Why I'm writing a whole newsletter about cheese buns

For most of my childhood, I turned down the cheese

Some of my earliest memories of Denmark are breakfasts at my grandparents’ table: a basket of fresh bread buns and the adults reaching for the cheese. To my child self, it made no sense at all. Cheese? For breakfast? Having been raised in the UK, cheese and bread was firmly a lunch combo and often in the form of a trusty cheese sandwich. Breakfast was supposed to be sweet. A bun was, obviously, a vehicle for Nutella or pålægschokolade. The idea of topping it with cheese first thing in the morning struck me as quite bizarre.

It took me until 2021 to discover what I’d been missing. That was the year I moved to Copenhagen, into an apartment in the city centre, close to a coffee shop where the main savoury option on offer was a bolle med ost (BMO): a firm, chewy bun; a thick layer of butter; a solid slice of good cheese. And I finally understood what the adults had been on about.

Since then, the humble BMO has quietly featured in most of my weekends. The ritual has typically gone like this: a short run or jog to a bakery (to earn it), followed by a black coffee with a really good cheese bun, ideally somewhere I can sit a while and chat with my husband. Recently we’ve started bringing our toddler daughter along, diligently sharing bites of bread and cheese with her. She’s raised on sourdough and tangy cheese like a true Copenhagen baby.

I’m Karina. I’m half Danish and half British, with family in Jutland, and raising my own young family in Copenhagen. There’s a lot of Danish culture I grew up with, but plenty I’m still discovering, while also enjoying the international vibe in Copenhagen. I feel that the BMO bridges the two: deeply Danish and devoured by internationals.

So what is this?

A fortnightly love letter to the BMO.

Each issue, I’ll visit a café and tell you about the whole experience. Not just the bun (though the bun matters enormously: the crust, the chew, the butter-to-cheese ratio), but the coffee, the atmosphere, and the good spots nearby to sit and enjoy it.

I’m starting in Copenhagen, where there’s no shortage of contenders. But I’ll wander when I can - there’s a place in Malmö I’ve had my eye on, and I’m in Jutland often enough to go exploring there too.

A note on my philosophy: this is a celebration, not a competition. I’m not on a quest to crown the One True BMO. After all, we each have different preferences and I suspect that many BMO-lovers enjoy the variety that can be found in these three simple ingredients. I might experiment with some kind of scoring - I’m not sure yet - but the heart of this will be about the experience, not a leaderboard.

Why now?

I’m doing this now partly to give myself a push, since I have my failsafe local spots and I want a good excuse to venture beyond them.

But mostly I want to find my people — the ones who care, maybe a little too much, about great bread, a generous slather of butter, and properly delicious cheese. If you hold controversial opinions on how one might innovate on the BMO, please share - although the traditionalist in me may resist! And, selfishly, I want to write more and learn about building a little community as I go.

Come along!

If any of this sounds like your kind of thing, feel free to subscribe and join me. And tell me: what’s the BMO you can’t stop thinking about? I’m welcoming suggestions.

I’ve set myself a deadline to get the ball rolling: three reviews by 16 July 2026. The initial line-up is Andersen Bakery, Ricco’s, and Democratic Coffee.

See you for the first review soon!

Karina