Dining Week 2026 is a festival in which restaurants across Denmark offer special set-price menus. This autumn it runs until Sunday, 18 October, during the autumn break. For 250 kroner you get three courses, for 350 five smaller servings, and for 525 a tasting menu. Drinks are paid separately, and every ticket carries a booking fee of 29 kroner.
Dining Week 2026 is especially interesting for anyone who lives in Denmark or is just getting to know it, and didn’t grow up with its cooking. At a price known in advance, you can try both modern Danish cuisine and international kitchens, from Japanese and French to Sicilian, within one festival and one week.
How Dining Week 2026 Works
There is no booking at the restaurant itself. On diningweek.dk you choose a restaurant, a menu, the number of guests and a time, pay in advance and turn up on the day you picked. You can filter the site by region, date and diet (vegetarian, vegan, pescetarian). The dishes are usually created just for the festival and aren’t served outside it.
Restaurants marked with ✨ on the list are recommended in the Michelin Guide (a recommendation, not a Michelin star). There is also a separate option called “A Taste of the Stars”, which brings together restaurants from that guide.
How Dining Week Began
Dining Week has existed since 2011 and began in Copenhagen as a response to the financial crisis. The aim was to draw Danes into restaurants during week 7, which was then the quietest week of the year for restaurateurs. It has since spread across the country and is held twice a year, in weeks 7 and 42. The organisers call it the largest restaurant festival in the Nordic countries, and more than 200 restaurants take part every year. Dining Week 2026 is the 16th year in a row.
The idea of a “restaurant week” itself isn’t Danish. The first restaurant week was held in New York in 1992 as a lunch-only promotion, priced at $19.92. Tim Zagat and Joe Baum are credited with it, and the idea later spread to cities around the world.
The Most Interesting Restaurants: Dining Week 2026 in Four Cities
We picked the three most interesting offers in each city, from Danish to Japanese, French and Sicilian cooking. All the restaurants are listed as participants in this year’s edition on the festival’s official website.
Copenhagen
On the festival’s official website, several Copenhagen restaurants carry the Michelin recommendation mark. Here are our picks:
- Norrlyst, Kompagnistræde 8. A modern take on smørrebrød in a house from 1799, with biodynamic and local ingredients. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. For Dining Week it offers a three-course menu (250 kroner) and a five-serving menu (350 kroner).
- RADIO, Julius Thomsens Gade 12. A restaurant devoted to local, organic, seasonal vegetables, recommended by Michelin seven years in a row. It offers a tasting menu for 525 kroner, with dishes such as a waffle with foam and dried ham, and celeriac bisque. About two minutes’ walk from Forum metro station.
- Aamanns 1921, Niels Hemmingsens Gade 19-21. A contemporary interpretation of Danish classics, focused on seasonal and local ingredients. It offers a five-serving menu (350 kroner) and a tasting menu (525 kroner).
Aarhus
Aarhus has a varied list, from Japanese to Nordic cooking. Here are our picks:
- Kazo Izakaya, Jægergaardsgade 60. A Japanese tasting menu (525 kroner) with sashimi, onigiri, smoked eel, gyoza and takoyaki.
- Restaurant NorR, Marselisborg Havnevej 46D. Nordic seasonal cooking, five courses (350 kroner), with a vegetarian menu available.
- Mefisto Restaurant & Gårdhave, Volden 18-20. A seafood specialist. Three courses for 250 kroner, including lobster bites in spiced butter and roasted salmon from Skagen.
Aalborg
In Aalborg, all three restaurants offer a three-course menu for 250 kroner:
- Provence, Ved Stranden 11e. French-inspired cooking.
- Bistro V, Toldbod pl. 2. A modern bistro.
- Restaurant Vesterbro, Vesterbro 2, on the first floor of the Comwell Hvide Hus hotel. Classic dishes with a modern twist, and it also carries the organic kitchen label.
Odense
Odense offers Nordic, Sicilian and French cooking, and all three restaurants have a three-course menu for 250 kroner:
- Restaurant Nordatlanten, Nordatlantisk promenade 1. A classic fine-dining restaurant with a Nordic touch, using Nordic herbs, fish and vegetables.
- I Pupi Siciliani, Vindegade 73. Sicilian cuisine.
- Brasserie Bordeaux, Nørregade 39. Classic French cooking in the heart of Odense.
Among the participants in Odense are also Restaurant Gordon and Restaurant SL, both with a five-serving menu for 350 kroner and a vegetarian option.
In Closing
Dining Week 2026 is a good reason to try a new restaurant, at a price you know in advance. Tickets are sold exclusively through diningweek.dk.
Read more about Denmark on TheSlow.Living.
