By Euronews with AP
Published on
René Redzepi had it all.
The Danish chef and co-founder of Noma led his restaurant to three Michelin stars and during his 23 years at Noma, the restaurant collected numerous accolades. These included topping the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List not once, but five times.
On top of wowing the culinary world with his innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, he even created and starred in a TV series, Omnivore, which was released on Apple TV+.
Now, as the restaurant reopens, he’s nowhere to be found.
Noma says it is beginning a “new chapter” with long-time chefs taking charge and a menu that will change monthly to focus even more on the seasonality of ingredients.
“It’s been crazy tough,” says new executive head chef Pablo Soto. “There’s been a lot of media attention and questions about what we’re doing, but we’re still here standing.”
What went wrong?
Abuse allegations
Redzepi had for years been dogged by reports of mistreatment of his staff, as well as his years long use of unpaid interns to staff the pricey restaurant.
Criticism came to a head just days before the opening of a Noma pop-up in Los Angeles. An article in The New York Times detailed several former employees’ accounts ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault at the hands of Redzepi and his deputies between 2009 and 2017.
The 48-year-old chef later apologised and announced his intention to “step away” in a tearful video posted to the restaurant’s Instagram page.
The restaurant declined to make Redzepi, who is now in a creative director role, available for an interview.
In an Instagram video, he said he was excited to see “fresh energy” come into the restaurant.
“What changes right now is the way he is allowing us to be more dynamic in the way we take decisions,” explains Soto.
Innovation and reinvention
Tom Sietsema, food correspondent for Washington-based news organization NOTUS, believes that Noma’s dedication to innovation and reinvention since its 2003 opening will help it weather the fallout. But only if its founder stays in the background.
“I think Noma can survive René Redzepi’s poor behaviour and egregiousness. I think that there remains curiosity about the restaurant,” says Sietsema. “I think he would be wise to sort of stay in the shadows in the distance a little bit.”
Soto says the restaurant is almost fully booked for its first three months, up until the end of October.
Guests will pay a set price of 6,500 Danish kroner (approx. €870) per head for the menu with wine pairing.
Soto says the restaurant conducted an internal audit, and there are “many systems in place” to make sure staff are happy and “can grow.”
“We’ve gone through a period of crisis,” he says. “This means we need to be much more attentive to each individual.”
Noma, a contraction of the Danish words for Nordic and food, opened in 2003 dedicated to “a simple desire to rediscover wild local ingredients by foraging and to follow the seasons.”
While previous offerings were shaped around three distinct seasons, the reopening will see chefs embrace constant change in the menu.
In the restaurant’s test kitchen, Mette Brink Søberg, the head of research and development, delicately tops a berry gazpacho dish with colourful flower petals, recently plucked from the nearby garden.
“We feel that now we’ve done this for so many years, we’ve really become experts in all the flavours, the techniques, the concepts,” Brink Søberg says. “I think we’re ready to take one step further.”
Goodbye to the stars
Redzepi’s fall from grace was hailed by some as a reckoning, in a professional environment which has often been stained by accusations of abuse.
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Soto believes the industry has evolved.
“People are more aware of what’s fair and what is not,” he says. “People are looking for a little bit more of stability, not only learning a skill, but also something that can mean their lives.”
Aside from Redzepi, another notable absence at the opening is the restaurant’s three Michelin stars. The third was awarded in 2021.
In May, the restaurant said it would not be part of this year’s Michelin Guide, saying it didn’t meet the guide’s requirements for being open long enough in 2026.
The Copenhagen location shut ahead of the Los Angeles pop-up and remained closed for much of the year.
Asked whether reclaiming Noma’s stars was a priority, Soto shrugs off the idea.
“For us, it’s not about a single marker of excellence. It’s about continuing to push what we’ve done in the past 23 years,” he says. “If this brings something by the door, we’re happy to receive it.”