A world falls and stars fall thunderously. Covid-19 claims one of the most illustrious victims of world gastronomy: the Noma, iconic temple of Nordic catering in Copenhagen, two Michelin stars, four times best restaurant in the world according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants, a real mirage for fans of the provocative cuisine of Redzepi, chef and patron, forced to waiting lists that went from year to year for lunches of 400 euros and up. Excluding wines (another 200).
Redzepi, a Danish chef with Albanian ancestry, the messiah of the "New Nordic cuisine" focused on products from Northern Europe and on a great and accurate cleaning of flavors and dishes, faithful to his character, never definable and never predictable, announced that from the week next his starred restaurant will temporarily close its doors for transform into a 15 euro cheeseburger and winebar with outdoor tables and blankets spread out on the lawns for open-air picnics. Bold choice that will not fail to make followers, not surprisingly in 2012, Time Magazine named René Redzepi as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, not only for having placed Denmark at the top of the global gastronomic map, but also because the His passion for promoting food innovation has influenced a new generation of chefs around the world.
It is not the first time that Redzepi has reinvented its restaurant. Three years ago, he closed the original Noma converted from a former herring warehouse and moved it to a huge new lakeside building near the city center, with three greenhouses and a state-of-the-art fermentation cellar, building in which he coexisted with the Nordatlantens Brygge center for art and culture of the North Atlantic region, the Icelandic embassy and the diplomatic representation offices of Far Øer and Greenland. It wasn't just a physical move but also a revolution in his kitchen, always looking for new inspiration.
So goodbye, at least for the moment, to the lunch or dinner ritual which lasted two and a half hours in two shifts, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, with prepaid reservation months in advance, and goodbye to some dishes that made enthusiasts moan with satisfaction gourmet from all over the world such as malt crackers, herb pesto, rose beech, ants, nasturtium flowers and pollen, chilled spring onion broth with beech nuts, beech wood oil and cream, stuffed mold tacos of Danish cheese, preserved black truffle and parsley pesto, Asparagus preserved in mold, flower salad, quince with grilled yeast sauce and pumpkin seed oil, with shawarma Middle Eastern dish of roasted lamb meat marinated in about ten different spices before being cooked slowly on a spit, but with the difference that at Moma the meat is replaced with celeriac and truffles.
Redzepi continues: “Like many of our friends and colleagues around the world, we are facing challenges that we have never experienced before and are doing our best to navigate with a united spirit and energy. As a team that has service and hospitality in our very DNA, we want nothing more than to continue business as usual – to welcome guests into our home, cook and feed them, and offer them a moment to escape from everything that is going on in the world.” No reservations, in the new cheeseburger by Redzepi, which focuses on a streamlined and welcoming service, open to all. For the moment, only two burgers are on the menu: the classic cheeseburger and a vegetarian option. Both enriched with fermented vegetables and wrapped in a soft potato sandwich.
