Kong Hans Kælder is a one Michelin star

Michelin Guide

The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...

 restaurant in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. The cuisine is mainly classical French

French cuisine

French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...

 with contemporary Nordic influences. The head chef is Thomas Rode Andersen.

The restaurant is located in a white-washed, groin vault

Groin vault

A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word groin refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults; cf. ribbed vault. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round...

ed basement under one of the oldest houses in Copenhagen, a former merchant's residence from the Middle Ages, in a small street just off Kongens Nytorv

Kongens Nytorv

Kongens Nytorv is a public square in Copenhagen, Denmark, centrally located at the end of the pedestrian street Strøget. The finest and largest square of the city, it was laid out by Christian V in 1670 in connection with a major extension of the fortified city, and has an equestrian statue of...

. Kong Hans Kælder translates into King John's cellar.

History

Kong Hans Kælder was established in Copenhagen in 1976 by filmmakers and culinary entrepreneurs Sven and Lene Grønlykke, with Danish author Klaus Rifbjerg

Klaus Rifbjerg

Klaus Rifbjerg is a Danish writer. He has written more than 170 novels, books and essays.- Biography :Rifbjerg was born in Copenhagen and grew up on the island of Amager, a part of the city, the child of two teachers...

 as an investor. It was the first French-style gourmet restaurant in Copenhagen and drew considerable media attention at its opening. The first head chef was French Michel Michaud, until then head chef of one of the Grønlycke family's other establishments, Falsled Kro in the southern part of the island of Funen

Funen

Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...

. In 1980, the kitchen was taken over by another Frenchman, Daniel Letz, under whom the restaurant received its first Michelin star in 1983 which it has kept since then. In 1998, Thomas Rhode Andersen replaced Letz as head chef of Kong Hans Kælder.