Noma the Copenhagen restaurant that has been voted the best in the world multiple times will close its doors at the end of 2024 after 20 years of operation.
Chef René Redzepi said today the restaurant will become a “food laboratory” developing new dishes and products for his ecommerce operation Noma Projects.
Noma will be “a pioneering test kitchen dedicated to working on food innovation and developing new flavors,” according to the statement on Noma’s website.
“Our goal is to create an enduring organization dedicated to innovative work in the food space, but also redefining the foundation of a restaurant team. A place to learn, take risks and grow.”
Foodies travel to Copenhagen and pay $500—per head, of course—for the privilege of dining at Noma.
Still, Redzepi told the New York Times that the equation for paying his nearly 100 employees fairly maintaining high standards in the kitchen and charging prices the customer can afford just doesn’t add up.
“We have to completely rethink the industry,” he said. “It’s just too difficult and we have to work differently.”
Five years ago, when she closed her RS restaurant, chef Roberta Sudbrack said: “Serious haute cuisine never made any money. It never will. That is a basic principle.”
The closure of Noma is expected to resonate in kitchens around the world. Since opening, the Danish establishment has transformed haute cuisine, serving up unique dishes like “grilled reindeer heart on a bed of fresh pine and saffron sorbet in a beeswax bowl,” as the Times recalls.
“To put it in football terms, imagine that Manchester United decided to close Old Trafford to fans, even though the team is still playing,” the newspaper compared.
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My lunch at Noma and why it’s (really) the best in the world
Peter Arbex