About Tholstrup
Our story
Family-owned since 1972
Tholstrup was founded by Peter Tholstrup in 1972, and is still owned and run by the family.
What our restaurants share is a passion for quality, a love of the season’s ingredients and a deep respect for the value of enjoying a meal with others.
It began on Gråbrødretorv. Here Peter Tholstrup opened Bøf & Ost on the ground floor and in the cellar of number 13: a restaurant where the food was simple, the ingredients good, and where people stayed at the table for a long time. The same year he wrote a small green book with the values that were to hold the place together: honest craft, clean ingredients and respect for the guest. That book is still our backbone.
Later came Peder Oxe in the neighbouring building at number 11, and with the two restaurants side by side, Gråbrødretorv was for decades one of the places Copenhageners went when there was something to celebrate. In 1983 the family moved to the harbour: Nyhavns Færgekro opened at Nyhavn 5, in one of Nyhavn’s oldest houses, with the herring table as the crown jewel from day one. In 1996 Cap Horn followed at Nyhavn 21, the cellar where the Resistance had hidden and where Papa Bue’s Viking Jazz Band was born in 1956.
Shortly after, the family took over the café in Store Strandstræde 6 and made it Zeleste, named after the street’s old kitchen maid. Kompasset at Nyhavn 65 followed, with smørrebrød and beer from the local breweries in the quiet end of the harbour, and in 2007 the family returned to Gråbrødretorv with Huks Fluks: wine and tapas at number 8, a few steps from where it all began.
In 2023 we said goodbye to Bøf & Ost, Peder Oxe and Kompasset after half a century. It was not a goodbye to what they stood for. The warm hosting, the season’s ingredients and the joy of gathering people around a table live on at Cap Horn, Huks Fluks, Zeleste and Nyhavns Færgekro: four restaurants still owned and run by the family, and still working from the green book of 1972.
The restaurants
The story behind each restaurant
The four restaurants are within a few minutes’ walk of each other in the old town. They share values and a kitchen philosophy, but not a story. Each address has its own.
Cap Horn
Nyhavn 21. The Resistance hid in the cellar, and in 1956 Papa Bue’s Viking Jazz Band was born in the same room where Miles Davis has since played.
Huks Fluks
Gråbrødretorv 8. A wine and tapas bar where southern European conviviality has moved into the middle of the city. Food made for sharing, and a pace different from the street’s.
Zeleste
Store Strandstræde 6, Nyhavn’s oldest townhouse, from 1664. Zeleste was the kitchen maid of the street, and the restaurant carries her name to this day.
Nyhavns Færgekro
Nyhavn 5, by the old landing stage of the steam ferries. The herring table is the crown jewel, and the dishes change with the season, as they always have.
Values
“Eating together is a fundamental part of our cultural heritage”
Taking our responsibility seriously is an important part of our DNA. That goes for quality, for the environment, for positive development and for our responsibility towards other people.
Our world: the ground we walk on and the surroundings we work in are our responsibility. Our products are therefore healthy, clean and free of additives.
Our kitchens work from a detailed seasonal calendar that ensures high-quality ingredients, supports local producers and reduces transport time and food waste. With between 60 and 70 menu changes a year, our menus always follow the season.
Our staff are our most important resource. Through training and a good working environment we strive to realise the full potential of every employee.
Social responsibility
The season decides what is on the menu
Our kitchens work from a seasonal calendar, which adds up to between 60 and 70 menu changes a year. It keeps the quality high, supports local producers and cuts both transport time and food waste.
Tholstrup is a member of the Danish restaurateurs’ guarantee scheme REGA. Through the membership we have joined the UN Global Compact and committed to the UN’s and the OECD’s minimum standards for responsible business conduct, in our own restaurants and among those we work with.