About Birch & Surkaj
A gathering place on Læsø, where everyone is welcome
Birch & Surkaj is a restaurant, café and microbakery in the old dairy in Byrum on Læsø. We cook with a can-do spirit and both feet on the ground, and we believe you should be able to feel the care and thought behind every detail. Whether you drop in for a cup of coffee, a loaf to take home or a whole evening in the restaurant, you should feel welcome. We are a team of real people, not trying to be anything we are not.
[ Family portrait · Mille and Steffen in front of the old dairy ]
Chapter One
History
Steffen
Steffen grew up in Vesterø here on Læsø, where his parents ran Ahlmann Super with its own butcher’s counter. It was here he learned early on the value of good ingredients, integrity and community. His path later led to Copenhagen, where he trained as a chef at Hotel Plaza under Søren Gericke. From there followed a long working life in restaurants and hotels in Denmark and abroad, including eight years in São Paulo, where he was head chef and executive sous chef at the five-star Maksoud Plaza. Since then he has worked widely in the trade as a chef, head chef, consultant and owner, always with an eye for places that needed building up and developing.
Mille
Mille is from Silkeborg and moved to Copenhagen in 2001 to train as a chef, among other places at Hilton Copenhagen Airport and Restaurant Thorvaldsens Hus. She qualified in Aarhus at Mefisto in 2005 and has since worked as a chef and head chef. Around ten years ago she truly discovered her love of sourdough bread, and she has been refining it ever since. Her wheat sourdough is called Surkaj and is a small, living part of the house, one that needs care and time, just like all good craft. For Mille there is almost nothing better than baking bread and cakes, making good coffee and giving guests an experience that feels honest and present.
Together
Steffen and Mille met in 2005 at Vejers Strand. Together they lived and worked in São Paulo, running their own business focused on Nordic food, before returning to Denmark. Læsø has come to play a growing part in their lives in recent years, and Mille in particular fell in love with the calm of the island, one of the places where there is still time to spare. They had long talked about opening a place together here, and with Birch & Surkaj they are here to stay.
The name Birch & Surkaj
The name brings their two stories together. Birch is a tribute to Børge Birch, the well-known Copenhagen gallerist whom Steffen knew through his parents, and who once helped him into Hotel Plaza and opened the door to the profession. Surkaj is Mille’s wheat sourdough. Together the name stands for gratitude, roots and direction.
Chapter Two
The Property
Birch & Surkaj is housed in the old dairy in the middle of Byrum. We are the leaseholders of the dairy building, and it was precisely the raw surroundings in the heart of the island that drew us in. The place had long held our interest, and when the opportunity came, we took it.
[ Detail · open hearth with a canvas sail above ]
[ Detail · the herb garden in the cobbled courtyard ]
[ Detail · the seven small dairy windows in the hall ]
1887 – 1972
Læsø Andelsmejeri was built as one of the first industrial buildings on the island, and supplied Læsø’s approximately 2,800 inhabitants with milk, butter and cheese for 85 years. Dairy operations closed in 1972 when production moved to Hjørring.
1972 – 2017
After the dairy closed, the building was used as a warehouse for Læsø Auktioner, and was for a time the studio of architect Knud Friis. It stood empty and partly derelict for 8 years before we bought it.
The restoration
We have preserved the original whitewashed walls, the tiles in the old cheese cellar, and the seven small dairy windows in the hall. The ceiling has been opened up to the ridge, and we have hung an old canvas sail from a Læsø ship over the open hearth.
The dining room today
42 seats across the former cheese hall, plus 14 summer seats in the cobbled courtyard behind the house. The furniture is auction finds from across the island — no chair is the same.
Chapter Three
Læsø Art and Culture
Læsø is a small island with an unusual amount of art. The seaweed-roofed houses, the salt works, the fishing hamlets and the Lutheran church have made the island a gathering point for artists, craftspeople and musicians for over a hundred years. We try to be part of that community.
The seaweed roofs
Læsø is the only place in the world where houses are still thatched with eelgrass. Around 25 original seaweed-roofed houses remain — we are happy to point you on to Museumsgården and Tangtagets Venner if you want to visit them.
Læsø Crafts
The association of the island’s ceramicists, weavers and blacksmiths holds a joint open workshop every first Saturday of the season. We serve them breakfast and use their plates in the hall — look for Maria Klüver’s and Asger Eriksen’s signatures on the underside.
Concerts & readings
Eight Mondays a year — on our closing day — we lend out the hall for chamber concerts, readings and conversations arranged by Læsø Kulturhus. The programme for the 2026 season is published in March.
Læsø for children
We support Byrum School’s sea project, where the 4th grade each year learns to peel shrimp, smoke herring and bake rye bread in our kitchen. It’s the best Monday of the year.