicit: dishes are built around a chosen wine before being adjusted and finished to match it, with the menu holding up alone but intended to be outstanding with the pairing.

04What to order

There is one route through dinner, the Signature Menu, opening with a cocktail snack called Queen of Almonds — Marcona almonds coated in mild curry — before a run that includes salmon belly with Gastro Unika Baerii caviar, an Iberico croquette and a creamy lobster cappuccino finished with raw cacao. A raw, marinated Gambero Rosso prawn arrives with a sorbet of grilled red piment and a foamy beurre blanc, followed by small langoustine soufflés served as quenelles with a crisp waffle and Oscietra caviar.

Danish squid is paired with Sasanishiki rice, crisp ink and Parmigiano Reggiano, and pigeon à l'orange brings poached breast and a leg confit raviolo with pigeon jus and orange purée, trailed by a tableside break of 2018 Dom Pérignon with Cinco Jotas Jamón Ibérico de Bellota. Guests are then taken downstairs to the cheese cabinet, where ten of the world's best cheeses are selected for the table, before a finish of Danish cherries and chocolate — cherry and bourbon vanilla ice cream with salt caramel, alongside warm pastis and white chocolate cream in a dark chocolate cylinder.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar is the other half of the house's identity. It holds just shy of 3,000 bottles, a predominantly French collection of fine wines from the best producers in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, along with one of the world's deepest Dom Pérignon collections, with special bottles from other regions and countries listed too.

The seven-glass Signature Wine Pairing runs alongside the tasting menu and ranges far beyond the obvious: a 2015 André Clouet Champagne, a 2024 Albariño from D'Fefiñanes in Galicia, a 2016 Riesling from Müller-Catoir in the Pfalz, a 2023 Spätburgunder from Rings, a 2012 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal from Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, and a 2023 Mas Amiel Maury to close with the cheese course.

06When to go and booking

The Samuel keeps a tight schedule: open Wednesday to Saturday, dinner only. Because the evening is built around a single seating, the house asks guests to arrive exactly on time and to allow a minimum of three hours at the table. The kitchen is upfront about its limits too: the menu contains both gluten and lactose, and the team cannot accommodate major allergies.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.