Monthly Archives: February 2018

Det Sønderjyske Køkken

Det Sønderjyske Køkken is a cafe located in Sonderborg’s tourist office on Perlegade. The cafe, owned by chefs Jesper Kock and Sune Axelsen, focuses on portraying food inspired by the local area.

The first thing that you notice on arriving is that premises in which the cafe is located are very big. The first time we visited soon after they opened I felt the place was too much like a school canteen. However, visiting again recently I was very happy with the changes; the booths on the side with sofas and the screens make for much cosier areas even if the room itself if huge. The big windows onto the walking street over one whole wall also means that the place is very light and airy (and especially good for Danish mothers leaving their prams outside as they can see their babies very easily).

The food menu itself is quite simple. It focuses mainly on vegetable dishes, with a few staples like Pariserbøf and Solæg. As is to be expected, cakes are also a focal point, inspired by the Sønderjyske Kaffebord.  The food I have tasted has all been very well made, and at decent prices.

Besides being a regular cafe they also focus on events either for the local community or to showcase local food e.g. they had Christmas food making workshops for children in December and I can see a Sønderjyske kaffebord event coming up in March.

Whether for a quick coffee, a relaxed lunch with friends, or a more full on event, if it is local produce and local recipes you are looking for, this is the place you should start at.

Baby Activities in Sønderborg: An update

In 2015 we published a couple of posts regarding baby activities in Sønderborg. However end of 2017 a new addition arrived in our family so it is well worth seeing what has remained, what is new and what has changed.

Musical Activities

Babysalmesang is still a hit for me. These are sessions that happen in most churches in the Denmark (in Sønderborg they have it in both Christianskirken and Sct Marie Kirken, but also the smaller churches in smaller villages will offer this) aimed at babies at their parent. We sing, we move and we enjoy some musical time with our kids. It is not necessary that you are a member of the church (I am not Danish Protestant for one!) but if you don’t mind that the songs sung are religious it will all be good.

Besides Babysalmesang there is also Baby Rytmik at the music school. This is very similar to Babysalmesang, except that the song topic is not religious (and you need to pay, unlike babysalmesang).

The third musical activity is Baby Tju-Hej that happens in the libraries of Sonderborg Kommune. While the other activities are limited to a small number of parents (maximum 15), this is open to all kids up to 3 years old with no prior booking. It is more of a sing along performance rather than focussed parent-child time, but still highly enjoyable and we try to go to as many as we can.

From what I have seen these have not changed much from 2015.

Active Sessions

The active sessions available can be grouped into 2: Stimulastik/Baby Motorik and Baby Swimming. We had written more about Baby Swimming  in 2015 here and we are not aware of anything new. A friend has also told us that there are limited drop-in sessions at the warm water basin at the Nordals Idrætscenter on Mondays-Wednesdays so if a course is not for you you can try this out, especially if like us you have 2 kids you want to take.

With regards to Motorik sessions, the Stimulastik provider from 2015 has moved away from the area. Instead I am aware of 2 other providers in the area: Ergo-Liv and Massage by Friis. Both seem to offer a ‘course’ rather than open groups. Our son is still too young so have not experienced either. If you have do leave a comment about your experience. We plan to try one later in the year and will update you on the experience, though we haven’t decided on which.

Sessions for Parents/Creative Sessions

Sønderborghus has recently started sessions on the first Monday of the month. These sessions, called Baby Mandag, consist of a talk or activity for the parents, followed by a creative session for the parent+child. I wrote about our experience here.

So since 2015 it seems that the music sessions have remained, the active sessions have changed while parent/creative sessions have been added. Not bad for a town the size of Sonderborg!

Other than that a facebook group for mothers in Sønderborg that had been started in 2015 has been revived, so if you’re in town with a baby/young child in tow (or even none) you can check what we are up to on Mother Group Sonderborg.