Fru Nimb in Tivoli Gardens
Vilhelm Nimb and his wife, Louise (1842 – 1903), opened their first restaurant in the Bazar building in Tivoli Gardens in 1872. Five years later, they assumed management of the Tivoli Gardens restaurant, Divan 2, affectionately referred to as Nimb's Veranda. Louise Nimb's spirit permeated the style of the establishment, attracting patrons that included royalty, politicians, and writers who relished the cuisine and ambiance. Known as Fru Nimb (Mrs. Nimb), she extended her hospitality to everyone, regardless of their status, and frequently stood alongside the buffet with her two daughters, Serina and Henriette, all adorned in white aprons and with friendly smiles.
Fru Nimb, a renowned cookbook author, was a pioneer in the Danish culinary scene. She introduced Tivoli Gardens to international gastronomic trends. The family frequently travelled abroad to gather inspiration for culinary techniques and restaurant design. Fru Nimb incorporated contemporary French-inspired recipes, as well as exotic dishes and drinks from foreign shores. Notably, she was the first in Denmark to serve rare-cooked fillet steak and tomatoes.
At Divan 2, guests could enjoy coffee, lobster, open-faced shrimp sandwiches, roast duck, or explore the smorgasbord buffet adorned with lace tablecloths, flowers, and copperware. While not luxurious, the buffet featured hearty, attractively presented dishes, allowing guests to peruse before ordering. Fru Nimb’s innovative spirit led to the invention of a device that kept plates warm on the serving table.
Nimb's Smørrebrød Extravaganza
Around the 1880s, the classic Danish open-faced sandwich (smørrebrød) evolved from being a humble buttered slice of bread with plain toppings to highly adorned delicacies. Tivoli Gardens earned a reputation as the epicentre of Danish smørrebrød, and Nimb’s restaurants played a pivotal role.
In 1889, Danish smørrebrød was showcased at the Universal Exposition in Paris, with Tivoli Gardens’ restaurateur Vilhelm Nimb presenting his exquisite culinary craft to an international audience.
In the early 1880s, Nimb’s restaurant Divan 2 became the first establishment to introduce a smørrebrød menu to streamline orders from the many patrons. Soon adopted by other Copenhagen restaurants, such menus are now widely common.
Fru Nimb's Green Kitchen
Fru Nimb introduced the first vegetarian dishes at Tivoli Gardens’ Divan 2 as early as in 1894. This coincided with the Gardening Exhibition in Tivoli Gardens, where she crafted new, delicious, and inventive vegetarian dishes for visitors. These green dishes soon garnered a wide following among the vast audience.
One menu featured mushroom soup, spinach with eggs and toasted bread, potato cutlets with tomato sauce, fruit omelette, cheese, and fresh fruit. Other choices included potato pancakes with pickled cucumber, spinach pudding with croutons, pea soup with dumplings, cabbage with chestnuts, and fruit pie with macarons.
In 1896, the same year the Danish Vegetarian Society was founded, Fru Nimb published the vegetarian cookbook Utilisation of Vegetables for Vegetarian Dinners, featuring the menus developed for the Gardening Exhibition. The cookbook also described how to prepare vegetables using methods such as steaming or by utilising a haybox. An important message from the esteemed restaurateur was that vegetables should not be overcooked – they should be arranged and served whole and firm.
With the cookbook, Fru Nimb aimed to promote the use of vegetables in Danish kitchens, presenting the first recipes with the then-exotic tomato. Her groundbreaking dishes drew inspiration from abroad, particularly Italy, France, and Germany.
The Elegant Bazar Restaurant of the Nimb Sisters
Louise Nimb raised her daughters, Henriette (1863 – 1919) and Serina (1865 – 1939), to take a full part in the business. This proved beneficial when the restaurant moved to the new and elegant premises in the newly constructed Bazar building in 1909. Henriette served as the chef, while Serina managed the front of the house, ensuring an elegant presentation. The new restaurant, much like the old one, offered a smorgasbord buffet as well as all the dishes that had earned Nimb its fame.
The Nimb sisters took over most of the newly constructed building. Only a bodega from the former Bazar found its place at one end. Nimb’s large, elegant restaurant was located on the ground floor, while the second floor accommodated a celebratory wing with two grand halls and five smaller function rooms. Additionally, the sisters maintained their private residence on the top floor.
Around 1912, when the sisters retired to their hometown of Snedkersten, their young, distant relative, Jules Nimb, assumed management of the Nimb restaurant. During the 1920s, Nimb was frequented by an ostentatious crowd of festive youth, and during the same decade, the Danish State Radio, Statsradiofonien, brought national fame to Nimb with its live broadcasts of contemporary dance music from the Nimb dancehall.
