Review: Bæst In Copenhagen Is Revered For Its Pizza – But Don’t Skip The Steak
Bæst in the Danish capital has attracted widespread attention and acclaim for its wood-fired pizzas, along with its hand-stretched cheeses and house-made charcuterie. Nestled in the Nørrebro area of Copenhagen, the restaurant is run by chef Christian F. Puglisi and sommelier Kim Rossen, who previously co-founded Michelin-starred Relæ. Bæst also has an adjoining bakery, Mirabelle. But while the pizza is the star, you shouldn’t overlook the meat on the menu.
The restaurant offers a lunch menu, which focuses predominantly on the pizzas alongside extras such as stracciatella or seasonal salads. In the evening, there’s a larger menu, which offers a selection of hot and cold dishes, in addition to the pizzas, cheeses, salads, and charcuterie. On our visit, this included the most incredible organic ribeye steak, served sliced and perfect for sharing.
While steak doesn’t have a permanent spot on the seasonal menu, it’s well worth ordering if you spot it. Robustly beefy and seared perfectly pink, our ribeye was served simply with sweet grilled leeks and a rich, glossy French jus. Our pizza – laden with earthy mushrooms, creamy stracciatella, and smoked mozzarella – was similarly impressive. And once you realise quite how much is made in-house, it’s easy to see why.
Bæst has its own dairy and charcuterie production
Given Puglisi’s former experience at world famous restaurants including El Bulli and Noma, it’s no surprise that the quality of the ingredients is so high and the cooking so precise and skilled at Bæst. But what really elevates the menu is the fact that the first floor of the restaurant is home to its own micro-dairy – which makes fresh, organic raw milk cheeses daily – and charcuterie production.
Hand-stretched mozzarella and burrata laced with seasonal toppings or heady truffle are available as cold small plates or pizza toppings, with options also including fresh or dried ricotta and creamy, stracciatella. The tiramisu is made with soft, fresh, house-made mascarpone. The cheeses are made with fresh organic raw milk from the Jersey cows at Svanholm, an organic farm that helped start the Danish Organic Association in 1981.
The organic, beautifully marbled pork used to make the charcuterie comes from HindsholmGrisen pigs. The team at Bæst butchers the whole animal on-site, and the meat is salted, dried, smoked, and aged in-house, too. Alongside charcuterie platters, you’ll find handmade sausage topping the pizza and – on our visit – silky slices of buttery pork lardo draped across charred garlic bread dressed with fragrant leek oil.
