Move aside macarons, Danish cookies are here to steal the show. Leckerbaer is a small pastry shop hailing from Ryesgade Street in Copenhagen specialising in småkager (smaw-kay-er). Its founders Jakob and Gabi Mogensen used to cook at Michelin-starred restaurants before setting their sights on turning the humble pastry on its head. Instead of the sugar-crusted butter cookies you find in those royal blue tins grandma keeps her sewing kit in, expect bakes loaded with premium ingredients and seasonal Nordic produce.
You can expect a rotating menu of eight småkager ($2.80/each) at Leckerbaer's first international outpost in Singapore. Options range from those with a classic butter cookie base (the Milk, made with cacao and buttercream and the Lemon, a white chocolate cookie with a lemon curd centre) to those that are more like mini-cakes (the Banana dusted with berry sugar and filled with salted caramel).
"Singapore has one of the most interesting and evolving culinary scenes in the world," says Jakob Mogensen, the founder of Leckerbaer. "The competition is tough and that motivates us to show the very best of what we can do and always be on top."
Beyond its signature cookies, Leckerbaer also offers other sweet treats like its signature lemon and sea buckthorn tart (S$7), with torched Italian meringue and lemon and sea buckthorn curd as well as cakes like the Blondie ($7), a white chocolate base layered with passionfruit curd and white chocolate pearls.
There are savoury options too, including a breakfast menu, vegetarian-friendly peas and avocado tart ($11) and gruyere cheese-filled quiche ($13) served with parma ham and a pickled onion herb salad. On the drinks menu, there're coffee, teas and housemade lemonades.
The bright 36-seat space opens at 1pm on July 23 at Shaw House Isetan Scotts. It offers both dine-in and takeaway, but if you want to be one of the first to taste its signature småkager, pre-orders are now available on its website for delivery from July 23.