The story goes like this. We had booked a trip to Malmo in Sweden to visit a friend and spend a few days hanging out, eating good food and visiting some of the tourist sites in Malmo and also nearby Copenhagen.
Several months earlier, we attempted to book NOMA, then, the number one restaurant in the world, in around the time we would be visiting. Needless to say we did not get a booking, however, we were put onto a cancellation list along with probably a few million others, never thinking it would ever happen……
Cut to our hotel room in Malmo early morning and C gets a call on her phone from an unknown number, she answered, it was a call from NOMA, they had a cancellation for lunch and asked if we’d be interested in taking the reservation, no prizes for guessing what we did.
So rather than go into all the details of our trip to Malmo and Copenhagen which was fantastic, here’s a rundown of our experience in the amazing NOMA. You can also read about another NOMA related trip by jumping over here.
René Redzepi is credited with starting the explosion of Nordic cuisine around the world at a time when everything was still very much French, Spanish and Mediterranean, which were always seen as the stables of modern dining.
His idea was simple, use Nordic ingredients and elevate them to fine dining something the rest of the world had never seen before, needless to say, it shook the foundations of the culinary world and it was an outstanding success.
We arrived for our lunchtime slot and after getting the tourist type photo outside, we stepped in looking forward to our lunch. We were greeted by the very friendly staff, our coats were whisked away and we were show to our table. Part of the NOMA philosophy is to keep it casual, not need for the jacket and tie nonsense. The room is laid out with the finest of Nordic furniture which is very functional and comfortable. Once at our table we were informed not to worry about a menu as they don’t have them, just sit back relax and let us look after you.
We also decided to do wine pairing, when you’re all in, you’re all in. Our very first course was actually the plant type thing that was on the table, it was edible, very novel. What follows is a rundown of most of the courses…..
After nibbling on part of the plant, we got this spud which was called a Nordic coconut. It had a sweet coconut flavoured centre which tasted really nice.
This is actually crispy Pork skin with a blackcurrant glaze, tasted fab.
Shredded potatoes like a rosti with duck livers in the centre, really tasty.
This is dried carrots with a sorrel swirl. The carrots are resting on burnt hay. Combining the three different ingredients worked really well for this course.
These are pickled and smoked quail eggs, nothing special but they were ok.
This is Pike perch with cabbage and a dill dressing, really tasty.
Monkfish livers on a crisp bread. Not our favourite course, just not to our liking.
It may not look like it, but this is a potato course with fish roe, which worked really well.
This is beef rib and it’s cooked for 72 hours. It’s served with lingo berries. The meat was super tender, however we felt that the berries were that little bit too tart for out palate.
The centre of the leek is removed, then placed back in, the leeks are then charred on the BBQ which results in the centre been really smooth and tasty.
One of my favourite course, fermented onions and pears. May not seem like it should work, but it did and it was really tasty.
Not much to say really, it’s a doughnut with a fish going through it. It sort of worked……but we were not big fans fo this course.
Fish roe with lump fish and apple underneath. Reasonably tasty.
This is actually different coloured discs of cheese served with a berry jus – looks good, tasted ok.
Chocolate coated crisp breads.
This is a crab salad with lots of herbs and fermented potato, really tasty.
Some coffee to finish up along with some bread served with a herb flavoured salt and some pork fat on the side.
To finish. There were a few more courses consisting of little nibbles along with a really nice sourdough. Between all the food and the wine paring, the entire process took just over three hours to complete. While a lot of the dishes featured may not appeal to a lot of people, for us, the overall dining experience was excellent. Hopefully we get a chance again to enjoy NOMA at a later date.
Until next time.
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 