The most characteristic, and perhaps the most appetizing, feature of Danish cuisine is the open sandwich, or smørrebrød , basically a thin slice of rye bread covered in fresh butter and heaped with an array of delicious foodstuffs. The traditional meal starts with a fish smørrebrød , followed by a meat smørrebrod and then a cheese smørrebrod (each washed down with a small glass of ice-cold schnapps). To the uninitiated, it can be a bit of a mystery which toppings go well together, though café and restaurant staff will always be pleased to introduce you to the mysteries of this Danish artform.

Smørrebrød come in one of three forms: either you order your toppings from a list of ingredients, or you construct your own sandwiches from a buffet, or you have your smørrebrod served up ready made. The first two can be difficult for the smørrebrød novice, as neither order forms nor buffet tables give much indication of which things can be mixed and which can't - as a general rule, don't combine different types of meat on the same slice of bread until you really know what you're doing.

Good restaurants for ready-made smørrebrød are Ida Davidsen and Café & Ølhalle "1892" , while at Huset Med Det Grønne Træ and Hansens Gamle Familiehave you'll be ordering from a list of toppings. Fantastic and amazingly varied smørrebrod buffets can be found at Traktørstedet på Rosenborg and Kanalen .