Wild horses

Coffee at the front, studios at the back

Speciality coffee is the front of the operation at Wild horses, and a gallery and a set of working studios are the rest of it. The counter is the part you meet first, but what is on the walls changes, and the studios behind mean the room has a purpose beyond serving. It is a Copenhagen café that would still be somewhere if the coffee machine were switched off.

A short list, made properly

The food list is deliberately short. Homemade granola is the item to know, plain or with poached pear, and a grilled cheese sandwich is the savoury option on the other side of it. That is close to the whole of it, and the brevity is the point: three things done properly beat a laminated menu of things done adequately.

The atmosphere matches the list. It is relaxed and friendly, quiet without being precious, and free of the snobbery that speciality coffee can carry. Service is over the counter, and nobody minds if you take a while over the cup.

Start with the granola

Start with the homemade granola, the clearest signature the kitchen has. The version with poached pear is the one to order if you want the fruit doing some work alongside it, and the grilled cheese is the order when the visit sits closer to lunch than to breakfast. Put a speciality coffee beside either and you have the room in a single sitting, with whatever is hanging on the walls that month as the backdrop.