Restaurant of the Month, Denmark
A gastronomic experience to wake your primal senses Copenhagen’s Palæo restaurants have found success with healthy and delicious fast food based on the so-called Stone Age diet. By Thomas Bech Hansen | Photos: Palæo
Daniel Straub and Peter Emil Nielsen are in their Copenhagen office. It is time for lunch. Like many times before, the choice comes down to this: a quick and unhealthy meal from the corner shop or a long wait in a restaurant for something healthier. They decide someone should offer an easy, tasty and healthy alternative. Fast forward a couple of years and here they are, together in Palæo in Copenhagen’s Pilestræde. Opened in October 2012, it is
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the second restaurant under that name from the entrepreneurial pair. “We simply got fed up with the usual street food options,” says Peter Emil Nielsen. Fast food by cavemen Palæo’s menu is based on the Palæo diet, popularly known as caveman diet or Stone Age diet due to its stripped down emphasis on vegetables, meat, nuts and berries – the usual intake of foragers thousands
of years ago. This means strictly no starch, making the likes of pasta, bread, rice and potatoes non grata. Palæo have used these principles for healthier versions of fast food staples like hot dogs, wraps, pizzas, spaghetti bolognese and also salads. Danish Michelin chef and Palæo firstmover Thomas Rode provided the platform for the pair’s plans. “He inspired us to go in the Palæo direction as we searched for healthy foods. He turned us on to the idea that you can make quick, healthy food that is also delicious. Palæo makes this possible, so we teamed up