From hippie haven to hip street

WHEN Christian Puglisi and Kim Rossen decided to open a restaurant in Copenhagen a few years ago, they settled on a derelict building in the middle of Jaegersborggade, a cobblestone street running through a dodgy part of town in the Norrebro district. It was a hippie haven for counterculture types, populated by biker gangs, drug dealers and streetwalkers, but the space suited their budget and they had a daring plan to make an impact on the city's fast-growing fine-dining scene - helping to transform the street for the better.

"We took a biker club and turned it into Relae - it was a perfect spot for shady business but even better for a restaurant," says Puglisi, a noted young chef with impeccable culinary credentials (El Bulli, Noma). "We knew that what we were doing could give the street a push - our food would conquer the street, and then the city."

A casual observer walking down Jaegersborggade will be unaware of its colourful past. Many of the 19th-century buildings are unrestored, but while parts of the street are still rough around the edges - unwittingly pointing your camera at certain buildings and residents hanging around street corners will provoke a negative response - there is an unmistakable sense that the gentrification of Jaegersborggade is here to stay.