How an Evening at Three-Michelin-Starred Restaurant Noma Slipped Through My Fingers
Were you also gutted when you heard that Noma is closing its doors? I certainly saw one of my most important bucket-list wishes go up in smoke. If I hadn’t been so inattentive and unfocused during my trip to Copenhagen, I might still have been able to make that wish come true. But no, I let an evening at Noma slip through my fingers. How could this happen?!
Noma was the best restaurant in the world for years. It topped the list five times—in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021. When the restaurant opened its doors in Copenhagen in 2003, its concept was incredibly innovative. Chef René Redzepi was one of the first to work with local, seasonal products. So no ingredients flown in from all over the world, but products that were available nearby at that particular moment. For this reason, many critics call Noma the most influential restaurant of the past 20 years, along with the bizarre dishes served there, such as ‘Botan ebi’—in other words, shrimp with live ants.
Unsustainable work culture
Noma has had three Michelin stars since 2021. Its high rankings and unique concept may make it the most famous restaurant in the world. But at the end of 2024, the restaurant will close its doors. The reason: its way of working is unsustainable. Chef Redzepi says it’s impossible for him to compensate his employees fairly while also demanding such high standards from them. Fortunately, Noma itself isn’t literally disappearing. It will become a kind of food-innovation laboratory and will occasionally open as a pop-up restaurant. But the Noma concept as it exists now will soon be gone.
Dream
You don’t simply eat at Noma. First of all, because it’s ridiculously expensive (a menu without matching wines costs at least 500 euros per person), and because it’s always fully booked. So when my boyfriend and I decided to go to Copenhagen this year, it wasn’t in the cards for us either. It was full. And since my savings account isn’t bottomless, I simply couldn’t see it happening.
Was there still a spot available?
Once in Copenhagen, we couldn’t resist stopping by anyway. On our way to Reffen (a kind of food-truck market by the harbor), we passed it by bus. This is Noma—the best restaurant in the world! We kept looking back until the restaurant and its famous greenhouses disappeared from view. The next day, we passed by again. And we weren’t the only ones. More people came to take a look and asked an employee whether, by any chance, a spot had become available that day after all. Only to walk away disappointed.
Waiting list
Okay, I need to speed up my story. So, when we were sitting by the harbor one of those days with a craft beer in hand, I got overconfident. “You know what,” I said to my boyfriend, “I’m going to put us on the waiting list for tonight. If they call us, then it’s fate telling us to spend the last of our savings on Noma. It was meant to be. And if not, then not.”
So I signed us up. I even said that I had to take my phone off airplane mode (because vacation, because battery). I don’t know how it happened, but I had a really strong feeling. Somewhere, I was 100% convinced that we would be sitting down there that evening.
Airplane mode
And now, with my face burning with shame, I’m going to tell you what happened next. I AUTOMATICALLY PUT MY PHONE BACK ON AIRPLANE MODE. It became 6 p.m.; we no longer expected a call and went somewhere else to eat pizza. At some point during those hours, I had automatically made my phone unreachable. By the time I had Mother’s divine pizza in front of me (go there if you’re in Copenhagen!), I wasn’t really thinking about Noma anymore. Yes, really. And you can probably guess where I discovered it the next day, in the car as we left Copenhagen behind. I had a missed call from a Danish number.
The call from Noma
With a stomachache, I listened to the voicemail, but there was nothing there. I think the people at Noma had also decided: never mind, then. I typed the unknown number into Google, and Noma immediately came up. Yes, this was Noma. I even saw a Facebook post saying (translated): there’s a cancellation tonight, call us at (THAT NUMBER!). The most famous and best restaurant in the world had called me, very likely to tell me that a table had unexpectedly become available that evening.
Slipping through my fingers
That was my chance—and probably my only chance—to eat at Noma. And I let it slip through my fingers. This is fate too, people. It simply wasn’t meant to be. I’m still a little annoyed about it, but surely another amazing Michelin-starred restaurant is waiting for me. As long as I actually answer the phone next time I’m on a waiting list.
By the way, we ate wonderfully at other restaurants during our holiday in Copenhagen. So that makes up for a lot. In this hotspot list, you’ll find an overview!
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