Cheap Eats in Copenhagen: 18 Places to Fill Up

Cheap eats in Copenhagen sounds like a contradiction if you only read about the restaurants that get reviewed. Underneath them sits a whole layer of stalls, lunch cellars, brunch rooms and bistros where you can leave full without thinking about the bill afterwards. That is what this guide is about: eighteen addresses where the low price is not an excuse for the food.

The order follows our editorial score, not the price. All eighteen sit on the two lowest price levels on the site, four of them on the very lowest — but it is the kitchen that decides the place on the list. We give the price level as a step and not in kroner. Menus change, and a number that is wrong in three months is worse than no number at all.

The top twelve get a section each with the address and the opening hours, and the last six are grouped at the bottom. If you would rather have the whole city with a map and filters, it is on Copenhagen, street food in Copenhagen and restaurants in Copenhagen.

1. Torvehallerne, Israels Plads

Rømersgade 18. Two glass halls with around sixty stalls: fish, cheese, smørrebrød, coffee, tacos and greens. It is the best place in the city to eat your way through several things at once without booking anything, and that is why the halls sit at the top — you can walk in with a budget and decide yourself how much of it gets spent.

The halls work as both a market and a place to eat. You can shop for dinner and have lunch in the same building, and the quality holds all the way round — several of the city's good names keep a stall here, and at a stall you are not paying for a table.

Open Monday to Thursday from ten until seven, Friday until eight and Saturday until six. On Sunday the doors open at eleven and close at five. Come outside the lunch rush if you want to avoid the queue at the best stalls.

2. Mad & Kaffe, Vesterbro

Sønder Boulevard 68. Mad & Kaffe turned brunch into a kit: you tick a slip and get three, five or seven small things on one plate. It solves the practical problem that nobody can agree on what brunch should contain — and it turns the price into something you control yourself.

The Sønder Boulevard branch is the original, and the formula has been copied all over the country since. Vegetarians, meat eaters and the fussy one can sit at the same table without negotiating, because everyone picks their own.

Open every day from half past eight until eight in the evening — one of the longest opening hours among the city's brunch places. There is a queue at weekends from around ten, and they do not take reservations for small parties. Come before nine, or treat it as a late lunch. There are seats out on the boulevard when the sun is out.

3. Hija de Sanchez, Meatpacking District

Slagterboderne 8. The stall was started by a former pastry chef from Noma, and the difference is in the tortilla: the corn is nixtamalised and ground in house, the way it is done in Mexico. That is why a taco from here tastes different from a taco at a pizzeria.

The menu is short — tacos and a little on the side — and three tacos are a meal for most people. You order at the counter and eat standing up or at the tables outside. The price is low and it moves fast, but there can be a queue at weekends.

Open every day from eleven until nine, Friday and Saturday until ten. It suits a quick lunch, an early evening in the Meatpacking District, or something to eat before you move on to a bar in the neighbourhood.

4. Selma, Nørreport

Rømersgade 20A. Smørrebrød that builds on the classics instead of repeating them. The rye bread is the foundation, but the toppings have been thought through by someone who wants more than herring and egg.

Stick to lunch and Selma is the cheapest of the city's good smørrebrød addresses. It is also the easiest way in for anyone who did not grow up with the food: the dishes are less formal than in the old lunch cellars, and you can eat your way through several without writing off the whole afternoon.

Lunch Monday to Saturday from half past eleven until four, dinner from six until midnight. Closed on Sunday. Torvehallerne is a few minutes' walk away, so the two combine on one trip.

5. Perron, BaneGaarden

Otto Busses Vej 45. A sourdough bakery and pizzeria in the old goods buildings behind Dybbølsbro, now a car-free yard with gardens and workshops. Bread and pastries from first thing in the morning, and the pizza oven is fired up later in the day.

It is as much a day out as a place to eat, and that is part of the arithmetic: you can spend half a day there without ordering more than lunch. The food is organic, and there is both vegetarian and vegan on the menu. At weekends brunch is served from ten until two, and lunch starts at eleven.

Tuesday to Friday from half past eight until four, Saturday and Sunday from nine until four. Closed on Monday. It is fifteen minutes' walk from Central Station, and there is room for children to run around without anyone being shushed.

6. Sidecar, Nørrebro

Skyttegade 5. Sidecar sits in a side street away from the traffic on Nørrebro and keeps to what it can do: breakfast, lunch and coffee until four o'clock. Then it closes.

The menu is short because the kitchen has made up its mind. You do not get fifteen options, but what is on the list has been thought through and it comes out quickly. The coffee matches the neighbourhood's coffee bars, and you get through the morning properly without anyone making a performance of it.

Open from eight on weekdays and nine at weekends, until four every day. There is no evening service — the house uses the evenings for events. There are seats in the street when the weather allows.

7. Gasoline Grill, Indre By

Landgreven 10. The only place in the top half of this list that sits on the lowest price level. Gasoline Grill started in a disused petrol station and has kept the formula: four kinds of burger, organic beef and potatoes cut the same day. When the day's meat is gone, they close.

It is one of the few burger bars in the country to get international attention, and the reason is simplicity: few things, done the same way every time. The patty is thin and hard-seared, and the bun is soft enough to collapse around it.

Open every day from eleven until ten — or until the meat runs out, which happens before closing on the busy days. There are not many seats, so most people eat standing up or take it away. Come outside lunchtime if you want to avoid the queue.

8. Delphine, Vesterbro

Vesterbrogade 40. Cofoco's Mediterranean kitchen with dishes from the Greek islands and southern Italy: small plates to share, olive oil, lemon and the grill, in a bright room facing Vesterbrogade.

The mechanics are what keep the price down. You choose the number of dishes instead of reading a long menu, and the kitchen sends them out as they are ready. It is a set menu at a price that does not require an occasion, and the grill is what the food is built on.

Sunday to Thursday the doors open at half past five and close at midnight; Friday and Saturday they open at five and close at half past twelve. Evenings only. Book at weekends — it is one of the Cofoco addresses that fills up first.

9. Slotskælderen hos Gitte Kik, Indre By

Fortunstræde 4. The lunch cellar has been in Fortunstræde since 1910 and looks the part: low ceiling, dark wood and a platter of the day's smørrebrød you choose from. Politicians from Christiansborg and tradespeople from the neighbourhood have shared the place for over a hundred years.

You walk up to the platter, see what is there, and point. The herring is the strongest card in the house. There are no long menus and no explanations, and the price is the lowest among the city's classic lunch cellars.

Open every day of the week from eleven until five, with the kitchen serving between eleven and three. No evening service. It suits a lunch where you want the real thing without booking three weeks ahead.

10. Zeleste, Nyhavn

Store Strandstræde 6. Zeleste has a cobbled courtyard most people walk past without noticing, and that is the real reason to come: closed off from the street and with room to sit for a long time. The kitchen is Danish-French and straightforward.

Lunch is one of the better deals this close to Nyhavn — the menu is classic, with smørrebrød and hot dishes, and you sit outside without sitting by the canal and paying accordingly.

Open every day from twelve until ten, with no afternoon break. That makes it useful at the hours when the rest of the neighbourhood has shut the kitchen. It is a few minutes' walk from Kongens Nytorv.

11. Mother, Meatpacking District

Høkerboderne 9-15. Sourdough pizza from a wood-fired oven, served at long tables in an old butcher's stall. It is neither expensive nor quiet, and it is one of the few places in the area where you can bring children for dinner.

The dough is sour and thin and the pizzas are plain — this is the Neapolitan school, not the American one. You sit close, and tables are shared when it is busy. One pizza is a meal, and for most people that is the whole order.

Open Monday to Saturday from eleven in the morning until one at night, Sunday until eleven in the evening. There are tables out on the square in summer, and there is a queue on Friday and Saturday from seven.

12. Les Trois Cochons, Værnedamsvej

Værnedamsvej 10. One of Cofoco's first restaurants, in the most French street in the city. The kitchen is bistro: terrine, confit, sauce and a cheese at the end, served as a set menu you can come back to.

You choose the number of courses instead of reading a long menu, and that is part of why the price can be held down. The wine list is French and short enough to read. Lunch is the cheapest way in if you are on Værnedamsvej to shop anyway.

Lunch Monday to Saturday from twelve until half past two, dinner from half past five until midnight. Sunday is evenings only. The street has outdoor seats, and they are the first to go when the sun is out. Book at weekends.

The last six, and why they count too

The difference between number twelve and number eighteen is small, and three of the six sit on the lowest price level. Here is the rest, in the same order:

• Reffen, Refshalevej 167A on Refshaleøen. The city's biggest street food market: dozens of stalls in reused shipping containers along the water, from Korean fried chicken to vegan smash. The quality varies from stall to stall, but the best ones are very good, and several have vegan and vegetarian options. The market is seasonal and closes for winter, so check before you head out in the cold end of the year. Take the bike or the harbour bus, and walk a lap before you order.
• Granola, Værnedamsvej 5. Mahogany, brass and apothecary cabinets, and a menu that runs from breakfast to dinner. The strength is the hours: open from eight Monday to Friday and nine at weekends, closing at eleven Monday to Wednesday and midnight Thursday to Saturday. On Sunday it closes at four. The outdoor seats are the most sought-after in the street.
• Kalaset, Vendersgade 16 near Nørreport. Mismatched chairs, old china and a brunch plate served all day rather than only at midday. Open from ten every day: until midnight Monday to Thursday, until two in the morning on Friday and Saturday, and until eleven on Sunday. This is the place for the late brunch, when you got up too late for everywhere else.
• Wulff & Konstali, Isafjordsgade 10 on Islands Brygge. You order a number of small dishes and build your own plate, the same way as at Mad & Kaffe. Open from seven until seven on weekdays and from seven until six at weekends — one of the earliest openings in the city. Come before ten on a Saturday if you want a table without waiting.
• Broens Gadekøkken, Strandgade 95 by the Inner Harbour Bridge. Smaller and more central than Reffen: a handful of well-chosen stalls with Nyhavn on the other side of the water, a bar in the middle and long tables outside with heaters in winter. There is fish, vegetarian food and something for children, and it is open every day. Try the fish cakes. A few minutes' walk from both Christianshavn and Kongens Nytorv.
• Jagger, Nørrebrogade 114. Tacos and burgers at a price that belongs in fast food, with produce that does not. The menu is short — a couple of tacos, a couple of burgers and fries — and there are vegetarian versions of both. Open every day from eleven until ten, Friday and Saturday until eleven. There are tables, but it is not a restaurant; you eat and move on.

Where does the lowest price level sit?

Four of the eighteen are on the site's lowest step: Gasoline Grill on Landgreven 10, Reffen on Refshaleøen, Broens Gadekøkken by the Inner Harbour Bridge and Jagger on Nørrebrogade 114. All four are street food: you order at a counter, and you pay for the food rather than the table.

On the other fourteen it is the mechanics that make the difference. Mad & Kaffe, Wulff & Konstali, Delphine and Les Trois Cochons all let the guest choose the number of dishes instead of reading a long menu — and at Torvehallerne you decide for yourself how many stalls you visit.

Cheap lunch instead of an expensive dinner

The best move in the whole city is to shift the meal to the middle of the day. Five of the places here are clearly at their cheapest at lunch. Selma is the cheapest of the city's good smørrebrød addresses if you stick to the lunch service from half past eleven until four. Slotskælderen serves lunch only, and does it every day of the week.

Zeleste has a lunch menu with smørrebrød and hot dishes a stone's throw from Nyhavn, and Les Trois Cochons opens for lunch all seven days from half past eleven until three — same kitchen as in the evening, shorter menu. Perron starts lunch at eleven and closes at four, so there is no dinner bill to consider at all.

Where can you eat cheaply late?

Copenhagen kitchens close early, and that is the most common reason an evening goes wrong. The longest hours belong to Mother, which serves pizza until one in the morning Monday to Saturday, and Kalaset, which stays open until two on Friday and Saturday.

Granola is open until midnight Thursday to Saturday, and Delphine until half past twelve at weekends. Jagger closes at ten on weekdays and eleven on Friday and Saturday, while Hija de Sanchez closes at nine, and at ten on Friday and Saturday. Gasoline Grill is open until ten every day — if the meat has not run out first.

Where can you bring the children?

Perron in BaneGaarden is the obvious one: the yard is car-free, there are gardens to run around in, and nobody has to be shushed. Mother in the Meatpacking District is the other — long tables, pizza and open from eleven in the morning, so you can eat at five instead of at eight.

By the water sit Reffen and Broens Gadekøkken, both with room to sit, several stalls to choose between and no table reservation to keep track of. Kalaset has room for children early in the day.

Where can you eat cheaply without meat?

Perron is the only one on the list with both vegetarian and vegan running right through the menu. Reffen has both in several stalls, and Jagger makes vegetarian versions of the tacos and the burgers. At Mad & Kaffe and Wulff & Konstali it solves itself, because you pick your own dishes — and the same goes for the roughly sixty stalls in Torvehallerne.

What about a cheap julefrokost?

The cheapest Christmas lunch in Copenhagen is 365 kroner per person at Perron in BaneGaarden — but there have to be at least 25 guests, so it is a departmental event, not an evening for four. Next come Les Trois Cochons at 395 and Vækst at 400, both from nine people. For comparison, the typical range for a Christmas menu in the city is 400 to 750 kroner for the food alone, and the drinks can double the bill. All ten Christmas menus with prices, dates and minimum party sizes are in julefrokost in Copenhagen.

Questions and answers

What does it cost to eat cheaply in Copenhagen?

We give the price level as a step rather than in kroner, because menus change faster than a guide does. All eighteen places here sit on the two lowest of the site's price levels: four on the very lowest and fourteen one step up. The lowest step is street food, where you order at a counter and eat standing up or at a long table. The step above is lunch cellars, brunch rooms and bistros with table service, but without the restaurant surcharge.

Where is the cheapest food in Copenhagen?

Four places on the list sit on the lowest step: Gasoline Grill on Landgreven 10, Jagger on Nørrebrogade 114, Reffen on Refshalevej 167A and Broens Gadekøkken on Strandgade 95. All four are street food, none of them take reservations, and none of them require you to set aside an evening. The full field is on street food in Copenhagen.

Where can you eat cheaply without booking a table?

Most of the places here. Torvehallerne, Reffen, Broens Gadekøkken, Hija de Sanchez, Gasoline Grill and Jagger work entirely without. Slotskælderen has neither a long menu nor a table plan — you look at the platter and point — and Mother seats people together at the long tables when it is busy. Mad & Kaffe does not take reservations for small parties, so there it is the timing and not the booking that decides. Do book Delphine and Les Trois Cochons at weekends.

Is there cheap food in the city centre?

Yes, six of the eighteen are in Indre By or right around it. Gasoline Grill on Landgreven 10 and Slotskælderen on Fortunstræde 4 are the two cheapest. Torvehallerne on Rømersgade 18 and Selma on Rømersgade 20A are next door to each other at Israels Plads, Kalaset on Vendersgade 16 is a few minutes away, and Zeleste on Store Strandstræde 6 is the cheapest way to eat close to Nyhavn.

Where can you eat cheaply on a Sunday?

Seventeen of the eighteen are open on Sunday. The only one closed all day is Selma. A couple of the others change rhythm: Granola closes at four, and Mother closes at eleven instead of one. Slotskælderen, Zeleste, Gasoline Grill, Mad & Kaffe and Jagger keep the same hours as the rest of the week.

Where do you eat cheaply in the Meatpacking District?

Two addresses in the district are on this list. Hija de Sanchez on Slagterboderne 8 makes tacos on tortillas from corn ground on site, and three of them are a meal for most people. Mother on Høkerboderne 9-15 bakes sourdough pizza in a wood-fired oven and is open from eleven in the morning until one at night, Monday to Saturday. The rest of the district is in the guide to the Meatpacking District.

Where do you get cheap brunch in Copenhagen?

Six of the places serve breakfast or brunch. Mad & Kaffe on Sønder Boulevard 68 and Wulff & Konstali on Isafjordsgade 10 let the guest choose the number of small dishes, which is what keeps the price down. Kalaset serves brunch all day, Sidecar on Skyttegade 5 closes at four — half past three on Sunday — and does nothing else, Granola opens at eight on weekdays, and Perron serves brunch at weekends from ten until two.

How this list was made

The selection cuts across categories: street food, brunch, bakeries and restaurants all count, as long as a meal is the whole point. Places where you only pick up a bread roll or a cup of coffee have been left out even when they are cheap — they belong in the city overview and not in a guide about leaving full.

The order follows our editorial score, which weighs the kitchen, the produce and the craft. It does not follow the price: the first place on the lowest price level only turns up at number seven, and the other three sit in the bottom third. The price level is our editorial judgement on a scale from one to four and not an amount in kroner. We never write a figure we cannot stand behind tomorrow, and menus change all the time.

Addresses and opening hours were checked against the places' own information on 25 September 2026. Reffen and Broens Gadekøkken were checked again on 3 October 2026: the stalls at Reffen are open every day 11.30-20.30, at Broens 11.30-20 Sunday to Thursday and 11-21 Friday and Saturday, with the bars open longer at both. Times change, especially lunch service and the late weekend closings, so look at the cards below before you set out.