The New Noma: Frequently Asked Questions (Published 2018) (2024)

What is the “new Noma”?

It’s what the tasting-menu set calls the compound in Copenhagen where the chef René Redzepi recently transplanted the restaurant that invented New Nordic cuisine. The original Noma operated in a 1765 warehouse for dried fish and whale oil on a city pier from 2003 until February 2017. The new Noma served its first customers on Feb. 16, 2018.

Will I be able to get a reservation?

You might. Less than a day after its online ticketing system opened, in November, journalists, cooks, locals and destination-restaurant pilgrims from around the world had booked every seat through the end of April. This critic, not very quick on the draw, failed to get a table, but a former colleague who has written about Noma did, and offered a seat at his table. Sporadically, the restaurant seems to find additional space and puts new tickets up for sale. More usefully, the second batch of tickets, running through the end of September, has not quite sold out yet. A table for eight, in particular, is up for grabs on many dates.

Where is it?

The mailing address is Refshalevej 96, 1432 Copenhagen K, Denmark. More generally, the new Noma is in the part of the city called Christiania, where fortified walls were built on landfill in the 1600s to defend the city. The area was neglected until it was taken over by residents in 1971, first as a playground and then as the base of Freetown, an experimental anarchist community that proclaimed itself self-governing and self-sufficient. “It is so far the biggest opportunity to build a society from scratch,” one of the founders wrote. “For those who feel the beating of the pioneer heart there can be no doubt as to the purpose of Christiania.”

Does the pioneer heart still beat in Christiania?

Yes, despite continuing conflict over hashish vendors on Pusher Street. The Noma complex, parts of which were still behind plywood early this month, is an island within the island of Christiania. It is cordoned off by a chain-link fence through which you can see the closest neighbor’s home, a makeshift yurt in the woods. At the edge of the property is a pond where swans, mallards and coots paddle around. It is as if Mr. Redzepi had located Copenhagen’s back door and walked through it, carrying the restaurant with him.