I was actually pretty excited to try Hart Bageri. It’s the brainchild of Richard Hart, the former head baker at the legendary Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. He teamed up with Rene Redzepi (the guy behind Noma — generally regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world) to open his own bakery in Copenhagen last year.
But of course, there’s a problem when you go to a great bakery — everything looks so good. Deciding what to order can be agonizing.
I asked the guy behind the counter what the best / most popular pastry is, and he did such a good job describing a few of them that I wound up ordering two.
This turned out to be an amazing decision. Not great for my wallet or my belly (the pastries are quite heavy), but amazing nonetheless.
The first one I tried was the kardemommebolle, which is quite different from a typical cardamom bun — it’s basically a mashup of a cardamom bun and a croissant.
They make it by cutting up chunks of croissant and then binding them together with sugar and butter and pure magic.
The sugary exterior is crispy and caramelized, encasing rich, buttery pastry with a mild hit of cardamom — enough to be noticeable, but not so much that it overpowers.
It’s crispy, fluffy, and very buttery. It’s incredibly rich, but it never feels overwhelming. It’s delicious.
The next thing I tried is the jordbaer tarte. This one is basically like a jacked up version of strawberries and cream. It has the familiar flavours you expect from that dessert, but refined and finely honed into something unforgettable.
I’m not sure what the pastry was — it’s kind of like a croissant, if a croissant was a cookie. It’s surrounded by a thin layer of deeply caramelized sugar. It’s rich, crispy, flaky, and amazing.
It’s topped with custardy cream and perfectly ripe strawberries — sweet, with just the right amount of tartness.
The combination of the crispy cookie, the creamy custard, and the vibrant strawberries is basically the thing that dreams are made of. It’s ridiculously good.