From Noma to Poulette: How Copenhagen's restaurants shaped The Bear

The series took its cues from Denmark's best and coolest eateries

In a bright Copenhagen bakery, actor Lionel Boyce was more interested in perfecting croissants than memorising lines.

Each day, he would join Hart Bageri's staff, rolling pastries and absorbing the meditative rhythm that would later define his pastry chef character Marcus on The Bear, season four of which begins Thursday.

Amid the bakery's light, airy interior – with its high ceilings, expansive windows and beams – there was no script to follow, no intensive coaching. Just the endless repetition of folding and shaping until the movements became instinctive.

“We just treated him like any aspiring employee who came to work for us,” Hart Bageri creative director and baker Talia Richard-Carvajal tells The National.

“It was a few years ago, so we’re talking around the time they were preparing for the second season [which aired in 2022], and I remember our attitude was like, ‘Listen, it’s lovely that you’re here, but now you really need to work.’”

Lionel Boyce and Ramy Youssef on the set of the season two episode of The Bear, shot in Copenhagen Photo: FX

Boyce was immediately comfortable with the rigours of the craft.

“It made me realise that we’re more similar professions than we perhaps thought,” she notes. “You have to be the kind of person who finds joy in repetition, and you always have to be open to learning from scratch to a certain degree. You have to be humble enough to appreciate that you’re not going to get it right on the first go.”

For a series based on the triumphs and travails of a fine-dining restaurant in Chicago, the training mattered. In The Bear, the food always seems to be saying something. The exacting craft of a perfectly cooked Chilean sea bass with tomato confit signals a kitchen in control, while a croissant ragefully hurled to the floor screams chaos. The point of training wasn’t for actors to merely act or move like chefs. It was to think like one and experience the kitchen from the inside, with all the awareness and aches that come with its momentum and monotony.

Noma’s kitchen in Copenhagen, used as a filming location for The Bear. AFP

To get it right, the producers looked to Copenhagen. They consulted Rene Redzepi, co-founder of Noma – arguably the Danish capital's most famous restaurant, which earned its third Michelin star in 2021. Redzepi also appeared briefly in season three.

Lead character Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is said to have trained at Noma, a detail that explains his obsessive standards and quiet discipline. His pastry chef, Marcus, follows that path more literally. In the dedicated season two episode Honeydew, directed by Ramy Youssef, he travels to the Danish capital to deepen his craft.

Will Poulter plays Luca, a chef who lives in Copenhagen and trains Lionel Boyce's character Marcus. Photo: FX Network

That connection is concrete behind the scenes. Amid Noma’s foraged gardens – with elderflower, wood sorrel and wild herbs – Boyce trained alongside the team during service in Copenhagen, with scenes shot inside Noma’s actual kitchen.

“Our team was just amazed by the scale of the whole thing. The cameras, the crew and the operation were incredible and genuinely fun for everyone to be part of,” recalls Annika de las Heras, managing director at Noma Projects. “I think there’s a lot of overlap between film, design and food. It’s always interesting to see how people working creatively and with care can come together like that.”

Rosio Sanchez, former Noma pastry chef and founder of Hija de Sanchez. Photo: Disney Plus

The detail was so precise that Rosio Sanchez – a Chicago-born Mexican chef who made a cameo appearance in season three – found herself recoiling during some of the show’s more intense kitchen scenes. “I actually thought, 'Wow, this is so real'. It’s so accurate to how it feels to be in these moments,” she says. “I was at the edge of my sofa just thinking, this is making me cringe because I can so relate to it.”

That said, the rush actors feel following the director’s cue of “action” mirrors her daily experiences when opening her restaurant. “It’s that same adrenalin of getting ready for service each day,” she adds. “Our daily service is its own version of a television production.”

The famous fried chicken sandwich from Poulette in Copenhagen. Poulettecph/Instagram

Not all of The Bear’s Copenhagen discoveries came through research or industry contacts. Sometimes, stumbling on a small shop selling chicken sandwiches can matter just as much. In the Norrebro district is Poulette, known not for innovation, but for perfection, for getting the fried chicken sandwich right. There is retro neon signage, a short and focused menu and their signature sandwich – crispy, seasoned thigh meat, tangy slaw, pickles and a soft brioche bun. In the Copenhagen episode, Marcus drops by the restaurant to try the sandwich, relishing in its flavours and craft.

Co-founder Martin Ho says a local production crew scouting locations for the series found the place by chance.

“They came when they were scouting locations for the second season, and then suddenly a Danish production company reached out to us. We didn’t know what it was for, and then the next thing we knew, they were filming outside, and we figured out it was The Bear," he tells The National. "We didn’t even know they came to Poulette, but apparently they did."

Whether it’s the success of the series or pop star Dua Lipa reportedly calling it one of the best sandwiches she’s ever had, Poulette now sells up to 800 sandwiches a day, with a line of over 20 people outside when it opens daily at 11am.

Tuna tostada at Hija de Sanchez Cantina, the Copenhagen taqueria founded by chef Rosio Sanchez. Photo: Disney Plus

Whether The Bear captures all the intricacies of running a restaurant is up for debate. Like every dish, every kitchen has its own story, whether in Chicago or Copenhagen, shaped by its staff, their experiences and their traditions.

But one truth the show gets right is that the trade is all about giving. “It’s about doing something for someone else, serving people and making something that makes people happy,” says Sanchez. “But it’s also performance. Like actors, every day the doors open we’re on our own stage. And the magic comes in seeing people come together and do inspiring things.”

Season four of The Bear will be available for streaming on Thursday on Disney+