Dear friends,

Let me tell you a story.

On an early trip to Copenhagen, I was introduced to something deceptively simple. A bolle med ost. Bread, butter, cheese, eaten canalside with a coffee, which they take just as seriously. There was no fuss, no theatre, just good bread, proper butter, and the quiet confidence that it is enough.

It stays with you.

Over time, I came to understand that in Denmark, bakeries are not a treat. They are routine. Early mornings, people queue without much said, picking up bread the way you might grab a coffee. It is built into the day. Bread is not an extra, it is expected.

So when we came to opening Venner, there was never really a question. Bread had to matter. Not something off the shelf, and not something to fill time while you wait for the meal to begin, but something with weight. Something that earns its place on the table.

And in another lesson learnt from our Scandinavian friends, good bread is only half the equation.

When you’re handed bread in Denmark, you think you know what to do. Then someone quietly corrects you. More butter. No, more than that. Enough that it gives when you bite. Enough to leave a mark. They even have a word for it. Tandsmør. After that, there is no going back.

You will find that here too.

Freshly baked malted rye and seed sourdough, served with our house churned butter. It does not arrive at the beginning. It comes mid way through, once you have settled in and the table has found its rhythm. By then, it is not there to fill space, it becomes the centrepiece.

A lot goes into getting something this simple right. Time in the dough, care in the bake, butter churned in house. The small details are considered too, right down to the knife you use to spread it.

It is our way of doing justice to what inspired us in the first place.

Skål,
Venner