Noma Reopens, Minus Its Old Master
Copenhagen's storied restaurant returns next week with a new chef, a new menu rhythm, and allegations against its founder that rest on one account
By Beatrix "Marginalia" Vellum
For nearly two decades, Noma meant Rene Redzepi. The Copenhagen restaurant he co-founded reinvented what fine dining could look like -- foraged moss, ant vinegar, a Nordic pantry treated like a museum collection -- and in doing so it became one of the most decorated kitchens on Earth. Next week it reopens without him at the stove.
Redzepi stepped down amid accusations of physical and psychological abuse toward staff, according to the Guardian. A note on sourcing: these allegations rest on a single source, the Guardian's reporting. The American Times could not independently confirm the accounts, and Redzepi has not publicly responded to them as of this writing. We have no indication he or Noma was asked to comment in the reporting available to us, and we say so plainly rather than leave the impression of a denial, or a confirmation, that doesn't exist.
His successor as executive head chef is Pablo Soto, who has worked at Noma for nearly a decade and now inherits a restaurant trying to prove it can still be great without being cruel.
"It remains the same Noma," Soto told the Guardian, but he was clear that changes are real, not cosmetic. The kitchen is retiring its old seasonal menu -- the format that made Noma famous, built around three long stretches devoted to seafood, vegetables and game -- in favor of a menu that evolves monthly. More significant, he said, is a heightened focus on letting employees "live full lives," a direct answer to the culture the restaurant is trying to leave behind.
What that means in practice -- hours, pay, who has a say in the kitchen -- is not yet detailed in available reporting, and it's worth naming that gap plainly rather than filling it with guesswork. Noma's influence on restaurants worldwide, from Copenhagen to Melbourne, has always run through its kitchen culture as much as its cooking. Whether the new Noma can keep the ambition and shed the abuse will be the real test once the doors open and the tasting menus start arriving.
Worth your evening, or worth skipping -- I finished it so you'd know. This one, I'll be watching from the doorway.
— Compiled from reporting by The Guardian.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."