No more Noma

 

I see Noma is about to close. That's the restaurant in Copenhagen that's normally reckoned to be the world's best. There's all sorts of blather about why from the chief chef, but nobody doubts that it's down to money - running costs, of course, but also the fact that eating a meal there will cost you at least £415. Each. Plus wine. 

So it's no surprise that the first time I was sent to Copenhagen for, er, work, although I stayed in a (charming) hotel just across the harbour from Noma, I was sent elsewhere for my dinners. I still wasn't slumming it, though, gastronomically speaking - one restaurant, Koeford, that I ate at featured foods from the island of Bornholm, imaginatively served like, for example, in a preserving jar full of smoke. Yes, yes, pretty standard stuff these days, but in 2011 it was strikingly innovative.

It was ages since I'd been to Denmark, and I was so delighted to get to walk around Copenhagen's gorgeous streets, soak up some of its history, go ga-ga over the Lego - it was late November, and the Santa was very impressive - and generally have a lovely time over my all-of-three-nights visit. But, maybe before flitting back again down to the opposite end of the planet, instead of publicising that new flight route, I should have paid a bit more attention, eh, to the protest that was taking place in the town square. About climate change...