Well it's not without a small sense of irony I return after a long hiatus with another review of the so called 'Worlds best restaurant' well not so much a review but a ramble through the meal.
So what have I got to say about Noma that I haven't already said, well to be honest probably not a huge amount, so I won't be milking it, but I do have the odd observation I would love to share.
Anyhow without further ado, this trip had nothing to do with work, nothing culinary, this was about treating my wife to a birthday lunch at the worlds best restaurant. so 3 months earlier, I religiously waited in front of my PC and phone in hand began clicking refresh and hitting redial for a full hour, before I managed to secure a lunchtime table (which I wanted), and on my wife's birthday (on a Tuesday, so that helped). Incidentally at the time, I was in the process of organising stages for my commis chef, one placement was to be at the 1 michelin star restaurant, owned by Simon Hulstone. I had watched his tweets along with my own as we had tried to secure tables in the month of November, once we had tables I called him to finalise arrangements for my chefs stage and found we would not only be dining at Noma on the same day, but for the same service. it's a small world.
So with one excited Mrs. we departed for Copenhagen at sparrowfart in November, after an event-less journey and check in to our simple (read cheap) hotel. we wandered into the city past the flats where I lived for the week 10 months before, and casually ambled the same route I took then down towards the restaurant, funnily enough it was pretty much as blooming clod as I remember it too.
My wonderful Mrs. @lallypo on twitter, with the obligatory door shot, quite poorly with my shadow lumbering in it, I remembered most things this trip, except for my camera, so iPhone images all the way, sorry about that.
now I wont blah on again with the description of the restaurant, the ethos, etc. etc. cos I've been there and done it, so below a few pictures of the dishes of note.
these are the snacks that were either new or evolved since my last visit.
unlike the whole leek, this blanched and fried affair, finished with parsley puree. a great incarnation of the idea, very cleverly executed and personally nicer that the whole leek
Mussel, amazing, stand out dish, albeit only one little bite, the cleverness of the bottom shell being fully edible bringing the texture to a beautifully cooked full flavoured mussel.
Another clever dish, crisp potato, mushroom powder. the potato being the finest cut i have ever seen, fried into thick discs and dusted with an intense mushroom seasoning, lovely
The biscuit tin arrived, one of my favourites from January, but instead of a purple disc with a pine-shoot adorning it, this came out. Delicate shortbread, cheese and a herb stem salad. Amazing strength of flavour from something so small.
Odd one this, snail & nasturtium. Simple, pleasant, pretty, forgettable.
Razor clam, last visit got given this as an extra during a Saturday function by Matt, thought it was lovely then, but now not having to grab nibbles of it between jobs, absolutely stunning.
Scallops, grains, squid ink (those beech nuts), tastes nicer when someone else prepped it :)
Radishes (and carrots) in a pot, soil and puree lovely, veg themselves not as young and sweet as last visit, I fell this would have benefited from being dropped this day, veg not up to scratch.
Pickles, oh how I remember pickles. Just as lovely, just as impossible to distinguish the separate pickles, dish is amazing even with the mono-herb this time (forgot to ask, tasted like a variety of sorrel)
'The apple that fell from the tree', this stands out for its cleverness, as with so much here, every bit was edible, and below the dehydrated apple skin dust surrounding it was so many different textures of apples, or at least I though so, until I spoke with James in production who gave me the full ingredient breakdown which included Jerusalem artichoke and truffle, neither of which stood out, but could guess that if they were omitted then they would be missed.
The signature dish of beef tartar, juniper, tarragon puree. As it's longevity on the menu would suggest its a cracker, really lovely and fun to scrape every ounce off the plate with fingers. Only slight negative here would be that we were seeing the repeat of sorrel quite a bit and there is only so much one man can eat.
Matt Orlando served us this one, one of his personal favourite dishes and one that was on the 7 course menu in January. Cabbages, bacon broth and fresh cheese. Flavours were quite simply mind-blowing super rich yet ultra light.
The 'Meat' course, Venison, buttermilk, wild herbs, walnuts.
great yin and yang of flavour and texture between 2 different cooking styles in the venison itself, the garnish elements carrying the rest well, good yet not quite great.
that wasn't all the snacks or the mains but only the ones I either had comment for or an un-blurred picture to share, now we move to desserts, I found these the most challenging dishes on my first visit, and as it was to be, again the most challenging again.
Cucumber, yogurt, elderflower. All the elements I like, and the yogurt at the bottom was perfect, but the unsweetened, barely seasoned cucumber granite was a challenge to the palate the pickled elderflowers helped bring things together, but not enough of them for the vast amount of frozen cucumber juice.
'Carrot cake' Light mousse, parfait, paper thin carrots in many guises, a few challenging textures throughout but a very accomplished dish flavour wise.
Potato & plum.
a log description preceded this dish on how it had come about, and the vast preparation involved (phew glad G wasn't there in January, he would have killed me for the job of cracking plum stones, then peeling the 'bitter almond' inside. Anyway the dish was a full breakdown of the chemical element Benzaldehyde the chemical that gives almond its flavour, also the aroma present in Cyanide. again very cleverly done potato sticks that melted into puree on touch, a very soft whipped potato infused with the plum stone, then plum jam/compote etc through the dish. Damned clever from conception to delivery and one of those dishes you will either love or hate, I loved it my wife hated it.
finally, just prior to the kitchen tour, a birthday cake 'Noma style' was delivered for my wife, a massive slate, soils and herbs all over it, and a great simple mousse. very nice touch.
We toured the kitchen with Simon's table as it was getting late and was great to catch up with a few of the same faces I'd worked with earlier that year and to grab snippets of info regarding techniques and methods. but I was craving meat, I had had about 18 of my 5 a day and needed something unhealthy which I sorted that evening in the brasserie at the Nimb hotel.
So was it better? the meal was as good overall, some great some duff, but there are 22 plates put in front of you, it's unlikely they will all be your favourites, what came close to damaging the experience for me was the fact I chose champagne to start, 1 wine and 1 juice pairing, and whilst the juice pairing is decent value for money, adding the wines to this sent the bill into silly levels, the wine was pretty ok, but nothing I would write home about, the juices were well made, but often didn't really complement the dishes they were served with, so we kept quite a few glasses dotted around the table and sipped as and when each flavour made sense, there was plenty of opportunity to partake in a sip of the sorrel juice.
I believe it was Charles Rolls who said something along the lines of 'Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten' and whilst I had a truly great experience at the hands of Rene's team the bill will linger in my memory for a long time to come. I don't want to put you off going to Noma, just if you live life on a Normal salary, drink water, or try the juice pairing, TBH the wine aint all that for the money.
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