As someone in the travel and food industry, it would be almost impossible to go throughout life without having heard of Noma. The (currently) two Michelin star restaurant located in Copenhagen, Denmark is run by chef René Redzepi and focuses on Nordic Cuisine,
Clearly I wasn’t alone in knowing about the restaurant, based on the number of people that filed into the cinema at the International Film Festival Rotterdam to watch the recent documentary, Noma: My Perfect Storm.
This isn’t the documentary you might expect it to be. Yes, there are beautiful images of creative and impeccably placed ingredients on a plate. And of course there are food tweezers and liquids being poured on the perfect spot. But that’s where the “pretty” side of Noma ends.
Interviews with staff (past and current) are crossed with interviews from suppliers, food critics, and specific media personalities. Footage of meal preparation going right, and wrong, are interrupted by “scandal” (the novovirus outbreak in 2013), disappointments (losing the Best Restaurant in the World title), and celebrations (winning Best Restaurant in the World). And the whole documentary provides plenty of time to get to know René Redzepi – from his struggles and experiences as a half-Danish, half-Macedonian in Denmark to his infectious desire to keep his team working together — and plenty of swearing in-between.
This is a documentary about the evolution of a restaurant, and the evolution of a chef. It would be almost impossible to walk out of the cinema without wanting to re-identify your own business one-two (for Noma, ensuring that each dish demonstrates where you are in the world and what time of the year it is). Or wanting to book a table. Either way, Noma: My Perfect Storm is sure to inspire.
Editor Note: “Noma will serve its final meal at the current location — an 18th century warehouse — on New Year’s Eve in 2016. Then it will move into what’s currently a graffiti-covered, derelict former navy building on the border of Christiania, with a tentative open set for mid-2017.” – The Guardian
Heather is a writer, photographer and explorer of the world with bylines in Archaeology Magazine, Porthole Cruise Magazine, Taste & Travel, amongst others. She is addicted to pen, paper, hotels, organisation and hippos. In addition to Travel Gluttons, you can find her over at Cloggie Central.
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