Reffen Street Food

Reffen occupies a stretch of the old shipyard on Refshaleoen, where dozens of kitchens work out of shipping containers along the water. It opened in 2018 after the earlier Papiroen market closed, and the format is much the same: pick from a long row of small independent operators, eat outside at picnic tables, with cranes and industrial sheds behind you and the harbour in front. There are bars, a workshop area and open ground to sit on the quay. It runs from spring into autumn, closes for the winter, and fills up on any warm evening within an hour of people leaving work.

What you actually see

• The container kitchens - the long row of small food stalls along the water.
• The quayside tables - benches and picnic seating facing the harbour.
• The shipyard setting - cranes, sheds and industrial ground of the old yard.
• The harbour bus ride - the boat out along the water to reach it.

When to go

Roughly May to September; it shuts for the winter. Warm evenings are the point and also the problem, since the whole city has the same idea and seating disappears after six. Weekday afternoons are calm. Take the harbour bus rather than driving, because parking out there is awkward.

Honest expectations

Prices are Copenhagen prices for street food eaten standing up, and portions vary a lot between stalls. Seating is outdoors and unheated, so a cold or wet day guts the experience entirely. It is a twenty minute trip each way from the centre. The site is exposed and windy, and queues at the popular counters run long.

Nearby

The other halls on Refshaleoen and the harbour baths are alongside; Christianshavn is a short ride back.