The Best Restaurant in the World

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Last month the San Pellegrino announced its list of the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2010.  This list is watched by gourmands all over the world and of course by chefs. Chefs love awards.  They need them.  Like actors, they need to be told often how great they are.  And trust me, these chefs, are more than great.  They are, simply, as the list says, the best. You can’t beat that.    (pictured here, Heston Blumenthal, Rene Redzepi, Ferran Adria) 

For the past few years The List has been lorded over by El Bulli.  Now I’ve been trying to get a reservation at this place for years. It’s a restaurant in Northern Spain and it is next to impossible to get in to.  Millions of people email the restaurant during the allotted time frame each year, and only 3000 eat in this restaurant every year.  And now, Feran Adria is planning to close the restaurant and open a culinary academy to train and teach.  It’s bound to happen.  The stresses and strains of running the ‘best’ restaurant in the World, year on year, must be enormous. 

Many years ago I worked with a Danish chef in France.  His name was Christian and he was a great chef.  It was he who told me about the then titled concept of ‘molecular gastronomy’…a title which many chefs eschew now, and rightly so really.  It’s cooking, just using different methods.  One chef, who is in Ireland actually, so I won’t name him, called it ‘emotional cooking’.  I’m too cynical for stuff like that.  So back to my story.  Christian told me of these ‘stirrings’ in the state of Denmark.  Even back then the Danes were on top of the changes in the way we cook and eat out.  So I’ve been keeping my eye on Denmark.  About two years ago I’d heard about this guy, Rene Redzepi who was doing great things in a restaurant called Noma.  I started to try to get a reservation, it was difficult, but not El Bulli difficult.  I got my reservation for June 15^th, 2010.  And then, last month, San Pellegrino announced their list.  El Bulli was kicked out of first place by Noma.  The very next day, Noma received 100,000 emails requesting a reservation.  In the nick of time I say, in the nick of time.  While Mr Redzepi holds first place, he will never have an empty seat in his restaurant.  And people will wait patiently for years to eat there.  I’m going there in two weeks time, and na na na na nah comes to mind. 

Noma is headed up by the 32 year old Rene Redzepi, who actually worked at El Bulli in the past.  His is a new kind of Nordic cuisine, but it is also a celebration of all things Nordic, from pickling to yes, Cod Sperm.  I read an article about a critic who went there for lunch and dinner in the same day, everything on the lunch menu was 3 years old, everything on the dinner menu was 3 hours old!  So they pickle, they brine, they dry and they smoke. They forage too, and each chef starts off his or her shift by foraging nearby for ingredients.  The restaurant is located dockside in an old shipping warehouse….so foraging around there must be very interesting. 

This month a great young chef I met whilst working in Chapter One will do a ‘stage’ (a work experience) at Noma.  I’m more than a bit jealous, but delighted to be able to get proper insider gossip. 

Last year I went to The Fat Duck in Bray in England, home to the weird wizard Heston Blumenthal.  It was an exceptional evening.  And it was seriously expensive, working out at about £350 stg per person.  Shocking, I know.  However, Noma, situated in one of the most expensive cities in the world, makes The Fat Duck visit look like a bargain.  I’ll be eating very cheaply for the rest of the summer….but it’s bound to be worth it….Tune in next month for the next instalment!

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