René Redzepi, the world’s most celebrated chef, opened Noma in his native Copenhagen at the age of 25, with a cuisine that reflects his locality.

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The Leadership Code of René Redzepi

Redzepi is the world’s most celebrated chef. He could not have had a better education. His apprenticeship was served in two of the world’s greatest restaurants – Catalonia’s el Bulli and California’s The French Laundry.

Under the guidance of the great Ferran Adria he developed a passion for experimentation, and a love of seasonal ingredients. In Napa Valley he was instilled with a commitment to working with local suppliers.

In 2003, aged 25, he opened Noma in his native Copenhagen (an abbreviation of the words “Nordic” and “mad”, which means food in Danish). He wanted to create a cuisine that represented the environment in which he found himself, giving rise to the term “new Nordic cuisine.”

Redzepi sought to develop a cuisine that reflected the soil, topography and climate of the place. He says “All of the people who work in the kitchen with me go out into the forests and on to the beach. It’s a part of their job. If you work with me, you will often be starting your day in the forest or on the shore because I believe foraging will shape you as a chef.”

From this a 10-point New Nordic Cuisine Manifesto was drawn up in collaboration with other Nordic chefs, with an emphasis on seasonality and simplicity.

The aims of the New Nordic Cuisine are:

• To express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics associated with the region.
• To reflect the changing of the seasons in every meal.
• To base cooking on ingredients and produce whose characteristics are particularly excellent in Nordic climates, landscapes and waters.
• To combine the demand for good taste with modern knowledge of health and well-being.
• To promote Nordic products and the variety of Nordic producers – and to spread the word about their underlying cultures.
• To promote animal welfare and a sound production process in the seas, on farmland and in the wild.
• To develop potentially new applications of traditional Nordic food products.
• To combine the best in Nordic cookery and culinary traditions with impulses from abroad.
• To combine local self-sufficiency with regional sharing of high-quality products.
• To join forces with consumer representatives, other cooking craftsmen, agriculture, the fishing, food, retail and wholesale industries, researchers, teachers, politicians and authorities on this project for the benefit and advantage of everyone in the Nordic countries.

More than the ingredients, people became his passion. He sees eating as a deeply human experience, emotional and personal, achieved as much through the service and style of his staff as what people eat, and where they are.

His staff have become a family, as he describes them, without the typical hustle and stress of a busy kitchen. Best known to customers is his long-serving maitre’d, Ali Sonko, a tall Gambian in his sixties, with an infectious smile, who started as a dishwasher in the kitchens when it first opened, and now owns a 10% stake in the business.

Equally, his partnership with local suppliers secures him the freshest produce, and their collaboration in creating dishes that continue to inspire both him and his clientele.

The original Noma in Copenhagen closed in 2017, with Redzepi and his team seeking to reinvent the restaurant. Initially they open an incredibly popular pop-up in Mexico, a kind of vacation to gain new inspiration, whilst they established a new restaurant, less than a mile from the old one.

Situated on a beautiful lake, the new Noma is a former ammunition storage facility for the Danish military, with numerous greenhouses where the produce is grown. Designed by famed local architect Bjarke Ingels, the buildings have been converted to resemble an old Danish village.

Originally, menus were based on what ingredients were most readily available, although using meet and fish throughout the year. It has now moved to a three season model – focusing on seafood for 4 months, then vegetables for 4 months, and then game.

Of course getting into the restaurant is probably the hardest part. Noma release reservations three times during a year, with thousands of cultured diners waiting to click on the website the moment it opens. You also need to pay at the time of booking, typically around $350 per person, although a meal typically consists of around 20 courses.

As a quick taster, the first course might be a plant pot with a thyme plant. Take a straw, and you’ll find an exquisite soup inside. A tart of crisp potato and nasturtium flowers might follow, and then a salted seaweed roll, fresh from the local beach. Quail’s eggs topped with fresh berries are next, then cucumber skin cannelloni filled with nuts and mushrooms. We’re still on the starters, at this point. You’ll need to visit to discover the main course.

“I think that in our part of the world, Scandinavia, we are one of the pioneers of showing that gastronomy can be something – high gastronomy can be something very, very present and doesn’t have to involve, you know, what is perceived as the normal luxury items that belong in a high gastronomy restaurant” he reflects.

With two Michelin stars, Rene Redzepi’s Noma has been voted the best restaurant in the world on four occasions.

© Peter Fisk 2020. 

The new book Business Recoded is available ... at 40% discount for limited time.

Peter Fisk is a leading business thinker, bestselling author and inspiring speaker, whose career was forged in a superconductivity lab, accelerated by managing supersonic brands, shaped in corporate development, evolved in a digital start-up, and formalised as CEO of the world’s largest marketing network. 

He now leads GeniusWorks, a business future accelerator in London. He is also Thinkers50 Global Director, founder of the European Business Forum, and a professor of leadership, strategy and innovation at IE Business School in Madrid, where he leads their flagship executive programs.

He has 30 years of practical business experience, working with business leaders in over 300 companies and 55 countries, from Adidas and American Express, Bosch to BNP Paribas, Cartier and Coca Cola, McKinsey to Microsoft, P&G and Pfizer, Virgin to Visa. His distinctive approach is future back and outside in, fusing insights with inspiration, creating innovative strategies to accelerate growth

His 8 books in 35 languages fuse the brains of Einstein and Picasso, explore the creativity of da Vinci, reframe sustainability for innovation, and explore the world’s most innovative companies, and how they become “gamechangers”. His new book “Business Recoded” is available now.

• About the book Business Recoded: Have the courage to create a better future
• About the program Business Recoded: The Future Accelerator (see below)

Find out more at www.theGeniusWorks.com or email peterfisk@peterfisk.com