Nordvest Stories: Esben and the Everyday Work of Rødder

When I arrive at Rødder on a bright Wednesday morning to interview Esben, the room is filled with that kind of late-morning sunlight you don’t get often in November. It’s the pre-lunch atmosphere where the food is nearly ready and the team is assembling the last details so the first guests get dishes straight out of the oven. Carina, head of communications at Rødder, hands me a cup of warm, floral tea.

My connection to Rødder started long before this interview. A few years ago, when my husband and I were looking for a venue for our wedding, this old vinyl factory-turned-restaurant was one of the few places we visited near our apartment that felt both beautiful and grounded. It was a space we could imagine welcoming our guests into - a place that reflected our everyday lives in Nordvest, where we had settled a year and a half earlier. We spent the next year in touch with Esben and his team while planning the reception, and even after the wedding, I found my way back - for a Heat Harmony x Sound Bath event, for a coffee, or to pick up wine at Melin Vin. Rødder has been on my list for Nordvest Stories ever since.

Esben meets me with the same calm, steady energy I remember. “I’m Esben,” he says for the record as we start the interview. “I’ve had Rødder for about 15 years now. We work closely with small, local organic farmers. That’s always been the purpose.” He says it plainly: This is simply how things are done here.

Past

Rødder began as a pop-up restaurant back in 2010 with three friends after a trip to southern France visiting biodynamic wineries - long-table dinners, vegetables, wine, and time with the farmers. They wanted to bring back that atmosphere to Copenhagen. Esben studied communication, worked in media for a while, and eventually realized that food and wine was where he felt most at home. “I’ve been doing it full-time for around 12–13 years now,” he tells me. After years of pop-ups, Rødder also developed into doing catering, events, lunches and dinners - always with the same feeling and the same commitment to organic produce from small local farms. 

After a couple of years in Berlin with his family making Danish open sandwiches in a Markthalle, they moved back to Copenhagen, and Esben started looking for a new space. That’s when Christopher Melin (of Melin Vin) found the old Pladefabrikken - the former vinyl factory. “It looked very suitable,” Esben says. “Just an old storage space. We built everything.” 

And then there was Nordvest itself. “There’s this vibe here,” he says. “A very high local feeling. Support between the boutiques and shops. You can really feel it.” At the time, Nordvest was also more affordable for a small company. That mattered too.

Years later, the decision still feels right.

Present

At lunchtime during the week, Rødder functions as a small canteen - open Wednesday to Friday (soon Tuesdays too). One dish per day, always built around what’s available from their organic farm partners. “Lunch is our playground,” Esben says. “The team has free rein to make what they want.”

Today’s dish - the one I savor after the interview - is a layered, enclosed pastry with celery, beets and leeks, a side of greens, and thin slices of pumpkin on the side. Simple on the surface, but clearly thought through. Everything feels like it comes from a team who knows the season.

They recently received the gold organic certification. “I’ve never focused much on certifications,” Esben says, “but I think development is going in the wrong direction. It’s important to prove what we’re actually doing.” All food and drinks at Rødder are organic.

The team remains small - five full-timers - but has been stable for years.  "It’s important that we share the same values kitchen-wise,” Esben says. “Curiosity and passion for using the local, seasonal produce from small organic farmers, having fun: one day in the kitchen, another day out doing events.”

Today, Rødder cooperates with a long list of local friends met through food and the canteen: Skruens (fantastic Bakery by Tobias), Livestrings (livestrings.dk), Goose (Baijie and Lan-xin taking the deli to the next level), Heat Harmony (yoga or other activity in Pladefabrikken followed by a saunagus), Demokrati Garage (where Rødder is represented on the board), Thoravej 29 (serving lunches and dinners at our long tables). They also work closely with Andelsgaarde (who has their office in Demokrati Garage) and their fantastic local farms Brinkholm and Lerbjerggård. The collaborations aren’t flashy; they’re practical and rooted in mutual trust, good energy, and visions for a better society. “For small companies, collaboration makes sense in many ways,” Esben says.

A few years ago, Rødder shifted their kitchen approach: all base flavors now come from vegetables. They also work with fish from gentle, low-impact fishing and meat from organic, free-range animals. The connection to farms is still the backbone of the project. A current favorite to cook? Pumpkins from Brinkholm. “They have so many types,” Esben says. “It’s fun to use one ingredient in different ways.”

He also talks about the challenge of accessing good produce in Copenhagen. “In supermarkets, you’re lucky if you find two types of Danish organic pumpkin,” he says. It matters to him that people have access and see how much variety exists beyond what’s on the basic supermarket shelves. "Grønt Marked and Grønne Bønner are essential distributors", Esben adds. 

The future

The future isn’t about expansion to other places. It’s about continuing the great work the team does. They got extra space this spring, more events and collaborations are coming, possibly a book, possibly festivals. Mostly, the plan is to keep the team, keep the rhythm, keep the high quality and continue doing the work well. “I think we have a very nice, talented team. That’s the essence and a privilege”, Esben says. 

After the interview, I sit down for lunch at Rødder, across from Carina as we both work quietly. The light shifts. The room looks different from the day of my wedding - new colors, new lamps - but it feels the same: thoughtful, calm, convivial.

Esben and his team bring things back to the essentials: good food, good wine, good company, and good people who show up. Talking to him feels like talking to someone who has found his pace — grounded, steady, clear on his values, and attached to the things that work. Rødder doesn’t try to be the center of anything. It just does its work well, day after day, and people naturally find their way in. In a neighborhood that’s changing fast, that kind of steady presence feels good to return to.

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