Turning Japanese

Famed chef and innovator Rene Redzepi of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Noma– ranked number one in the world since 2010- has been producing food that is unmatched, eleven years in. The 36-year old Scandinavian is married with three young daughters, but his latest baby happens to be his biggest and most anticipated upcoming endeavor which is Noma’s pop-up in Japan. Beginning January 9, and lasting through February 14, Redzepi and 60 of his staff members- including his Gambian head dishwasher- will relocate to Tokyo to serve a brand-new 14-course menu- $375 per person- in a dining room they’ve rented in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. There are 50,000 people currently on the waiting list where the 112 people who eat at Tokyo Noma everyday- two seatings, 56 guests at each- will be eating dishes that literally contain several months’ worth of flavor, just as Copenhagen Noma.

Redzepi has made a policy of trash cooking, in which almost nothing that comes into the kitchen gets thrown away, every part of a food is processed into something useful: skins, seeds, membranes and guts. In Japan, he’s not going there to copy his Nordic cuisine or even copy Japanese food. He wants to try something new and be challenged. And he’s ambitious… as he’s gunning for three Michelin stars even though he’ll only be open in Tokyo for a little over a month. Novel ingredients have been discovered after many hours of foraging in the Nagano area: Japanese ants have been procured, mountain grapes are in abundance, wild kiwis are on the list. Five kinds of wood are being processed into oils and broths. Larvae from lethal hornets will be turned into sauce. Venison tongue has been sourced, as has horse meat, but the menu is being kept mainly vegetarian to stay in line with the idea of being in Japan, but still being Noma. California Rolls will definitely be nowhere in sight. www.noma.dk