Restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark
OAD-ranked ice cream, walk-in friendly.
Istid is Copenhagen's most critically recognised ice cream shop, ranked on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in Europe list in both 2024 and 2025. Run by Anniken Sand and Nina Victoria Berg Saroori, it sits on Lille Strandstræde near the waterfront, open noon to 8 pm daily. Walk-in only, no booking needed — and a 4.9 Google rating across 98 reviews backs up the reputation.
If you're weighing Istid against Østerberg Ice Cream for your afternoon in Copenhagen, the decision comes down to track record and critical recognition. Istid has appeared on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in Europe list two years running — ranked #108 in 2024 and #126 in 2025 — which puts it in a different conversation from most ice cream shops in the city. For anyone treating an ice cream stop as part of a considered food itinerary, Istid is the more defensible choice.
Istid is a small-format ice cream shop at Lille Strandstræde 13, in the heart of Copenhagen's inner city. It is run by Anniken Sand and Nina Victoria Berg Saroori. The address places it close to the waterfront and within easy reach of the neighbourhoods most visitors spend time in. With a Google rating of 4.9 across 98 reviews, the consistency of execution here is notable: very few food businesses sustain that score with any meaningful volume of reviews.
The OAD Cheap Eats ranking is a meaningful credential. That list draws from the same critical community that evaluates Geranium, Noma, and Alchemist. Appearing on it twice suggests Istid is not simply a popular local spot but one that serious food travellers have flagged as worth the detour.
Ice cream is a format built for takeout, and Istid's location supports it. The Lille Strandstræde address puts you close to the waterfront, making a cone to walk along the harbour a practical proposition on a warm afternoon. The shop's hours , noon to 8 pm every day of the week , mean this works as a late-afternoon stop after lunch elsewhere, or as a post-dinner detour before heading back to your hotel. The format does not reward lingering in the way a sit-down restaurant does; you are here to pick something, walk, and eat. That is the right way to do it.
For a special occasion, the takeout format works in a specific direction: it fits well as a punctuation mark on a bigger day rather than as the centrepiece. If you are planning a celebration dinner at somewhere like Kadeau or Geranium, an afternoon stop at Istid is a low-effort, high-return addition to the day.
The noon opening means Istid is a viable lunch-adjacent stop, but the 8 pm close makes it workable across most of the afternoon and into early evening. The leading timing on a warm Copenhagen day is mid-afternoon, roughly 2 to 5 pm, when foot traffic around the inner city is high but the queue, if any, is more manageable than peak weekend afternoon. Weekday visits will generally be easier than Saturday or Sunday. The shop is open all seven days, which removes the planning friction that affects many Copenhagen food stops.
Copenhagen's summers are short, and Istid's format is at its leading in the warmer months from May through August. That said, ice cream shops in Scandinavian cities see year-round demand, and the consistent hours suggest this is not a seasonal operation.
Istid operates in a completely different price tier from the restaurants Copenhagen is leading known for internationally. Geranium, Noma, Alchemist, and Kadeau all sit at the leading of the price range and require advance booking. Istid requires neither. It fills a different slot in a Copenhagen food day , the affordable, no-friction moment that rounds out an itinerary built around more demanding reservations.
For ice cream specifically in the city, Østerberg Ice Cream is the most direct comparison. Istid's two consecutive OAD Cheap Eats placements give it a slight edge in critical credibility, but both are worth knowing. If you can only stop at one and critical recognition matters to you, Istid is the call.
Beyond Copenhagen, the ice cream category has strong reference points elsewhere: Ample Hills Creamery in New York City and Angelo Brocato in New Orleans both show what serious ice cream operations look like at the city-institution level. Istid earns its place in that same register, at Copenhagen scale.
If Istid is part of a broader Copenhagen trip, the city has significant depth across categories. For dinner reservations, see our full Copenhagen restaurants guide. For where to stay, our Copenhagen hotels guide covers the full range. Our Copenhagen bars guide and Copenhagen experiences guide are also worth a look.
If you are travelling more widely in Denmark, notable dining options outside the capital include Jordnær in Gentofte, Frederikshøj in Aarhus, Henne Kirkeby Kro in Henne, Alimentum in Aalborg, ARO in Odense, and Domæne in Herning.
Specific menu items are not documented in available data, so ordering blind is part of the experience here. What the OAD Cheap Eats ranking (ranked #108 in 2024 and #126 in 2025 across all of Europe) signals is that the quality justifies the trip. Ask the staff what's rotating that day — small-format shops like this typically have a short, focused selection where every option is worth trying.
Istid is a small-format shop, so large groups are better treated as a walk-up stop rather than a sit-down booking. Groups of two to four will have no trouble. Larger parties should expect to queue or stagger orders, not reserve a table.
It opens at noon daily and closes at 8 pm, so timing is flexible across most of the day. The address at Lille Strandstræde 13 puts you close to the Copenhagen waterfront, which makes it a natural walk-and-eat stop. Two consecutive OAD Cheap Eats rankings tell you the quality is consistent, not a one-season fluke.
Østerberg Ice Cream is the most direct local comparison. Between the two, Istid has the stronger critical track record with back-to-back OAD Cheap Eats rankings for Europe. If you want a completely different afternoon format, Copenhagen's café scene around Nørreport offers pastry-led options, but for ice cream specifically, Istid is the better-credentialed choice.
The noon-to-8 pm window doesn't split neatly into lunch and dinner — this is an ice cream shop, not a seated restaurant. Mid-afternoon is the natural fit: late enough to follow a proper lunch, early enough to avoid the post-dinner rush that small shops in central Copenhagen tend to see in summer.
Not as a standalone celebration, but it works well as a punctuation mark within a larger Copenhagen day. If you're building a food-focused afternoon, an OAD-ranked ice cream stop is a legitimate addition to the itinerary. For a milestone dinner, the city's Michelin-level restaurants are the right call.
Specific dietary information is not documented for Istid. For anything allergy-critical — nuts, dairy, gluten — contact the shop directly before visiting. The Lille Strandstræde 13 address is easy to stop by in person to ask ahead of time if you're already in the area.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
