Rene Redzepi, chef and co-owner of noma in Copenhagen, has revealed the restaurant will pop-up in Mexico in April next year.
In September 2015, Redzepi announced that noma – at the time the third best restaurant in the world – would close and reopen as a new farm-come-restaurant concept. In a recent email to his restaurant’s followers, Redzepi said planning for the new site is well underway, and that “the last drawings are being finished up.”
Before the team sets up at its new home, it will undertake a residency in Mexico from 12 April to 28 May, 2017.
Redzepi said he considers Mexico to be his “adopted home” and that the Copenhagen restaurant is already influenced by Mexican flavours.
“Home to one of the most exciting cuisines I have ever tasted: as old as time and yet so relevant. Full of ingredients I never knew existed. This cooking inspires the team and I constantly here in Copenhagen. It is safe to say that there is already a touch of influence from Mexico in the food at noma,” he said.
The noma Mexico pop-up will be a collaboration between Redzepi and friend and former sous chef at noma, Rosio Sanchez, who operates a taqueria called Hija de Sanchez.
“The creativity of the menu will be a joint endeavor. As one of the most talented chefs we know, and with Mexican roots herself, she will be a great guide for us as we delve into this culture and learn from it,” Redzepi said.
“For the last six months, Rosio, a small team and I have been traveling all throughout the country from Merida to Ensenada, from Oaxaca to Guadalajara, and everywhere in between. We searched to find that special chile, to understand the seafood, to taste just a few of the infinite variations of mole, and to find inspiration in the vast and wonderful culture. We encountered some of the most kind and hospitable people to be found anywhere in the world. These were once in a lifetime experiences, which we will transform into a series of dishes and ultimately our menu at our restaurant in Mexico.”
The outdoor open-air restaurant will be located in Tulum, and everything on the menu will be cooked over fire. The menu will cost $US600 per person plus tax (16 percent) and service (nine percent) and will include beverage pairing, water and tea/coffee.
Bookings for Noma Mexico will open on Tuesday, 6 December.
This is not noma’s first pop-up. In January this year the team relocated to Barangaroo in Sydney for 10 weeks, offering a menu comprising wattleseed porridge; Albany snow crab with egg yolk cured in fermented kangaroo; sun-dried tomatoes served with sea urchin and pepperberries; and abalone schnitzel.
In 2015 noma set-up in Tokyo for five weeks, with more than 60,000 people making a booking at the Mandarin Oriental, where the pop-up seated 56 people and offered a menu made up of 20 courses.
