We tried it: New sandwich shop opens in Aalborg

Aalborg is certainly not lacking in places to get open-faced sandwiches

Still, 21-year-old Cecilie Elisabeth took the leap into her first entrepreneurial venture when she opened “Hos Elisabeth” over the weekend.

The concept here is not like many of the city’s other open-faced sandwiches places, where things tend to be big and elaborate.

On the contrary, this is all about classic smørrebrød – just like your grandmother would make it.

At Cecilie’s place, who is also named Elisabeth after her grandmother, you’ll find nine classic varieties. Everything from a traditional salami with fried onions shares the menu with Dyrlægens natmad – and of course a fish fillet made with freshly caught fish from Østre Hurup.

This is also where Cecilie previously worked as a self-taught open-faced sandwiches chef.

“The opening went really well, and we were very busy – especially early in the day,” she says when MigogAalborg stops by today.

Before us in line, an obvious new regular customer walked in and praised the open-faced sandwiches highly. According to her, it was “exactly what we were missing.”

So what is it then?

The city’s cheapest?

In addition to being down-to-earth and not promising more than it delivers, the price is also kept very low.

For the rest of March, you can get one piece for just 25 DKK or two for 40 DKK.

That’s hard to match elsewhere in the city, we would argue.

We ordered six pieces: egg & shrimp, Dyrlægens Natmad, roast beef, fish fillet, ham, and pork roast.

As the photos reveal, each piece is carefully decorated, and you can clearly taste that quality ingredients have been used – from the butter-fried fish to the freshly sliced cold cuts from the butcher.

You shouldn’t expect gourmet open-faced sandwiches with extravagant (and perhaps unnecessary) decoration, wild flavor combinations, or innovative bread.

This is solid Danish craftsmanship – exactly how you expect a good piece of open-faced sandwiches to taste on a day when you need to upgrade a boring office lunch.

Plans to expand the concept

We chose to eat in the shop on Vesterbro, where there are three small café tables and a total of six seats.

The view looks directly out at one of Aalborg’s most recognizable landmarks, Tyren, as well as the bustling life along one of the city’s main streets.

But it’s not only lively outside the windows.

At 21, Cecilie is like many others her age: straightforward, energetic, and with a youthful spark in her eyes.

And that might be exactly what it takes when opening your own place.

“I want to create something where you can really taste what you’re eating. Fresh ingredients and no hidden additives,” she says.

She gets help from a local butcher with the cold cuts, but everything else she handles herself – from spreading the butter to the final garnish.

In the long term, she dreams of expanding the concept with hot dishes such as meatballs in curry, chicken with oven-roasted potatoes, and lasagna as easy dinner options for the people of Aalborg.

If you want to try what might be the city’s most down-to-earth open-faced sandwiches offer at a campaign price, the rest of March is a great time to stop by “Hos Elisabeth” on Vesterbro.