The menu is a set 4-course dinner at 495 Danish Krone (DK) which is approximately £56.  Additional 3 or 4 glass wine pairings are available at an extra 295DK (£33) or 325DK (£37) respectively.  Wine is natural and unfiltered, just as the Vikings used to have and not knowing the choices very well, we thought the best thing was to simply try the additional four glasses of wine to see what the score was.  Details of the wine were sketchy to gain, but In short, the wines were:

• 1st wine Chilliean Muscat
• 2nd wine Silvana from Germany
• 3rd wine Sancerre
• 4th wine Chenin Blanc

Incidentally, the island of Læsø is famed for its salt thanks to the routine floods it receives from the sea every year which are then filtered by the soil and sourced through wells.  Vester is Western and Øl is beer and for design reasons the ‘beer’ is capitalised for the restaurant name to be different.

The meal started with nibbles of fermented seeds, fermented carrots, juniper and a duck snack.  Although these were a touch salty, they were pleasant snacks to open up with.  More snacks followed with tartare of beef, with savoy cabbage and pepper root, which was fair, but essentially had more leaf than beef.  A Spring roll with fermented cabbage, roasted garlic and curry was the absolute winner with its garlic dip on the side.

Whitebait came with panko dried and roasted buttercream,  tomato dust and fermented seeds.  The sauce was a redcurrant sauce with lemon verbena & grape, chicken skin and snow crab which was very good.  The oat bread was nice but very plain so more salt in the butter would have been a good uplift here.

New fresh potatoes from Laesoe were sautéed in miso, potato purée, salted speck, sunflower seeds, parsley, pearl onions, clams, sauce of clams and cheese aged in hay.  This was a good combination when tried altogether and the potatoes themselves creating a lovely puree which was well made (velvety smooth and with good fat ratio).

Catfish from north of Laesoe was wrapped in lard and served with a frankly knock out couple of sauces.  Once sauce was creamed and made with caramelised bone with milk powder & another a reduction of plums and onions.  The new peas were marinated in avocado sauce and sea fennel and this dish was the star of the meal.  The catfish itself was wonderfully succulent and the compliments of sauces were brilliant.  Bravo Thomas.

The sweet was a cream cookie crumble with fermented cube of ice with beer and chocolate candy floss.  This was perhaps a little too sweet overall, but hats off for the innovative design.  Prior to this final course, there was a spectacular sunset to admire which a couple of us non-native islanders had to have a good look at.  Because it is such a beautiful location in general and so simple I have included more photos than usual of the area.

They do in fact sum up what this experience as like – utterly charming and a little treat of a place.  I loved the way the chef and his staff were very good with customers, easy and natural to talk to and no pretence associated with the meal in general. Many of the islanders came to sit at the quayside just outside the restaurant to admire the sunset too and the garden area outside the restaurant also has a lovely fireplace for everyone to gather around at with drinks whenever they wish.

What a superb restaurant and lovely dinner experience all round, heightened by the company and occasion that it was.

What I have pleasure in describing, is that from the moment we entered, it was obvious we were in the hands of utter experts who simply gave every confidence from the start that this was going to be a great day.  From the breeze like ease we were greeted and immediately escorted to the reception area for a lovely glass of English sparkling wine, to being shown the wine collection and then being greeted by the three chefs who had joined forces for this special occasion, it was delightful all the way.  The three chefs were: Rasmus Kofoed (head chef Geranium), Esben Holmboe Bang (head chef Maemo, Oslo) and Eneko Atxa (head Chef Azurmendi, Spain).  All three chefs hold the holy grail accolade of 3 Michelin stars therefore having 9 Michelin starred food in one sitting was pretty wonderful in itself.   

All the wines chosen were absolute jackpots as well and again, there wasn’t a single one I didn’t think was great(!).  It is very hard to pick the best bits of this meal in general when they were all so good be it the tender fish in lightly fried batter and sticky, pepper jus; the brilliant mini breads to be dipped in the soured cream with herbs; the fabulous egg yolk with truffle or the sublime artichoke leaf crisps with rye vinegar mayonnaise.  All had grace, power moments of flavour and were yet so uncomplicated.  I felt like Mozart in Amadeus simply cyring out: “Why can’t I have 3 heads…..?!”.

This was a truly exeptional meal, brilliantly conceived and also executed to the highest standards that they can be.  I was glowing with happiness throughout this entire experience and the more I look back on it, the more I realise just how special this one was.  You are probably wondering about the price tag – the £400 per head (all in) for this occasion, will be eye-watering to some, but as a 9 Michelin starred meal and an experience that I will rememember for the rest of my life and for what it was, at this level, it is frankly something I would pay in my sleep.

This was nothing short of perfection – thank you Steve & Noah Plotnicki for constructing, Rasmus, Esben, Eneko, Soren for delivering brilliantly, my senses for exploding as they did and to Mr ‘Bainbridge’ for joining me on this life time memory of an occasion.

Noma takes its inspiration from three main seasons with an emphasis of seafood in the winter, foliage in the spring / hotter months and products from the forest floor bed in the Autumnal months.  I dined in the cross-over of winter to spring for my meal in May and had a colourful blend of seafood and vegetables and that’s probably the first aspect noticed: that of the menu’s heavy dependence on vegetables.  As a carnivore I naturally find vegetables on their own as a little boring and it is equally difficult to make these exciting but there is no denying how truly imaginative these vegetable dishes were at Noma having had months of preparation for many components.

There were some absolutely lovely dishes here including the radish tartlets, each tiny radish coil holding droplets of a delightfully subtle radish vinaigrette, all on top of a base made from ground seaweed – absolutely delightful.  The fresh garlic shoots with yeast coating was the closest thing to tasting like steak that one can imagine and they were delectably light yet powerful in flavour.  I adored the king crab with egg yolk sauce which was perfectly salty and the sterilised, deep fried and spray painted chocolate moss dessert was also truly lovely.

Sadly however, there were courses which I genuinely thought were a bit too much, either being too heavy in floral elements, tasting over perfumed (pancake puffs) or simply not actually pleasant to my great surprise (lobster with rose oil and turbot bones with fat and pickled rose petals).  This hasn’t happened in quite a while (to be actually turned off slightly) and was surprising to happen at a Restaurant world champion.  Much discussion at our table of 8 ensued over this and all those present, bar one or two little ‘favourite’ differences, were actually in agreement about some of the dishes actively not working for them as well.  My take is that if the perfume notes on the dishes mentioned were toned down, it would have been far better.  The wines and champagne I had were also all a little too sour for my palate as well which was a surprise.

HOWEVER, the overall effect was very good and this was an immaculate operation: from the way every staff member there greeted all of us on entry, to add to the special occasion it was, the extremely slick service (one of the best I have been privy to) and the wonderful tour afterwards of absolutely everywhere.  It was special no doubt with some fanfare moments of food but sadly this was combined with some surprisingly strange / dislike moments at the same time and the latter moments tend to stick in the memory banks.

There was probably a smidgen of over expectation on my part (the ants dish being fine but no fireworks) but the net result was me walking away very pleased to have gained the T-shirt and a reasonable desire to go back at some point in the future to see the difference in its new form when it is unveiled from next year.  A lovely tick in the box to complete and without a doubt an experience.

Noma will complete its last service on 31 Dec 16 prior to its site move and re-open in the spring of 2017.