Treetop Restaurant

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A kitchen that competes — and wins

At Munkebjerg Hotel, the Treetop Restaurant is the fine dining heart of a property that has been welcoming guests since 1880. The hotel's tagline, "since 1967," marks a chapter of its modern era, but the spirit of craft runs deeper than any single date. What sets the Treetop apart today is a kitchen team with genuine competitive fire: at Foodexpo 2026 in Herning, Denmark's most prominent gastronomy competition, the restaurant swept the podium. Lucas Juhl Nielsen took 1st Place Chef of the Year, Cecilie Street won 1st Place Student Chef of the Year, and Executive Chef Bjarke Jeppesen alongside chef Magnus Lund claimed 1st Place Green Chef. Magnus D. Rehnquist added a 3rd Place Apprentice of the Year. These are not honorary titles — they reflect, in the restaurant's own words, "a high professional level and the passion for gastronomy."

That seriousness at the stove has been recognized beyond Denmark's borders. Wine Spectator awarded Munkebjerg its Best of Award of Excellence, a distinction that speaks directly to the depth and curation of the wine program — something the hotel reinforces through its dedicated wine cellar and a calendar of winemaker dinners.

Wine as a through-line

One recent winemaker dinner brought Rasmus Aamand Olesen — a Vejle native who now tends four hectares of vines in Collioure and Banyuls-sur-Mer — back to his hometown. His Nénu wines, grown on Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir, Grenache Gris and Syrah with minimal intervention ("the only addition is a little sulfite, often so little that the analyses show zero"), were paired across a five-course menu that moved from baked fish in buttermilk sauce with mussels through pheasant, smoked beetroot, crowned deer ballotine with wild boar, and a cheese course with sea buckthorn and blackberries. The wine pairing philosophy here is evidently personal and specific — not a list, but a conversation.

The setting and the team

The Treetop Restaurant sits within a four-star hotel that describes itself, with some understatement, as having "five-star conference facilities and scenic surroundings." The terrace offers what the hotel calls one of Denmark's most beautiful views. Below the corridors, an in-house butcher, baker, confectioner and flower decorator supply the kitchens daily — a level of self-sufficiency that shapes the quality of everything that reaches the table.

Restaurant manager Kim Christensen and chef Henning Kohl lead the front and kitchen operations. The result is a fine dining experience grounded in genuine craft, competitive-level technique, and a wine program serious enough to earn sustained international recognition.