A Birthday Pop-Up at Fiskerizakajaen: Project.Romantika in Nordvest

For months, I’d been eyeing Fiskerizakajaen, the small but buzzing locale tucked next to Høtoft in Nordvest. Each time I spotted a new pop-up announcement, I told myself I’d go — but life got in the way. Back in July, when they hosted A Night in the Mediterranean, I almost went on my own, but since my husband and I had promised to try it together, I reluctantly passed. So when I saw they had a Korean pop-up planned for the exact day of my birthday, it felt like a sign.

The evening was curated by Project Romantika — a chef-driven concept that sees cooking as a “language of love and connection.” Their philosophy is to design multisensory dining experiences rooted in memory, intimacy, and artistry. For this particular pop-up, titled RE:PAST, Romantika collaborated with Seoul-based chef Hye Soo Lee, who once lived in Copenhagen and is now considering moving back.

From the moment we stepped through the door, the evening felt personal. The team greeted us with a smile, recognized me from Nordvestandmore, and made us feel instantly part of the gathering. The space had been transformed with lace details and decor echoing the images I’d seen on Instagram. Even our glasses carried little touches of decoration, reinforcing the sense that this wasn’t just a dinner, but an experience.

Dinner began with a series of amuse-bouches served alongside a refreshing yuzu gin cocktail — light, citrusy, and perfect for a summer night. Each course came with delicate, handmade cutlery tucked into little envelopes printed with personal food memories, an embodiment of Romantika’s philosophy of food as storytelling.

The appetizers arrived one after another:

• Herb butter with fresh bread, simple and comforting.

• A silky hummus topped with scallions and edible flowers — impractical to eat with a spoon, but delicious enough that we didn’t mind too much.

• A crunchy barley rice with marinated tuna, one of the highlights of the evening, perfectly balanced in flavor and texture.

• And finally, an egg roll layered with kimchi and pork floss. Each component was excellent on its own, though together they felt slightly mismatched — still enjoyable, but not as harmonious as the rest.

The first course stole the show: cod en croûte with brown butter and capers. The fish was cooked to perfection, flaky yet tender, topped with a croute that a still dream about and the buttery sauce with capers elevated it into one of those rare dishes you keep thinking about long after the plate is cleared. It was, without a doubt, the high point of the meal.

The main course of duck with blackberry BBQ sauce arrived atop a silky pumpkin purée. The flavors were intriguing — the puree carried a mysterious herbal note, almost like the fleeting scent of perfume, subtle but memorable. While the duck was beautifully flavored, the texture made it hard to cut, which took away from the otherwise thoughtful execution.

Dessert was a coffee-themed plate: French toast with coffee cream and hazelnut oil, paired with a Baileys and Kahlua cocktail. Coffee desserts aren’t my personal favorite, so I skipped most of it, though the French toast itself was better than it looked.

Fiskerizakajaen’s strength lies in exactly this: creating space for chefs and projects that you wouldn’t normally stumble upon in Copenhagen. At 500 DKK for the food and 250 DKK for a four-drink pairing, the evening felt like good value for a curated, one-night-only experience. Not every course was a perfect hit, but that’s part of the charm of pop-ups: they’re experiments, invitations to discover, and opportunities to meet chefs who might never otherwise cook in Copenhagen.

This one was memorable for the food, the atmosphere, and the people behind it. And more than anything, it reminded me why I want to keep an eye on Fiskerizakajaen’s calendar: because you never quite know what you’ll get, but it will always be something worth experiencing.

Check out their next events here