Hmmmm we
had been looking forward to this magical night when we were to dine at the best
restaurant in the world for a long time, and how could you not?
After fighting
for a table in a way only matched by tickets to see the hottest of stars in the
music world we finally got a table for the day before my birthday …. Trust me
I’d rather try to get tickets for Justin Bieber!
The stage
was set for a fine evening as we drank a glass of cava before leaving home.
I had asked
several people who had been there before and got every kind of opinion, from “a
circus where the guest is the clown, as the chefs delight themselves and their
colleges with smoke and amazing effects more to their own delight when to that
of the guest” to “the most sublime experience of my life – cant wait to go
back” ... both statements from people who are used to go out to nice places and
who’s opinions I trust…
The most precise description turned out to be by my
chiropractor of all people: “Do not look upon this as going out to a dinner,
you might very well be hungry afterwards, look at it more as going to a
spectacular show”. - I will say this much, we were not hungry afterwards, no way near, but on the other hand, we did not come all starved either.
We had come
by some money that we did not expect and so we decided to go with an open mind
and spend the 5000 kr. that an evening @ Noma runs you, including wine and herb
tee.
When we got
there -10 minutes before the set time (7 pm) we walked in and were immediately
greeted by the host who while escorted us to our table. Here we where served by
a host of friendly waiters who guided us through the evening in the most
amazingly professional, though friendly way. There is indeed one staff pr. guest our main waiter told us.
This is an importing point as everything is done by hand, in house and to
perfection, demanding and army of devoted people working for hours to create
the spectacle we were to witness.
First we got a long line of appetizers / finger
foods all of them beautiful works of art and none of them were what they
appeared to be …. From the classics which we had hear about before – the vase
of flowers where two of the twigs making up the bouquet were eatable…. and the
pot of carrots planted in eatable “dirt” to pickled ants crushed and used in a
sort of sauce… I always though that if I was to taste ant or grasshopper it
would be in Thailand, not in Copenhagen and several times during the dinner
were we reminded of the 3 witches from Macbeth:
…THIRD WITCH:
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch's mummy, a gulf-like stomach,
Of the rough sea salt glisten,
Root of poison hemlock dug up in the dark,
Liver of Christians not baptized,
Gall bladder of goat, and slips of pine trees
Cut off the tree when the moon eclipsed,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Finger of a baby born dead
Delivered in a ditch by a prostitute,
Make the gruel thick and gooey.
Also add a tiger's guts,
For the ingredients of our caldron.
ALL:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire, burn; and caldron, bubble…
All things wired and wonderful seamed to have
found its way into the kitchen. This is not to say that we did not enjoy the
spectacle put on for us, but more that it was much more of a feast for the eyes
when for the taste buds.
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, the chef from
Beringer vineyards once said during a class on wine and food pairing:
If you do
not like a wine, someone actually wanted it to taste that way (assuming nothing
is actually wrong with the wine), you may not like it but it reflects a
conscious choice from their side.
Same thing with Noma, you can not blame
someone for setting out to do something and doing it sublimely, it is
absolutely fair to believe that they are indeed the worlds best at what they
do, it is just not my thing.
After the appetizers a long line of mains and
desserts followed in a perfect pace.
Everything was as well choreographed as a
ballet, but still in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Just as my friend jokingly had commented to me "Is this one of those places where you should have ordered potatoes on the side?"- they arrived.
But thanks, in no small part to my
chiropractor, I knew what to expect and so I had a great evening. At the end of
the evening we were given a real treat, one of the newest chefs showed us
around the kitchen and introduced us to the staff, while explaining about the
whole process. Considering the stories about Rene’s (the head chefs) bad temper
and his hysteric fits of rage, that has been all over the press, the young man
seamed almost to set on telling us what an amazing atmosphere the place had and
how they were all one big happy family. One the other hand I must say the
kitchen was filled with smiles and upbeat music.
My conclusion is this – if you have the money
and you wanna see what the best of the best LOOKS like, by all means go, but if
you are looking for value for money and a great meal, I’d go somewhere else.
This was hammered home, by the fact that we had a meal today at a small
Moroccan place, which cost us 59 kr. and had us smile in a way Noma was no way
near….. to quote my friend “how clever of you to braise a neck of veal to
perfection, shred it to atoms and put it back together again in a way that made
it look like a fur ball and taste of nothing whatsoever,…. But why do it?” call
me ignorant and uncultured, so be it! Foodieboy knows what he likes, and Noma
just ain’t it!