Kadeau in Copenhagen Is the World’s Newest Michelin 3-Star Restaurant

Copenhagen didn’t have to wait very long to have a trio of Michelin three-star restaurants again.

With Noma finally going through with its long-announced closing earlier this year (and before all the controversy surrounding Rene Redzepi flared up) the Danish capital was left with two restaurants at the pinnacle of global gastronomy: Geranium and Jordnaer. But today Michelin revealed it’s Nordic guide for 2026 and revealed that Kadeau would join the ranks of restaurants, as the guide puts it, “worth a special journey.”

Self-taught chef Nicolai Nørregaard founded the original Kadeau on the island of Bornholm, located around 100 miles east of Copenhagen in the Baltic Sea. The restaurant is a celebration of the isle’s ingredients that now operates seasonally from May to October, and boasts its own Michelin star. More than a decade ago Nørregaard brought his restaurant’s ethos to the mainland, opening Kadeau in Copenhagen with a more formal approach than its island sibling. However the city location still leans heavily on the chef’s upbringing in Bornholm.

“My grandfather grew his own vegetables, caught his own fish and preserved extensively to get through the winter,” Nørregaard told Michelin. “His way of living has deeply shaped the way I think about cooking. When you grow up on an island like Bornholm, you naturally develop a strong connection to the land and the sea around you.”

The Copenhagen location’s accolades eventually exceeded the original location, notching its second star in 2018. But the Kadeau story nearly ended during the pandemic. The restaurant group declared bankruptcy in March of 2020, as Covid-19 shutdowns exacerbated the group’s financial troubles at the time. However, it was able to regain its fiscal footing and reopen, eventually rallying back to the restaurant it is today, which earned its third star more than a decade after opening.

There are now six three-star restaurants across Scandinavia: the trio above, Frantzén in Sweden, and Maemo and Re-Naa in Norway.