Located in different parts of Copenhagen, The Ark Collection restaurants pose a variety of high quality, plant based food concepts, with cool contexts, that happen to be good for the planet. Bistro Lupa is part of this collection, to see our sister restaurants click here.
Our menus are inspired by seasons, local produce but also global influences. The Ark Collection offers places for any occasion, taste or budget.
Through craftsmanship and determination, the Ark Collection exemplifies that plant based food can be exciting and flavorsome. Only these food characteristics challenge mindsets and can inspire others to eat less meat and thereby ease the current environmental pressure on our planet.
Conscious, yet exciting, dining.
OUR STATEMENT
VISION
We want to keep pioneering the plant based scene in Denmark.
We believe that by posing a unique, positive and attractive approach to the vegan narrative, we continue to dissolve stereotypes, and exceeds expectations.
MISSION
We will continuously create places and dishes that are exciting, have a story, and focus on quality.
We question conventional methods and remind people about the bigger picture. Our choices matter.
We see the good in people, and believe that by bringing them together we can learn how to move forward together.
VALUES
Our projects showcase that businesses can create concepts that ease the environmental pressure on our planet, and we believe that sustainability isn’t simply an option but a must in our business model now and in the future.
As a company we do not preach, nor are we perfect - but we are honest, inquisitive and determined.
Read more about our sustainable policy, practices and efforts below.
OUR SUSTAINABLE MANIFESTO
Sustainability is at the forefront of everything we do. Plant based products and sustainability are a thread woven throughout our entire organization - from food to furniture. Sustainability is not an empty promise, but it is non-negotiable in our business model, now and in the future. We take an all encompassing approach to achieve this, from the products we purchase and serve, the process of delivery, to sourcing, plating, waste sorting and the overall restaurant setting and experience.
Our menu focuses on seasonality and, where possible, local produce. Further more, we turn many of our off-cuts into powders and garnish, re-use our spent wine into sauces, and even save our banana peels for cocktail infusions.
Our sustainable practices spread beyond what is served on the plate, to the process of delivery and preparation. Most of our supplies are within a 2-hour drive to our location, and many of them deliver our products by a 15 minute bike ride.
We are not perfect, but we are trying - and truly believe the saying that ‘we do not need a handful of people being sustainable perfectly, but millions of people doing it imperfectly.’
Did you know we co-own our own mushroom farm? Funga Farm is Denmark’s only locally grown, organic, urban mushroom farm growing unparalleled craft mushrooms..
We believe mushrooms are a mighty force to be reckoned with and contribute toward the promise of a more sustainable future.
FORAGING
The months of March through to November we spend foraging for the restaurants. Foraging allows us to source some of our menu super locally by gathering goods from the Danish landscape. We pick about 40 different ingredients from Sjælland, Bornholm and sometimes Sweden.
Trained by Noma’s head forager, we follow her mantra of re-introducing the wild outdoors back to restaurants. We forage responsibly - taking only what we need from places of abundance, and plucking some of the produce from their 'tops' encouraging them to grow even more.
OUR BAR
Our cocktails are a creative and contemporary twist on the classics. Driven by a sustainable ‘zero-waste’ ideology and, without compromising on quality, nearly everything on both our food and cocktail menu is homemade. Our sustainable practices include revamping spent wine, tea and coffee grinds into housemade liquors and vermouths, we do not use any citrus - instead we ferment our own flavors and acids to balance our drinks. Our cocktails and back bar use mainly Nordic spirits to enhance the local spirit whilst reducing pollution caused by transportation. Our wines are from small, independent vineyards around Europe. Almost all of our wines are organic, some biodynamic and several distinctly natural. Our beers are from local Mikkeller, and cider is made on Danish apples from Cider Revolution.
TABLEWARE
Beautiful colors and history! Our plates are revived from local vintage shop Veirhanen established in 1973 - you can find them at Ravnsborggade, Nørrebro. We absolutely adore the fact that we can breathe new life into items that otherwise may have been lost to time.
Imagine all the stories they hold, how many people have shared memories over these dishes and how much eating culture has changed. As always, with respect to history we look to the future.
ECO-FRIENDLY INTERIOR DESIGN
Developed by Jenia Nelisova
WALL ART
The artwork on our walls is developed by Zane Kraujina and Jenia Nelisova. The idea behind these pieces is intended to simultaneously provide acoustic aid to the room, a nod to our company foraging culture and sustainable practices. The materials used are foraged plants, canvas, used wine corks collected from our restaurants and mom’s old towels (behind the canvas - providing extra sound absorption).
The J46 Chair
Our chairs are from FDB Møbler, a Danish furniture design company with a long legacy of highly durable products and sustainable practices. FDB Møbler has been creating functional, beautiful and high-quality furniture for everyone since the 1940s. The chairs are FSC certified, and the J46 chair that we use in the restaurant also bears the Nordic Ecolabel.
Our FSC certified lamps are hand crafted locally by Danish light artist Tom Rossau. Every lamp is made in a town called Frederiksberg in Denmark. The perfect balance of geometry, materials, and natural and artificial light.
OUR TABLES
Our tabletops are made from reused 400-year-old oak that originates from a farm on Sandagergaard, now part of the Gyldensteen estate, in North Fyn. The farm was built around the year 1700 and consisted of several timber frame houses. In 2013, part of one of the barns collapsed in a big storm and it was only possible to save approximately a third of the estate and fortunately part of the timber frame. The completely unique and very beautifully patinated wood can therefore now be used again and becomes part of a new story.
Our upholstery is post-consumer recycled polyester made from fibers derived from consumer waste, which has been used, disposed of, and diverted from landfills. These are reprocessed, spun into yarn, and then woven and dyed.
Piñatex cushions are made from waste pineapple leaf fibre, containing no harmful chemicals or animal products. The leaves are by-products of existing agriculture, and their development supports farming communities.
Our acoustic panels are from our Swedish friends across the pond at ‘BAUX’. The panels are an environment-friendly, recyclable material made from wood wool, cement and water blended together.