In the old train station at Fruens Bøge, behind the lake, the forest, the playground, and the resurrected Carlslund Kro, lies Velodrom Kaffebar. The name is a subtle homage to the bicycle-racing track, which a hundred years ago was the big attraction in Fruens Bøge, back then home to world champion sprinter Thorvald Ellegaard and his remarkable handlebar moustache.

The place has been refurbished with care and respect for the original use of the building – there’s an old ticket window, DSB soap dispensers in the bathrooms, and Aage Rasmussen’s iconic railway posters on the walls. Café owner and coffee brewer Kåre Loll doesn’t much like the word retro, but admits that he has a lot of love for 1950s aesthetics. He has wanted to - and succeeded - creating a décor with clean lines, no plastic, and a massive presence of polished wood.

The name Velodrom firmly grounds the place in local history, but the cycling references are otherwise very subtle. Apart from a gorgeous, celeste-green Bianchi that serves as decoration on one wall, god is the detail: the excellent coffee is brewed on a Faema espresso machine, model 1961. Faema famously sponsored the record-breaking road racer, Eddy Merckx, and coffee is served in cups whose red and white pattern matches his classic cycling jersey.

Ordering a cup of coffee has turned into quite an ordeal in most places. Variations on “hot, caffeinated drink” seem endless and sometimes impossible to pronounce. And the intake of said beverages is more often than not accompanied by stressed-out guests, acerbic baristas and a horrible soundtrack.

Not so at Velodrom. Here, you happily miss out on all of that. The choice is limited, but everything on the menu is excellent. The coffee can’t drip any faster than it does naturally, which helps encourage a pleasantly slow experience. Café guests wait without impatience; they even do it with a smile, for no one is busy in Fruens Bøge. The radio is never, ever tuned to P3, but often plays 1930s blues legend Robert Johnson, and sometimes French psychedelic 1960s pop. And the coffee has been sampled and approved by friends and family. If it is good enough for them, it is good enough, period. Kåre decides. It is his place, and his call – and he does it so well. 

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• Tue - Sun: 10.00 - 18.00