First Look: Noma’s Plant KingdomThe 2018 Vegetable Season
Restaurant Noma in Copenhagen just opened their second season, which runs from today, June 26th, through September 15th. The vegetable season features no meat or seafood whatsoever. Major spoiler alert! If you would rather be surprised when you sit down to eat yourself – stop reading now. Instead, you can check my review of the seafood season of Noma 2.0. Below is the first look at Noma’s plant kingdom with all the dishes pictured. These photos were shot during a test dinner. Update: Read my full review here.
Looking for more great spots for food and drinks in Copenhagen? Check out our city map of Copenhagen!
When you are lucky enough to have dined at some of the best restaurants around the world, few meals will leave you truly mind-blown. A meal may be good, even great, but often it will be a variation of something you’ve had before. However, there are a few dinners that I remember as game changers. My first meal at Geranium was one of them. Rasmus Kofoed elevated food to art in a way that I had not experienced before. Chefs like Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana in Italy, and Gaggan Anand of Gaggan in Bangkok, both took storytelling to a new level and their personalities added an extra dimension to the dining experience. Noma has always been unique to me. Especially their style of service, making you feel like you’re welcomed into their home as a friend – if only for a short period.
While I don’t really like the question: What is the best meal you have ever had? For a while now, at least, I’ll feel like I have an answer. The vegetable menu at Noma is totally mind-blowing, extremely interesting, and a taste explosion from start to finish. I had a good feeling I would enjoy the plant kingdom even more than seafood season, but in hindsight, it was impossible to be properly prepared for this meal. Noma is doing something brand new with vegetables and even the progression of the meal, and I think they once again will inspire others to follow. Enjoy!
Magma broth (broth of potato and elderflower)Flower tart: A tart shell of potato with nasturtium, lovage, and rose. Fruit leather: A fruit leather of sea buckthorn, carrot, and blackcurrantWhite asparagus and pickles: white asparagus with saffron salt, pine cones and pickles (pickles: candied pine cones seasoned with seaweed, large pine cone (from Douglas Fir), elderflower, marjoram and lemon thyme).Interior details of Noma. Everything has been updated to match the colors and produce of the vegetable seasonSeaweed tart: sugar kelp tart filled with a herb paste and different seaweedsThe Noma welcomeCucumber dolma: A dried cucumber skin filled with a herb paste and cucumber fleshChefs hard at work in the open kitchen of NomaSmoked quail’s egg with a ‘chorizo’ of plum and rose hipThe new path leading up to the restaurantGrilled morels in a maitake broth (the paste inside the morels is a brown butter and beech nut paste)Marigold flowers and whisky: Fried marigold flowers with a sauce of egg yolk and whiskyPeas: Peas in a juice of the husk and whipped creamStrawberry ‘ceviche’: fruit and vegetables of the season (red / green strawberries, wild strawberries, fava beans, marinated turnips, dried tomatoes, plums with different seeds and shootsManon, High Paradise, Adelaide Hills, South AustraliaFlatbread: A grilled flatbread with radishes, rhubarb, sunflower seed paste and Morita chili.Milk skin and truffle: Fried milk skin filled with fresh cheese with trufflesA little bite of heavenNoma’s own beerSummer broth: Chilled broth of cloudberries and bees wax with flowers of the season, seasoned with rose bee pollenPumpkin seed tofuPheasant’s Tears, Rkatsiteli, GeorgiaServing the pumpkin seed tofu on top of walnut moleImagine regular tofu, but silky smooth and fluffyWalnut mole with grasshoppers, pumpkin seed tofu and barbecued rose petalsCeleriac Shawarma “Al Pastor” with apples (Nordic pineapples?)Celeriac Shawarma: Caramelized layers of celeriac and truffles, steamed greens, white currants and grilled appleThe perfect sourdough bread from Richard HartMaria aka @vanlosebluesInterior details of Noma in the plant seasonBerries and cream: Whitecurrant filled with a hip berry fudge folded into a parcel. Served with wild wood sorrel and oxalis leaves, with cream.The main dining hall of Noma 2.0Mold pancake: Ice-cream sandwich – a pancake made from molded barley filled with a plum kernel ice-cream.Can you see the fluff?Time for coffee and petits fours
Rose terracotta: Potted plant cake
Plant cake cut in half
A summer fresh cocktailView towards the test kitchen of Noma 2.0Maria had the vegan menu and this is how happy she feltThe entrance area of Noma 2.0The coffee lounge of Noma 2.0
Are you looking forward to the vegetable season? Leave a comment below.
Hungry for more?
Connect with us daily by joining our food community, The Hungries, and follow us on social media for more food inspiration!
Everything looks amazing, but what do grasshoppers count as? Isn’t it still “meat”?
Haha, good question. Did not think about that.
That looks insane! Awesome!
I know, it was! 😀
It is a brilliant report with great pictures, but the niggling question of making reservations remains (if indeed such a super-human feat is within reach of mere mortals without tying oneself into multiple knots and turning over your first born to achieve it . . .).
Haha. Well, apart from this test dinner, I booked my table at Noma in a regular way. Just make a note of the dates they open the new season in your calendar, sit ready when the tickets are launched, and grab a table quickly. Not too difficult, but you have to plan it.
I totally agree! Our dinner the other night was also brilliant so i would highly suggest everyone to find some friends and book an 8 if they are still around. Hoping for a sunny summer so the wait for game-&forest won’t feel too long.
I want to go!
Nine too!
Beautiful. Thank you for posting!
My pleasure 🙂
Everything looks amazing, but what do grasshoppers count as? Isn’t it still “meat”?
Haha, good question. Did not think about that.
That looks insane! Awesome!
I know, it was! 😀
It is a brilliant report with great pictures, but the niggling question of making reservations remains (if indeed such a super-human feat is within reach of mere mortals without tying oneself into multiple knots and turning over your first born to achieve it . . .).
Haha. Well, apart from this test dinner, I booked my table at Noma in a regular way. Just make a note of the dates they open the new season in your calendar, sit ready when the tickets are launched, and grab a table quickly. Not too difficult, but you have to plan it.
I totally agree! Our dinner the other night was also brilliant so i would highly suggest everyone to find some friends and book an 8 if they are still around. Hoping for a sunny summer so the wait for game-&forest won’t feel too long.
Exactly! That’s what I’m telling everyone.
We have reservations next month-can’t wait!
Awesome, enjoy!