Dining Where Andersen Wrote The Ugly Duckling

For my last dinner in Copenhagen, I made my way to Det lille Apotek — a restaurant with 300 years of history and, more importantly, the place where Hans Christian Andersen used to eat, drink, scribble, and polish his manuscripts. This is where he wrote The Ugly Duckling, and naturally, everyone makes a pilgrimage here. I couldn't miss it either. When I arrived, the place was completely packed inside, so I ended up dining at an outdoor table. No complaints though — stepping into a restaurant built in 1720, even from the outside, you feel it. The interior has this wonderfully low, semi-basement ceiling with heavy wooden beams and the warm glow of old oil lamps and candlelight on every table. You can almost picture Andersen hunched over his papers in that amber light. For my meal, I ordered the classic dish: Apotekers fiskesymfoni. Don't let the open-sandwich appearance fool you — this thing is a full seafood extravaganza. We're talking pan-fried plaice (Rødspætte), smoked Greenlandic halibut, smoked salmon, and a langoustine tail salad, all served on toasted bread. Absolutely lovely. I paired it with a Dansk Vand med citron — a chilled sparkling lemon water — which was refreshing and just right. This little restaurant has held onto its old menu for centuries, and sitting there in the dim light, with the cobblestones just outside the door, it genuinely felt like a glimpse back 180 years to the world that gave us The Ugly Duckling.