Restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark
Three Star Wine List awards. Book it.
Aye aye holds Star Wine List's top ranking for 2024 and 2025, making it Copenhagen's strongest choice when the wine list is your priority. Inside the Admiral Hotel, the format is modern Scandinavian without tasting-menu pressure or months-in-advance booking difficulty. Book the counter if you can — it's the most engaged way to experience a wine programme that outranks most of the city's fine-dining competition.
Three consecutive Star Wine List awards — including the leading spot in both 2024 and 2025 — make aye aye one of the most credentialled wine destinations in Copenhagen. If you're coming primarily for the wine list, this is the right call. The setting inside the Admiral Hotel on Toldbodgade keeps things grounded: no tablecloths, bare Scandinavian timber, and a room that reads more neighbourhood restaurant than hotel dining room. That's a good thing. Book it if wine depth matters to you and you want a modern Scandinavian meal without the pressure of a full tasting-menu format.
The atmosphere at aye aye is deliberately low-key. The design leans into the Admiral Hotel's historic warehouse bones , exposed materials, natural textures, the kind of room where the architecture does the work and nothing feels dressed up for effect. The energy is calm rather than hushed: a working restaurant, not a temple. Noise levels stay conversational, which makes it a stronger pick than many Copenhagen spots for an evening where you actually want to talk.
For solo diners or pairs who want proximity to the kitchen's rhythm, counter or bar seating is the place to be. Sitting at the counter at aye aye gives you a different read on the meal , you're close to the action, the pacing feels more immediate, and the wine service becomes part of the experience rather than background logistics. Given that the wine programme is the clearest reason to be here, counter positioning is worth requesting specifically. It's a more engaged version of the same meal.
Winning Star Wine List's leading ranking twice running, and placing second in the third consecutive year, is not a minor credential. Star Wine List assesses depth, range, value, and the sophistication of by-the-glass options across European restaurant wine programmes. Aye aye's consistent performance at the leading of that ranking places it ahead of most of Copenhagen's fine-dining competition on wine specifically. If you're a wine-focused traveller visiting Copenhagen, this is the venue most likely to reward that interest at the glass level, not just the bottle level. For context, venues like Geranium or Koan carry stronger credentials on the food side, but aye aye holds a distinct position when wine is the primary lens.
The cuisine is described as modern Scandinavian with a down-to-earth register. For explorers who want to eat well in Copenhagen without committing to a four-hour tasting menu at Alchemist or a booking window measured in months at Noma, aye aye offers a more accessible entry point , in terms of both format and booking difficulty. It sits within the Admiral Hotel on Toldbodgade in the inner harbour area, which puts it close to other Copenhagen dining worth exploring. See our full Copenhagen restaurants guide for broader context on how the city's dining scene maps out.
Copenhagen's top-tier restaurant list is among the most competitive in Europe. Geranium and Alchemist are the right choices if you want a full progressive tasting experience with multi-month booking windows and price tags to match. Koan brings a Nordic-kaiseki sensibility that's intellectually distinctive. Noma's pop-up model requires timing your trip around availability. Aye aye doesn't compete on that axis , and doesn't try to. Its credential is the wine programme, and on that measure it outranks all of them.
If your evening is built around wine and you want modern Scandinavian food to match, aye aye is the clearer choice over a|o|c, which offers a comparable format but hasn't matched aye aye's recent wine recognition. For travellers who want to spread the Copenhagen experience across multiple meals, aye aye works well as your wine-led dinner while reserving one night for a bigger-ticket tasting menu at Geranium or Alchemist. If you're making one trip and one booking, your priorities decide it: food theatre goes to Alchemist; wine depth goes to aye aye.
Aye aye is a modern Scandinavian restaurant inside the Admiral Hotel in Copenhagen's inner harbour district. The format is more accessible than the city's tasting-menu circuit , no hours-long commitment, no months-in-advance booking pressure. The main reason to come is the wine programme, which has won Star Wine List's leading ranking twice in a row. Come knowing that wine will be a highlight, and consider requesting counter seating for the most engaged experience. Prices and menu details are leading confirmed directly with the venue before your visit.
Smart casual is the right call. The room has no tablecloths and a deliberately relaxed atmosphere, so you don't need to dress formally. That said, it's a hotel restaurant with serious wine credentials, so turning up in gym wear would be out of step. Think a clean outfit you'd wear to a good neighbourhood restaurant in any European capital , that reads correctly here.
Booking difficulty is rated easy. You're not looking at the multi-month windows required for Alchemist or Geranium. A week or two in advance should be sufficient for most dates, though weekends in peak summer season are worth booking earlier. The hotel location means there's some built-in demand from guests, so don't leave it until the night before if you have a specific date in mind.
Yes, and the counter is the reason. Solo diners at aye aye should specifically request counter or bar seating rather than a full table. That positioning puts you closer to the kitchen's rhythm, turns the wine service into an interactive part of the meal, and avoids the slightly awkward dynamic of a formal table for one. Given the wine programme's depth, solo dining at the counter here is a genuinely good evening , you're there to engage with the list, and counter seating facilitates exactly that.
The venue is inside the Admiral Hotel, which suggests capacity for groups, but specific private dining or large-table arrangements are not confirmed in available data. Contact the restaurant directly for group bookings. For reference, Copenhagen venues at this tier tend to manage groups better on weekday evenings than weekend peaks , worth factoring in when you reach out.
Specific menu items are not confirmed in available data, so any dish recommendation here would be invention. What the awards data does tell you clearly: lean into the wine list. Three consecutive Star Wine List awards , including back-to-back number one rankings , mean the by-the-glass programme is likely to be stronger and more carefully curated than at most comparable Copenhagen restaurants. Ask your server to guide the wine pairing and treat that as the anchor of the meal rather than an afterthought.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| aye aye | Aye Aye is a modern Scandinavian restaurant located within the Admiral Hotel. The atmosphere is down to earth with a rustic touch, and there are no tablecloths to hide the beautiful Scandinavian desig...; Star Wine List #2 (2025); Star Wine List #1 (2025); Star Wine List #1 (2024) | — | |
| Geranium | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Noma | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Alchemist | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Koan | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| a|o|c | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
aye aye sits inside the Admiral Hotel at Toldbodgade 24-28 and leads with its wine programme rather than a chef-driven tasting menu format. Three consecutive Star Wine List awards — number one in both 2024 and 2025 — mean the list is the main event. The food is modern Scandinavian in register and deliberately approachable, so you are not committing to a four-hour progression to eat well here.
The room is described as down to earth with a rustic touch, and there are no tablecloths — the design leans into the Admiral Hotel's warehouse character rather than formal hotel-dining conventions. That signals a relaxed dress code: put-together but not suited. Overdressing will feel out of place.
Specific booking lead times are not confirmed in available data, but a venue inside a well-trafficked Copenhagen hotel with three consecutive Star Wine List awards at the top of the rankings will fill — especially on weekends. Booking at least a week out is sensible; two weeks gives you more flexibility on timing and seating preferences.
The low-key, counter-friendly atmosphere described at aye aye — no tablecloths, rustic materials, down-to-earth register — typically suits solo diners better than formal tasting-menu rooms do. If the wine list is your primary reason to visit, solo dining here lets you focus on it without the pressure of a multi-course commitment for a full table.
Specific private dining or group booking details are not confirmed in available data. As a hotel restaurant, aye aye is more likely to have flexible room configuration than a standalone tasting-menu destination, but contact the Admiral Hotel directly to confirm capacity and group arrangements before assuming availability.
Specific menu items are not confirmed in available data, so no dish recommendations can be made here without risk of being wrong. What is confirmed: the cuisine is modern Scandinavian in a down-to-earth format, and the wine programme is the venue's strongest credential — three Star Wine List awards suggest the by-the-glass and bottle selection will be the most reliable anchor for your meal.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
