For our first morning in Copenhagen I had already written out exactly what we were going to do. Grod. Grod is one of those places that should exist everywhere around the world. It is just such an obviously good idea that it amazes me that it isn’t. That’s one of the fascinating things about travelling. You discover these great little businesses, based on such a simple concept that do so well and wonder why they aren’t in your city.
Grod serves oatmeal. Just oatmeal since 2011. Well that isn’t completely true. In the afternoon and evening they also serve risotto. But I’d have their oatmeal for dinner and I suspect lots of people do because it is really that good.
This isn’t just oatmeal, although you can order plain oatmeal if you really want. Their menu changes seasonally. We had vanilla-apple compote with Icelandic yogurt and three grain granola made with oat porridge cooked in half water and half full fat milk. An option that was really popular with others sitting around us was the same oat porridge but with home made dulce de leche, fresh apple and roasted almonds. They also have a variety of spelt porridge cooked in soy milk with gooseberry compote and liquorice sugar, or grain porridge cooked in water and carrot juice. If you choose them to eat in they are served in beautiful blue ceramic bowls.
They have two locations in Copenhagen. The one we went to is in the beautiful Torvehallerne market, and one of the few stalls open early in the morning. Grod had only one guy working there the morning we were there and he was running around his tiny little market stall like a mad man. He was taking orders, making coffees, washing pots, putting on oatmeal, cleaning up plates, oh and also making hot chocolates. Naturally we had to have one – he made our hot chocolates using 70% cacao chocolate chips melted in whole milk and served in a tall glass. It was a gorgeous hot chocolate, just ever so slightly bitter, enough to give you a bit of a kick, which just helped make this the perfect breakfast.
We fell so in love with Grod that we bought their quite heavy cookbook and lugged it around for the rest of our trip through Scandinavia. But I have already marked dozens of pages in it to try and have decided that when I get home all I want to eat is oatmeal…the Grod way.
Verdict: Fantastic hot chocolate, and you can also buy their porridge online to make at home along with a cookbook if you want to try them all from scratch. But a visit to their shop in Torvehallerne Market is a perfect excuse to try out all the other fantastic food offerings there. Grod, Torvehallerne, Copenhagen, Denmark
