NOMA

noma January 29th 2013

noma
Strandgade 93
1401 Copenhagen K
Se kort
Tlf: +45 3296 3297
E-mail: noma@noma.dk 


Today was the day! I've been looking forward to this day since.. well I don't know, since Noma first had their world wide recommendations. 

I think it started back in 2009 when I was dining at Alain Senderen (take a look at review here) with my friend Lea. The waiter Pierre Royaux talked about his reservation at Noma in the fall the same year. And that got me thinking - If a French guy want to travel to DK to dine there's got to be something about it. 

And so it took me almost 4 years to make the decision.... 

It was impossible to get a reservation in the evening. Several times I tried to book but constantly I got the message that somebody else had my hour booked ahead. 

But finally that Monday in October 2012 I got through and had a confirmed reservation at Tuesday the 29th January 2013. 

It wasn't like I was SUPER excited because I had this feeling that somehow I would be disappointed.

Well.. take a look at the menu below. It’s long.

Appetisers 

Nordic coconut

Malt cracker and juniper

Moss and Karl-Johan fungi

Pork rinds & blackcurrant

Mussels & celery

Chessecookies, rocket and stems

Potato and gooseliver

Dried carrot and sorrel

Caramelized milk and cod liver

Pickled and smoked quail

Pore and cod roe

“Æbleskiver” and Muikko

Sorrel and plate snaps

Fresh milk curd and blueberry preserves

Dried scallops and beech

Biodynamic grains and watercress

Sea urchin toast

Beets and plums

Cauliflower and pine

Cream and horseradish

Pike perch and cabbages

Verbena and dill

Wild duck and pear

Kale and beech leaves

Old Danish

Brown cheese and sloe berries

Treats

Potato Chocolate chip

Caramel marrow

Wine

2008 Brut Nature

Andre Beaufort

Ambonnay, Champagne

2010 vin de Table Rosé

Alexandre Jouveaux

Uchizy-Mâcon

2010 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine ”Expression de Granite”

Guy Bossard

Nantes-Loire

2011 Grande Charme

Domaine Alice Beaufort

Prusly-sur-Ource – Champange

2009 Vitovska

B. Zidarich

Prepotto-Praprot-Friuli

2011 Saint Romain

Sarnin-Berrux

Saint Romain- Bourgogne

2010 Torroja

Terrior al Limit (Domenik Huber)

Torroja-Priorat

2011 Riesling Spätlese “Bemmer Calmont”

Weingut Laurentiushof

Bremm-Mosel

2010 Rosé d’un jour

La  Ferme de la Sansonniere (Mark Angeeli)

Anjou-Loire

We arrived a little early due to the public transportation, changed shoes and got to our seat. I had heard that Noma was a small restaurant only with space for 30-40 people, but it was still very spacious and very comfortable. We got a quick introduction to what was about to happen – the menu, the wine etc

The waiter served a superb glas of Champagne from the biodynamic producer André Beaufort. As I remember on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and by far the (two) best glass of champagne I have ever had. It was very simple in its nature but still with complicated structures and a fresh taste of acid. 

For the champagne we had 13 different appetizers. 

Nordic Coconut 

I'm not going detailed through every single one of them, but instead let you enjoy the pictures. 

I was very impressed about the first one which was a warm soup of vegetables inside a raw potato. Of course with edible straws. The soup was flavored with among other things chamomile. 

Malt crackers & juniper

Yes we had to eat  some of the  table decorations. Small sticks of malt crackers were hidden between the flowers.  

Continuing with the "woodland theme" we had two small dried mass with powdered Karl-Johan. Probably one of the best appetizers with this crunchy moss and the tastefull Karl-Johan











Pork rinds and leather of blackcurrant. Very fluffy and maybe a little too sweet for my taste. But the gelé or leather of blackcurrant was very accurate made.






You might be able to see the mussel in this picture - there is two closed shells. The upper shell was real but the lower was edible.
A very tasteful and absolutely fresh mussel with celery.

Small cheese cookies with green rocket and stems. Small but indeed you could taste the high quality of the stems - VERY fresh!









Very accurate fried potato noodles/strings made like a sandwich with delicious goose liver indside.

Dehydrated carrots - You had to dip the carrot into the green sorrel and back in the.. I think it was burned sorrel dust.









Small salty smoked softboiled quails - simply and perfect!

Crackers with ice cold cod liver! A bit too rich, but that is just how cod liver is.











Funny little things they make on NOMA. This one was "Æbleskive" with Muikko and cucumber inside. 

Sorrel with beetroot  and locusts (The waiter said, but we couldn't identify it). The Sorrels was stuck into ice so you had to break of a leaf and grap some of the frozen plate snaps with it.
Very fresh!

Burnt pore with cod roe. We had to open 
the pore in the middle and with a spoon dig our the finest small squares of pore and cod roe.
Very intelligent and just nice to eat.










Well - and at this point we really felt we had had a lot of different tastes but really this was just the beginning.

First course on the menu was Fresh milk curd and blueberry preserves and fresh spices (I think thyme).

Underneath the blueberry preserves and sauce there was the smoothest fresh milk curd. A very mild start of accompanied with the best glas of Rosé I've ever had.


Vin de Table Rosé from Alexandre Jouveaux in Mâcon. It had this rich bouquet/parfum which I've never smelled before in just an deep and thoroughly way. It was like juice... nah wait every wine is like juice.
Well - I really hope I will run into that bottle again!





I was very impressed by next course - How can they make such tastefull and yet so accurate scallops. Well the answer is - Freeze down the fresh scallops and cut them into very thin slices and dry them in your dehydrator at 82 degrees in 12-14 hours. 


Beech - watercress and grains. Super combination with the scallops.
A sweet but not too sweet  Muscadet Sècre et Maine from Loire was accompanying the dish. 

A   little extra between the  courses. Sea urchin  toast and as the waiter said "If we move into the more technical parts this is the genitals of the Sea urchin" Well, good we got that settled. 

It was super exciting and very tasteful! 

 When I look at this picture now it's crazy bad.
But the course was really delicious. But the beetroot with plums and fennel/apple consomé was terrific! Very complex taste.
Together with Grande Charme from Champagne. Made on 75% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Noir the color was still white/yellow but with a little red/pink warmth. It had very expressive aromas and this rich exeptionality. 

Cauliflower and pine, cream and horseradish. Very classic course in Scandinavia. It was superb, but somehow a cheap one to make. The wine was on the other side great! 

It was 2009 Vitovska, B. Zidarich from Prepotto-Praprot-Friuli. 

Yellow, Lifted, open aromas of sweet apricots and berries and yet a touch of citrus this full-body wine is light on it's feet. 

The prettiest course on the menu - I still haven't figured out how the make such a pretty line with the sauce.
This one was pike perch and cabbages with verbena and dill. The fish was cooked to perfection. And just take a look at it once agaian... isn't it a pretty one.

 Above the main course of the menu - duck with pear. Fantastic combination that I have never seen before.
A light - but still spanish Priorat was served. The only glas of redwine in the menu but that indeed suited the menu.

First dessert of two - Old Danish as they said.
A rich creamy ice with some fresh green sauce of herps and old danish.
With absolutely the best glas of Riesling spätlese I've ever had.
Yellow, the palate was sweet but with minerals, touch of vanilla. The nose was honey, rhubarb, peech. Perfect finish.

The last one - Brown cheese and sloe berries. Very cold and delicious. 
The browncheese was super creamy, and also one of the more pretty meals. 


Also with a great wine -
2010 Rosé d’un jour, La Ferme de la Sansonniere (Mark Angeeli)

Rich, dark berries, made of carbernet franc. 

Blackberries,

Coffee and petit four - chocolate chip potatoes and caramel marrow in the little package.












So that was (almost!) the ending of a super lunch. The waiters had been great - they were there when you needed them or else they were invisible. Well, not exactly invisible - we had some laughter with a couple of them.
We were both surpriced how large a part of the staff who were foreign, so sometime the presentation of food got a little too fast, but it was ok.
So a service that was technically perfect but still with a "danish coziness".
Finally, we had a tour around the house and the kitchen departments.

It is really hard to rank a restaurant like Noma because it was way beyond my imagination, but I always think that there is ways to improve.
So to conclude -  for the exeptional wine menu, the creative menu combination and variety, nice interior design and for the comfortable, sweet, professional and funny service I give noma 5 out of 6 Bloc De Foie Gras. 
Why don't the worlds best restaurant get 6 out of 6? Well to be honest I was not fully satiated when we left but in defence of that - it might not be the purpose to be satiated but to enrich the senses, but still.... 
I actually thought it went just a tiny little bit too fast, and it got a little rushy in the end when we had to get the tour in the kitchen because the restaurant were closing. And then I had actually hoped that René Redzepi would walk around the restaurant and say hello to the guests. 
But this is all tiny issues... but there has to be a distinction between 5 and 6 Bloc De Foie Gras. :-)