by tim anderson
On pretty much any hot and sunny day in Copenhagen (in fact, it doesn't really need to be that hot, just sunny), at certain hours of the day you'll find queues like it was a supermarket twenty-five years ago in Eastern Europe suffering a food shortage.
Alas, it's not a shortage of food that drives the crowds toward Paradis in Copenhagen, rather it's a shortage of comparably tasty ice cream to be found anywhere else in the city. Italian style ice cream. Really f#%*ing tasty ice cream.
How good would I say Paradis ice cream is?
Well, in the office where I've been working the past couple months Ben and Jerry's, one of the most popular American style ice creams, is stocked in the freezer for staff to help themselves to. There's a lot of it and many flavours all there for the taking. And it's free. It's also rather tasty. But it's just not as tasty as Paradis ice cream.
Ben and Jerry's ice cream has that artificial sweet kind of taste that Americans (and lovers of American products) go for. So even though I can eat all the Ben and Jerry's I want at work, I find myself occasionally opting to pay a few kroner for a hit of Paradis after lunch - it's just around the corner, after all. Because Paradis is Italian style ice cream, and even for free Ben and Jerry's is no match for that.
At this point, there are several Paradis outlets around Copenhagen - basically one in each part of the city. The first that opened was in Nørrebro at Sankt Hans Torv a few years back, the next a couple years ago in Vesterbro and Amager, the latest just opened last month in the centre (on Købmagergade near Nørreport Station).
On a sunny summer day, lengthy queues can be found at all of them. And for good reason.