Copenhagen’s top-rated restaurant Noma has sold every single one of its seats for its 10-week Australian residency – in just four minutes.
Diners could book lunch or dinner for two, four, six or eight people when Noma’s booking website went live this morning. All the tables from January 26 until April 2 next year, priced at 485AUD per head (around 2,330kr), sold out despite the menu not yet being released.
Pop-ups proving popular
Noma’s chef and co-owner Rene Redzepi has overseen the restaurant since it opened in 2003, including winning the coveted World’s Best Restaurant accolade in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014. Redzepi was also voted International Chef of the Year in 2008 and was made one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2012.
The upcoming transition to Australia follows Noma’s hugely successful pop-up in Tokyo earlier this year. The five-week run had a waiting list of 60,000 people and served dishes including rice ice cream, chocolate-dipped mushrooms and ants. Noma also held a short pop-up at London’s world-famous Claridge’s luxury hotel during the 2012 Olympics.
Local ingredients of course
Redzepi has made several trips to Australia to research the menu, which will include Australian ingredients native to Barangaroo – the area of Sydney that Noma will move to. The full details of the menu are expected to be revealed early in the new year.
There is a waiting list on Noma’s website for those who missed out on a reservation, but Danish diners will probably have to make do with blogs and photos online rather than go long-haul dining in the hope that someone else cancels a reservation.
Noma sent out emails to subscribers earlier this week announcing “an overwhelming amount of interest”. A Noma Sydney spokesman has since said diners who missed out on a table will be encouraged to sign up to the waiting list “when it becomes available”.
