Noma, Copenhagen

Noma is a Copenhagen restaurant and food innovation lab, founded by René Redzepi and Claus Meyer. Its cooking makes foraging and invention central to an interpretation of Nordic food. The name combines shortened forms of the Danish words for Nordic and food.

Opened in 2003, Noma became known internationally for an approach called New Nordic Cuisine, and Restaurant magazine ranked it Best Restaurant in the World in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2021. The restaurant now works from Refshalevej 96, after moving from Strandgade 93, where its earlier home occupied a waterfront warehouse. That warehouse stood beside the Greenlandic Trading Square, a historic centre for goods moving between Copenhagen and the North Atlantic, including dried fish, salted herring, whale oil, and skins.

Noma’s regular dinner service ended with a Kyoto residency on 18 December 2024. Its work continues through the food lab and occasional pop-up residencies, so this place represents not just a dining room but an ongoing effort to develop new ingredients, products, and techniques.