NOMA

There’s no denying the pedigree of René Redzepi whose resume includes stints at some of the world’s finest gourmet temples like Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli and Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry. He can now count his own restaurant among that elite, as Noma was voted the world’s best restaurant by gourmet critics and fellow chefs in 2010.

However, it’s far from standard Michelin-star fare that’s served at the cosy converted warehouse by the canals. Just like LEGO, the famous Danish toymaker, Noma takes its name from the contraction of two Danish words that are at its essence: The kiddie bricks are named after leg godt (play well), while Noma is derived from nordisk mad (Nordic food) and bases its innovative cuisine around ingredients found naturally in the Nordic region.

Those ingredients include horse mussels and deep-sea crabs from the Faeroe Islands, wild salmon and seaweeds from Iceland, and lamb and musk ox from Greenland. There is – of course – some of the usual molecular wizardry, but the kitchen is also constantly fiddling with new ways to smoke, salt, dry, grill and pickle the most unlikely of morsels, whilst the chefs (who you can see working behind a glass partition) will tell you of their foraging forays down beaches and forests for random finds.

Sense-provoking and original rather than delicious may spring to mind to describe many of the courses, but take a deep breath and navigate your way through the seven-course menu, before washing it down with a slug of Gammel Dansk (a traditional bitter alcohol shot). Then retire to the separate drawing room with your coffee and cognacs and take in the beautiful view of the quay.

With only 12 tables, competition is fierce for a place. Bookings (and waitlist requests) are taken up to three months in advance, with lines opening at 10am on the 1st of each month.