Comments on e*ting the world: Noma, Copenhagen. The World's "Best Restaurant"......

BRILLIANT writing. & mouthwatering food porn....

2012-01-12T12:22:43.879+08:00

BRILLIANT writing.

& mouthwatering food porn.

i think i'd enjoy Noma... i like its aesthetics. It's got that Nordic wabisabi thing going on.

& probably the simplicity of the flavours.

very good and honest write up, you old Chinese lad...

2011-12-28T11:04:54.402+08:00

very good and honest write up, you old Chinese lady ;)

I completely agree with you and the rest of commenters, although I like to visit these kind of restaurants to experience, learn and discover; yet they are not my cup of (hot) tea.

ps: 2 lenses is a v good start.

Thanks all for your comments - it was really inter...

2011-12-23T00:12:05.987+08:00

Thanks all for your comments - it was really interesting to see how you all felt too.

@Gourmet Chick - the lens is a Canon 50mm f1.4 USM and I'm using the 600D. It's my favourite thus far (not that I'm an expert - I only have 2 lenses!)

I really loved reading this review as I think it i...

2011-12-21T14:22:52.842+08:00

I really loved reading this review as I think it is one of the problems of ridiculous things like World's 50 Best Restaurant Lists (has one person even been to all 50 restaurants on the list let alone a sampling of restaurants in a variety of countries?) which lead to hype which mean your meal at Noma could only be a little disappointing. Interesting rather than mind blowing. I had to laugh at you getting jaded about soil - a sign of too much fine dining! I feel almost like I have eaten at Noma after reading this and love the beautiful photography as well. Lens details?

I agree with how you've laid it out. Perhaps ...

2011-12-21T10:32:08.085+08:00

I agree with how you've laid it out. Perhaps the Asian in us tells us that when it comes to food, it's about how it tastes first and foremost. However, the old adage of 色香味齐全 does not necessarily list it in that order and actually lists taste as last.

What Noma does appear to do is bring the concept of food back to roots - I like that everything looks like it was picked up or fished and then plated, sans cooking. Very much how we think about the integrity of food sources.

I don't know what criteria for "best" at San Pellegrino is but taste must feature somewhere. Perhaps the weighting for concept was so overwhelming that it pulled up the overall marks including a "not so best" for taste?

But then again, it's all subjective. Perhaps our Asian palates don't really like Nordic too much? But whatever it is, the experience and your post certainly created a good and worthy debate around it. That's gotta be worth something.

I was offered the chance to dine at Noma in 2008 &...

2011-12-20T14:17:54.278+08:00

I was offered the chance to dine at Noma in 2008 & didn't take it. How foolish was that?!?

At the extreme high end, food becomes something like an art form. And, there's plenty of art that I love experiencing at a gallery, but would never hang on my walls at home, even if I could afford to (Rothko and Matisse come to mind).

Thanks for the review!

Nice write up and I somehow felt that the recipes ...

2011-12-20T01:23:33.768+08:00

Nice write up and I somehow felt that the recipes sounded almost a bit too simple for World's No. 1 restaurant, but I do admire the idea behind it.

I can't help but notice that almost all dishes including dessert had 'green colour' in it. May be this small observed detail is hinting or summarising the specific concept they're trying to portray. *not saying they're trying too hard :)

Good review. I think 2 specific subjects are pres...

2011-12-19T22:40:22.802+08:00

Good review.

I think 2 specific subjects are presented here:

1) Food and Media
2) Noma

1) Food and Media. I think because it was rated No.1 twice by the media, in essence, affected your dining experience - heck ONLY because of the media did you bother to cross half the world to experience the food.

This means a few things. The media has influenced your experience; the media has influenced the restaurants ability to provide you with a direct experience (ie just between you and the restaurant); and the media has now directly involved itself with the majority of the restaurants diners' experience.

There is no longer a direct relationship between the restaurant and the diner. The media has provided a level of expectation that the restaurant HAS to manage. Its both a blessing and a burden. It really depends on how both the media and the restaurant want to deal with it. Most would welcome the challenge and see it as what it is: an accolade and a reward for its concept, execution and consistency. A few others might see it as a hindrance and a disempowerment of its own ability to present itself gastronomically.

I think in this case the unfortunate situation was that the media did both you and NOMA a disservice? Or maybe NOMA was provided with an unfair addition to your expectations. Its something I guess we will both ponder as we progress down our respective careers.

2) The subject of NOMA itself. Well as discussed we cannot really establish a fair dialogue about this because the addition of the media attention has skewed the experience.

I guess I understand its concept as pre-agrarian hunter-gatherer cuisine based on the Nordic tradition. However as some said, the basic fundamentals of dining has to be both acknowledged and attended to; did you enjoy it and did it taste good? I think NOMA might have had a better chance if it was, theoretically, presented with a situation where it was just them and you. Unfortunately the burden of the media may or may not have affected the experience both from your perspective and their added requirements to meet expectations.

Would you have enjoyed it better if you were presented with some obscure Nordic restaurant providing molecular dining? Possibly. You would have been much more adventurous, less expectant of a cataclysmic life-changing meal and thus enjoyed it more. You also would not had judged it upon such stringent criteria and perhaps not compared it to the best dining moment of your life, as I think you were?

Then there's the point; it wasn't very nice.

But it was interesting (at least).

M

I like the way you started and ended the post with...

2011-12-19T22:32:04.839+08:00

I like the way you started and ended the post with "It was interesting". You are totally driving home the point.

And oh yes, lovely photos!

Excellent review. I think I agree with 95% of what...

2011-12-19T21:48:38.979+08:00

Excellent review. I think I agree with 95% of what you say! :)
After having worked for a week with Noma's ex-sous chef in our kitchen where he was promoting Nordic food, I can relate to everything you write and the dishes I saw on your photos are following the feel of what he was doing here. ( http://gregoiremichaud.com/2011/11/amazing-nordic-food-with-chef-robert-jakobsson/ )

Amazing food, clean flavors, perfect cooking methods. Really spot on cuisine!

That said, I find the sparkling water listing questionable - not for Noma, but as a listing in itself... one day we should have a coffee together! :)

It looks like a meal that I would still be hungry ...

2011-12-19T20:37:08.396+08:00

It looks like a meal that I would still be hungry after the 12 courses. That's the Chinese lady in me talking. :)

Great and nice lengthy read (and love the new came...

2011-12-19T15:04:12.458+08:00

Great and nice lengthy read (and love the new camera and pictures as well)...

What is quite interesting is that although I haven't eaten at Noma and can't see myself ever bothering I am already recognising and have eaten a mongrel assortment of what they are doing -smoked ingredients (especially with hay), light natural foams and yoghurts and a more elemental use of vegetables.

It will be interesting to see where such influences ultimately lead. However, at the moment, I still prefer to joy of the Med and the rambunctious flavours of Asia to the foraged basics of the North.

AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHY! fantastic taste > anythi...

2011-12-19T14:57:22.142+08:00

AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHY!

fantastic taste > anything else, in my book (but I am also superficial, so I love looking at them beautiful food, and i adore stories and concepts behind anything. howwww? can't we have it all?)

world's best anything...ahem...cough cough. but anyway, tonight you'll taste the world's best fish siu mai according to meeeeee hihihiyyy

Nice! I've been waiting for this post for a w...

2011-12-19T10:13:39.360+08:00

Nice! I've been waiting for this post for a while...

Since I didn't have the food, I can't pass judgement on it. But I would agree with you that food has to taste good first and foremost. If a restaurant can't dazzle your palate, then it doesn't deserve to be called a good restaurant. Philosophy, technique, presentation... blah blah blah.

El Bulli blew my mind becos the food tasted good AND they used interesting techniques that played with our preconceived notions about particular ingredients. But when you get down to it, it was the simplicity and purity of flavors that really got me.

Maybe one day I'll find time to make it to Denmark...