May 31, 2018

keeler adventures // denmark (noma).


well, I'm ruined for all past and future meals. 

as a steadfast fan of great food stories and over-the-top adventuring, I've long followed rene redzepi and his mythical restaurant. 

noma

nestled in a tiny corner of copenhagen and with a lengthy stay at the top of any list of the world's best restaurants, it was a place I never really thought I'd visit. four years ago on my first trip to denmark, the closest we got was brushing past the entrance on a boat ride through the city. 

because, you see, dining at noma is not as much about the food (but it's definitely about the food) as it is about the experience. the getting there. the being there. you've got to work for it. 

this year, with weddings to celebrate, we were headed back to denmark. with four years between visits, redzepi had shuttered the doors of the original noma and was reincarnating it nearby in quirky christiania. with less than 48 hours in copenhagen at the start of our adventure, the window was small, but we knew we had to try. 

alarms were set to wake us in the middle of the night in the pursuit of an elusive seafood season reservation.  

an adventurous friend was talked into flying across continents to spend 72 hours in copenhagen just to be our fourth diner. 

pep talks were given to mom (and instastories of live sea cucumbers hidden) to get her prepared. 

flights with no room for error were booked. we landed with an hour to spare and zero minutes of sleep between us. 

before we knew it, it was over. pete wells can paint the picture of the experience far better than I can. 

the humans, the food, the building. the warmest of welcomes. the coziest of rooms. I will never not be in awe of the experience. making eye contact with the 38 or so other diners was always met with a near imperceptible glimmer of a person trying to be cool and contain themselves amidst the most special of circumstances. 

at one quiet point between raw jellyfish and sea cucumber gonads, I overheard one of the waiters speaking to a table nearby. they were gushing about some magical dish or another, and the waiter crouched down and said with a grin "we know how hard it is for people to get here. we know how long they wait. we just want it to be something really special". 

and something special it truly was. 



































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