Time is passing much too fast. As I write this, I’m aboard an Air Canada flight home (to Boston), reflecting on the past two weeks of my life. On Wednesday, November 7th I woke up at 10:30, instead of the usual 6:45am. My one-year contrat de professionalization had come to an end. And as I savored the feeling of staying in bed long enough to actually fully wake up, I stretched my limbs and got ready for the next two months of relaxing, travelling, wedding planning and spending time with the people I love, normally so far from me. But first, a big cup of coffee and some garbage show on Netflix…in my pijamas…

My first stop was Hungary to spend time with my brothers and their families, have dinner at my grandparents’, soak my body until fully raisined in Szecsenyi Bath and make arrangements down south for next summer with Ben (who joined me for a few days too). Next, I flew to Copenhagen, where I was greeted at the airport by my former neighbor and childhood bestie. Meeting us at the AirBnB the next morning was a friend from Priorat, who I also haven’t had the time to visit recently. Together, the three of us set out to lunch at a place recommended to us by our gracious host, a strikingly cool Danish woman whose charming home decor echoed her eclectic style and kept us entertained the three nights we spent there. The place she recommended was Mad & Kaffe, which really seemed like the brunch place to be at nowadays. Located in the hip but quite calm Vesterboro neighborhood, just a few minutes from the apartment, Mad & Kaffe opened in 2015 and quickly became popular for its no-fuss way of taking orders: guests tick off what they want from a list of small-plate brunch items, and the colorful array of yogurts and granola, fried or scrambled eggs, garnished avocado, the ever-present lox, sausages and sweet pastries (fika) are brought to the table in pretty little bowls for what is truly an Instagrammable experience. The coffees are superb too, complete with latte-art made with a variety of milks and milk-substitutes. Very aesthetic. Even the table water is infused with mint in a giant glass jar.

Unfortunately, we arrived at lunch-time, a tad too late for the breakfast menu, so we couldn’t live the full Mad & Kaffe experience. What we had instead was a list of tasty open-faced sandwiches to choose from. We tried the sandwich with bread-crumb crusted and fried flounder, garnished with a kind of lemony remoulade, a big pile of capers, slightly sweet pickled cucumber and a fragrant sprig of dill. A great bite, to be eaten with a fork and knife, and filling enough to qualify for lunch. The fish was flaky and soft, the remoulade generous and very flavorful, the acidity of the pickles and capers adding a lightness.

Although I really wish we could have experienced the full Mad & Kaffe breakfast spread, this delightful lunch was enough to get the picture: colorful, creative and highly aesthetic plates to be enjoyed with the eyes and camera first, no filter. Mad & Kaffee provided a very friendly, pleasant place to catch up with friends in a place where I’d definitely be a regular as a native Dane.