Hovedretten kommer sent, men den smager heldigvis bedre end vi forventede.

Hovedret means main course.
Hovedretten means the main course.

In Danish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun:

• en hovedret = a main course
• hovedretten = the main course

The extra -en is the definite ending for many en-words. You also see a spelling change here: ret becomes retten.

Yes, literally it does. But in Danish, this is a very natural way to say that food, a person, a bus, or something expected arrives late.

So:

• Hovedretten kommer sent = The main course is arriving late / comes late

In English, comes late sounds a bit odd in this context, but in Danish it is completely normal.

Because sent is the form used here as an adverb.

Compare:

• en sen middag = a late dinner
  Here sen describes a noun.
• Middagen kommer sent = The dinner arrives late
  Here sent describes how it comes.

So in this sentence, sent means late in an adverb-like way.

Because hovedret is an en-word (common gender), and the pronoun that refers back to an en-word is usually den.

• en hovedret
• hovedretten
• den = it

If the noun were a det-word, Danish would normally use det instead.

Yes. Smager is the present tense of smage, meaning to taste.

So:

• den smager bedre = it tastes better

This is very similar to English. Danish often uses smage exactly where English uses taste.

Heldigvis means fortunately or luckily.

In this sentence:

• men den smager heldigvis bedre ...
  = but fortunately it tastes better ...

Its position is normal Danish word order. In a main clause, the finite verb usually comes early, and sentence adverbs like heldigvis often come after it.

You could also say:

• men heldigvis smager den bedre ...

That gives a slightly different emphasis, but both are possible.

Because bedre is the comparative form meaning better.

It is irregular, just like English:

• god / godt = good
• bedre = better
• bedst = best

So:

• den smager bedre = it tastes better

It means better than we expected.

Breakdown:

• bedre = better
• end = than
• vi forventede = we expected

So the structure is very close to English:

• bedre end vi forventede = better than we expected

Here, forventede is the past tense of forvente (to expect).

Because end already introduces the comparison.

In English, we say:

• better than we expected

Danish works the same way:

• bedre end vi forventede

You do not need at here. End is enough.

Because men means but and links two main clauses here:

• Hovedretten kommer sent
• men den smager heldigvis bedre end vi forventede

Danish normally uses a comma before men when it joins two independent clauses, just like English often does before but.