Photos: An Afternoon At The Noma Test Kitchen

To get to the Noma test kitchen one must walk the mean streets of Christianshavn, a neighborhood in Copenhagen that is as tough as the docks at Sausalito. As in, not very tough at all. It’s a beautifully maintained stretch of former military buildings and more modern apartment complexes, separated by crisscrossing canals.

Noma sits at the end of one of these streets in a converted 18^th Century warehouse. The restaurant is located on the ground floor, while the spacious test kitchen is above. It is here where chef René Redzepi goes to work — which he explained in our rapid-fire interview. Yeast was on the mind. Here are some shots of the action at Strandgade 93.

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A wall of reference and recipe books sits below Noma's three (consecutive) San Pellegrino’s World's 50 Best Restaurants awards. Noma was number one.

 

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The grand room where the Noma staff holds meetings and the nightly family meal.

 

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Staff lockers, quintessentially Danish in design.

 

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René Redzepi and a staff member.

 

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Noma staff meal: salad, roasted vegetables, pasta, pork loin, frozen bananas

 

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Chocolate-covered frozen bananas. A future menu item perhaps?

 

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Redzepi shooting an Instagram photo for Food Republic.

 

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American Lars Williams (right), formerly of WD-50, heads Noma's experimental test kitchen.

 

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Working on a yeast-flavored English toffee in the Noma test kitchen.

 

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Noma staff meal.

 

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René Redzepi in the kitchen at Noma.

 

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Outside Noma.

 

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The world's #1 restaurant.