What kind of place is this?
You can hear wood pigeons, blackcaps, great tits and magpies. Not exactly exotic, I think.
But yes, it actually is. Sitting at a café in the middle of the capital and clearly hearing birds, without the slightest traffic noise mixing in, is genuinely exotic.
Josty has an incomparable location a short way into Frederiksberg Gardens, so when you sit on the terrace with your morning coffee and croissant, surrounded by newly leafed beech hedges and looking out at century-old, 25-meter-tall linden, pine and oak, you can easily imagine that you’re the owner of a little pleasure pavilion for a morning.
Does the name Josty sound familiar?
For more than 200 years, Josty has been an institution in Frederiksberg. It was a Swiss pastry chef, Anton Joss, who received the king’s license and in 1823 opened a place where you could eat baked goods and buy hot water, so you could brew coffee with beans you’d brought yourself!
The place’s more recent history hasn’t been quite so wholesome. Josty has made headlines for looming bankruptcy and above all, because the police have had to show up and shut down several parties for lacking a liquor license. At one wedding, guests were turned out onto the street and had to walk down Frederiksberg Allé in search of a bar to continue the celebration.
At New Year’s, the ailing Josty was taken over by fresh hands, Food Studio, which is running it as an event venue and, as a new initiative, a café open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where are we on the hype-o-meter?
Even though it has been in the local paper and now also appears on a sign in the park for passersby, it seems as if only a few have noticed that Josty has reopened as a café serving breakfast and lunch, coffee, cake and drinks. We counted three other guests when we ate breakfast. I predict the calm won’t last.
What should you drink here?
The coffee is good and served with an appreciation that there’s a difference between a cappuccino and a flat white. Also try a fresh-pressed green juice (55 DKK). It tastes healthfully of celery, spinach, apple, lime and ginger, with a little bite from green chile.
And what should you eat?
Show me your omelet, and I’ll tell you whether you know what you’re doing. The omelet has become the yardstick of the moment for a kitchen’s level. And Josty’s (125 DKK) passes, with its springy cigar shape and creamy interior. I wouldn’t have complained about a touch more fluffiness, though. It arrived in a hangar of crisp-leaf, vivid green salad tossed in a tart dressing, plus good rye bread.
But above all, I was charmed by the café’s old-fashioned style. The menu’s ‘tartine’ (75 DKK) – which is simply slices of baguette you top yourself with cheese or homemade rhubarb compote – was nicely served with whipped butter in a little silver cup, and a luscious full-fat yogurt with homemade granola (45 DKK) was sweetly presented in a footed dessert glass that rested on – my inner aunt swoons! – a paper doily with cutouts and lace.
Is anything missing?
Yes: that the menu has just one or two unexpected items that pique your curiosity.
Do the price and quality match?
Josty’s pricing is solid. A soft-boiled egg with a few ‘soldiers’ – little batons of toasted bread – costs, for instance, 55 DKK. On the other hand, much of the menu isn’t any more expensive than at other good places in the city, and when you factor in the truly special location, the decent ingredients, and the pretty service, I don’t bat an eye at paying 40 for a flat white.
So what’s the verdict?
A strong four out of six. Josty is romantic, as if everything had been freshly ironed back in the day. It’s hard to imagine a better place to have your morning coffee on a May morning, when the oak’s pale green leaves are just beginning to unfurl and tits sway on the branches. Josty adds extra sweetness with its refined service and, not least, its meticulous plating on silver-plated stands and those lacy, cutout paper doilies tucked under bread and plates. Fussy? Then call me Auntie!
