Tonight, some associates and I had been in Copenhagen and acquired the possibility to dine at one of many world’s biggest eating places: noma.
Because of a devotion to my readers and want to inform an important story jetlag, you’re getting my dwell, unvarnished ideas from an unbelievable night.
There are such a lot of accolades you may throw at noma, particularly that it’s been awarded the title of World’s Finest Restaurant in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2021. The Michelin information additionally awarded it 3 stars, a ranking awarded to solely 137 eating places on the earth.
Put merely, head chef Rene Redzepi is a culinary genius, and noma is his masterwork.
noma seeks to honor the perfect of what nature has given Copenhagen and the encircling area. They forage for elements that they embrace of their huge array of creations, relying on every season to offer to the gifted cooks distinctive elements that inform the story of the Nordic lands, forests, and seas. There are not any menus at noma, you arrive for an expertise that falls into one among three “seasons”: Vegetable, Sport & Forest, and Seafood.
All the time eager to problem himself and his employees, Redzepi has closed noma on a number of events, taking his employees on the street to locations like Mexico and Australia to take residence there to discover native elements and be taught from native cooks, and closed his unique restaurant utterly to reinvent itself and transfer it to its present advanced (identified colloquially as “Noma 2.0”) in Copenhagen. It’s speculated that noma will as soon as once more shut in 2023 and emerge elsewhere to have a good time 20 years of culinary brilliance.
However none of that mattered at this time. What mattered, to me no less than, was hopping in a taxi close to Copenhagen’s central practice station with three associates from Clubhouse, saying “noma”, and being whisked to an unforgettable expertise.
Arriving at noma
noma doesn’t announce itself as a lot because it emerges from its environment on Refshalevej Island close to central Copenhagen. We noticed what appeared like a phalanx of greenhouses amongst grassy fields as our taxi pulled as much as an unassuming metallic signal indicating we had arrived.
A employees member waited beneath an umbrella to verify us in…and that was it. No grand entryway or something. Upon checking in, we began to see the sensible choreography of service, which might shock and delight us our complete time there.
There have been no radios or something. Abruptly, as if it had been on the precise time that they had deliberate for us to reach, one other employees member invited us to observe her into the greenhouse. We walked by way of a verdant assortment of greenery that invigorated our sense of odor and instilled in us the freshness of what we had been about to expertise, as lots of the herbs that might grace our dishes had been grown the place we stood.
We had been supplied a selection: tea or beer, our orders arriving promptly in moments. As we sipped on our drinks, we confronted outward, searching over distant fields and nearer at vegetation close to us.
I even seen a bee flying round, ever the busybody, certainly figuring out its function within the pageantry of the night.
Behind us was an unassuming white constructing, stoic in its decor.
What awaited us in that constructing? We didn’t have to attend lengthy to search out out. Our attendant got here to greet us as soon as once more, inviting us to depart our drinks the place they had been, and enter the restaurant.
We walked down a protracted path between the vegetation in the direction of what we surmised was the primary constructing.
As we walked alongside, we handed the greenhouse on the proper within the above image, which turned out to be the check kitchen for noma. Cooks had been laborious at work however all of them turned towards us to wave hiya (I believe I even noticed Rene Redzepi himself!).
We continued towards a big wood facade. Subsequent to the facade was a desk overrun with vibrant vegatables and fruits of all sizes and shapes, letting us know what was to come back.
Earlier than us was the wood facade and a easy door. Our attendant had left us, it was as much as us to open the door ourselves to search out what lay inside.
I by no means anticipated what occurred subsequent.
The greeting
Once you go to a restaurant with a few of the superlatives that grace a spot like noma you count on large metal-filled kitchens, a relentless din of utensils, and the overall melee of the hassle it takes to supply world-class delicacies.
We didn’t see any of that.
As a substitute, we noticed nearly your complete restaurant employees welcoming us. As we walked from the entryway to our desk at the back of the restaurant, each noma crew member stopped what they had been doing to welcome us. I’ve by no means skilled something prefer it. It was heat, real, and ensured our noma expertise started with one thing particular.
I discussed the choreography of service earlier. It was clear that the crew at noma put within the effort to get each final element appropriate in how we had been greeted. I couldn’t look ahead to what was subsequent!
The services
Our desk was one among six four-tops in a room that was spacious but nonetheless felt intimate, shut sufficient to pay attention to conversations at different tables with out feeling such as you had been sitting on prime of the desk subsequent to you. Ground-to-ceiling home windows led to the identical verdant greenery that we had been standing in solely minutes earlier than. The wood tables had been easy and Scandinavian, no tablecloths to be discovered. A easy, vibrant medley of flowers was the centerpiece of every desk, a lit candle shut by.
The design of the room adopted the tables. Uncovered wooden graced each floor, the simplicity of Scandinavian design shining by way of, as one would count on from a spot so closely-linked to its environment.
I sat with my again to the home windows, which meant I had top-of-the-line seats in the home, as I may simply peer into the kitchen, positioned on the heart of the restaurant, to observe the noma employees at work.
Considered one of many crew members greeted us but once more and set in movement a culinary expertise I’ll always remember.
The meal
We had been seated simply after 5pm, pure gentle flooding the eating room with heat accent lighting from lamps above every desk. We had been supplied a selection of pairings to accompany our meal: wine or juice. Two of us chosen the wine pairing, and the opposite two elected the juice pairing. We had been instantly served our first set of drinks. I went with the juice pairing, pondering that the juices can be a bit wilder than something I used to be used to with out having to fret in regards to the alcohol from the wine blunting any of my senses.
A juice with a rose base and jasmine infusion was shortly poured because the wine was described to these ingesting it.
The wait employees was clever, sort, and personable. There was not a touch of pretension as they answered any query we had with a real friendliness that saved up the spirit of our heat greeting moments earlier than.
They knowledgeable us we might be having fun with fifteen programs tonight and confirmed whether or not or not any of us had meals allergic reactions and, earlier than we knew it, our noma expertise started!
We started with noma’s tackle a summer season salad. A vibrant array of berries, flowers, corn (it’s corn!), and different greens sat fantastically in a chilly broth.
We dug in. Admittedly I’m not the most important vegetable-eater on the market however put apart my preferences and simply determined to eat no matter ended up in entrance of me. Every chunk was a sensory expertise, with contemporary flavors and crisp textures altering every time. The flavors had been great and my goodness was it a beautifully-crafted dish!
Thinly-sliced cauliflower was perched atop a crunchy waffle, which appeared like a wafer of kinds. Shiny florals punctuated the scene with pops of coloration.
The cauliflower had its personal crunch, which was enhanced by the crunch of the wafer supporting the cauliflower slices. It was an train in textures. It wasn’t simply THAT it was crunchy, it helped me develop the power to understand two totally different sorts of crunch in the identical chunk as one enhanced the opposite.
We continued with extra juices/wine as our third course arrived: a grilled padron pepper, the pores and skin of the pepper eliminated, that was full of sunflower seeds. A rhubarb got here alongside and we had been invited to squeeze it like a lemon over the pepper earlier than biting into it.
I’m not a lot into peppers however the rhubarb helped me cross that bridge effectively sufficient. The comfortable charred pepper flesh gave solution to the acquainted texture of sunflower seeds, once more testing a mixture of flavors and textures together with a extra monochromatic coloration palette.
Up subsequent was one thing in contrast to something I had ever tasted. Dolma inside cucumber pores and skin sounds unique sufficient, however the primary ingredient inside was: nuts with mould on them! White mould, protected for consumption, it must be mentioned.
The cucumber pores and skin was delicate and lightweight, every chunk bringing the spongy really feel of the mould. I can’t fairly clarify it, apart from to say it was unbelievable. Considered one of our wait crew introduced a pattern of the mould for us to see.
It actually took all the pieces I needed to not simply seize one of many disks and take a giant chunk out of it, that’s how good the dolma was!
We had clearly departed from the acquainted and had been now alongside for the journey, the dishes proving to us we may deal with sophisticated flavors and textures. Our subsequent course had very robust flavors that labored collectively extremely effectively: new season garlic in an onion jelly with cream.
The colourful colours gave solution to a robust, darkish jelly with small, potent chunks of recent season garlic. The flavors had been highly effective however the garlic reduce by way of the richness of the jelly very well.
We returned to wealthy colours with a radish pie for the subsequent course. Small slices organized purposefully made for a ravishing dish with one other crunchy wafer beneath.
A small little bit of horseradish within the heart added some spice to the course, which reduce by way of the wealthy flavors of the radishes actually properly.
Up subsequent was a course that pushed the artistic boundaries. When fermenting issues like kombucha, a layer of micro organism and yeast seems, generally often called scoby. noma took scoby and made it right into a dish, with smoked pumpkin and chili oil.
The microflowers had been essential to enliven the dish a bit. Whereas this dish undoubtedly appeared, er, totally different, the feel wasn’t that totally different from a bit of ginger that you simply’d see at a sushi restaurant as a palette cleanser between programs. By this level we had been on board with no matter would come subsequent.
What got here subsequent truly appeared acquainted and likewise jogged my memory of a sushi restaurant. I additionally suppose it was the best-looking dish of the night: a tempura-fried marigold flower with a dipping sauce of cured egg yolks and rye whiskey.
The marigold was feather-light and crispy past all expectations. The cured egg yolks enriched the flavors and allowed the crunchiness of the tempura’s texture to shine!
This was nearly pretty much as good because the mould (add that to Sentences You By no means Assume You Would Say)…nearly.
Course after course of meals got here our means, bursting with taste as we made our solution to the primary course.
There was the egg cooked with beets and ramson (one of many solely apparent animal-based elements of the Vegetable season meal. It wasn’t vegetarian or vegan, simply highlighted greens)
And the unbelievable crispy potatoes wrapped in sea lettuce on a foam, one more dish the place one thing gentle and delicate gave solution to a texture with a little bit of crunch.
Truthfully, the greens hadn’t actually been that large of a problem for the way choosy of an eater I will be. I went with no matter they put in entrance of me and gave it a shot.
However then the grilled younger artichoke got here, with a savory sauce within the coronary heart of it.
I don’t like artichokes.
The dish was stunning and I believed to myself, “Okay it will truly assist issues. If I don’t prefer it at noma, I’ll have a greater retort prepared for the people who find themselves like ‘oh you’ll like artichokes you most likely simply haven’t had them cooked the proper means’.”
I had an artichoke cooked by the perfect restaurant on the earth…and I nonetheless didn’t prefer it. Others on the desk did, so I can confidently say it was simply me!
The principle course
Lastly, after eleven programs, we lastly arrived on the predominant course.
Now, earlier than I get to the primary course, a fast apart. My buddy was the one who acquired the reservation, and noma employees reached out to him a few week earlier than we arrived asking about meals restrictions. None of us had any allergic reactions however just a few of us actually didn’t take care of mushrooms, together with me. I didn’t wish to make an enormous factor of it although, since I’m not allergic to them, I simply usually wouldn’t select mushrooms on any menu at any restaurant ever.
The principle course was: mushrooms. Lion’s mane mushrooms, particularly, roasted and topped with pumpkin together with a sauce infused with roses and a facet salad paying homage to our first course.
The colours had been vibrant, the smells had been attractive…however would I have the ability to get previous my psychological block about mushrooms?
Sure. I ate the mushrooms. And so they had been DELICIOUS. Roasting them made the mushrooms style like meat to me and the sauce was a wealthy and savory accompaniment. The facet salad had pops of sweetness from the berries and tartness from the flower petals. It was a wise predominant course and I sincerely loved it.
[similar to the artichokes above, noma actually helped me be able to turn down mushrooms in the future! “Sorry, I only have mushrooms at this one restaurant in Denmark” will be my new excuse]
After the primary course, we had a while earlier than our desserts started. Night time had fallen, and the good lighting design of noma was extra obvious, so I grabbed some photos.
Every part was delicate and heat, each gentle there for a goal.
Within the kitchen, some had been nonetheless cooking whereas others had completed for the night and had begun cleansing. I captured some candid photos of these nonetheless working whereas staying out of their means.
The desserts
Our dessert programs started in comparable trend to our predominant programs: with a salad. Chocolate from Tulum in Mexico was served with berries, dried fruit, and quite a lot of herbs, together with basil and mint.
The chocolate was wealthy and intense, with nearly no trace of sweetness to it. The sweetness as a substitute got here from the berries and dried fruit with an occasional chunk into basil or mint leaf to liven issues up. This was the one dish the place I felt such as you needed to be intentional in what you place in your fork. Should you weren’t exact, you would find yourself with only a mouthful of herbs, which went in opposition to what I felt was the spirit of the dish.
The following course honored one time’s most enduring sweets: honey. What appeared like a tartlet was positioned earlier than us, containing oatmeal-based ice cream, honey, and topped with only a trace of bee pollen (which is a VERY highly effective style).
The weather of the dish labored collectively extremely! I had tasted bee pollen earlier than, so I used to be prepared for it, however others in my celebration had been in for a little bit of a shock when it hit their palette for the primary time!
I liked the ice cream, texturally all the pieces was easy and comparable however simply totally different sufficient to make it compelling.
Our last course was offered to us in a field with an acrylic lid. It was essentially the most delicate dish of the night, a becoming conclusion to a menu celebrating delicate greens.
Contained in the field was marinated honeycomb, which had been crammed with quite a lot of pure and flavored honeys.
It was extremely delicate however completely genius, as a result of so little separated vastly totally different flavors. I couldn’t let you know what every taste was by any stretch, however by no means in my life had I loved one thing fairly like that. Every chew felt like a brand new course! It was the proper ending to an ideal meal.
We settled up the invoice and acquired able to re-enter the common world. The darkness of night time gave us a brand new and contemporary have a look at the unbelievable structure at noma.
As we started strolling down the identical pathway upon which we had entered, we noticed the check kitchen as soon as once more, with photos up on the wall. Have been these photos of future dishes? We’d want to come back again and discover out.
I took one final look down the walkway round me, noticing the sunflowers alongside the pathway and tried to assemble my ideas. A smile crept its means from my face as I remembered what was merely the perfect meal I’ve ever had.
Summing up the expertise
I’ll attempt to not make this too dramatic, despite the fact that it’s late and I haven’t been in a position to sleep. It began with the greeting for me. That they might plan the service round a heat greeting, particularly in a tradition the place everybody tends to thoughts their very own enterprise, made all the pieces start so completely. The wait employees’s effervescent descriptions of every course, every wine, and every juice gave us the boldness to take pleasure in all the pieces because it was meant to be loved. I had by no means eaten at a contemporary, artistic restaurant like this earlier than, the wait employees made it appear approachable as a substitute of pretentious.
In a spot the place the meals was (rightfully) the spotlight, it was the individuals of noma that stood out. The crew was well-trained and seamless, with every particular person figuring out their accountability at every stage of the meal. It wasn’t nearly what to do, however when to do it. It was a metaphor of kinds for the dishes we had been having fun with, every course appeared to both complement the one earlier than it or set us up for one coming after. Every ingredient was positioned on the plate with precise precision so every chunk can be new, thrilling, and impart upon us the flavors of the season, every taste coming on the excellent time.
Perhaps that’s the purpose of noma’s vegetable season. Perhaps it’s to make us decelerate and benefit from the advanced, smaller issues in life piece-by-piece. As we left, the world appeared to odor a bit totally different and my eyes picked up extra particulars within the quiet darkness of that final stroll in the direction of the taxi stand. Perhaps it’s about reacquainting us with the enjoyment of these small, delicate issues in life.
I don’t know if we did noma the proper means or the incorrect means, however we approached it with open minds and left with full bellies and fuller smiles. It was a particular night time that I’ll always remember.
Have you ever been to noma? What did you suppose? Inform me within the feedback beneath!
