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  • Noma, it's a place people recognize for being named the best restaurant in the world four times.

  • The original Noma opened in Copenhagen 15 years ago, surprising guests with its inventive offerings like dishes disguised as herb pots,

  • and careful displays of roasted bone marrow with edible flowers.

  • Chef Rene Redzepi built meals from nature using seasonal ingredients found in the Nordic region.

  • The style is now called New Nordic cuisine.

  • It has granted Noma two Michelin stars and has put Copenhagen's food scene on the map.

  • In 2010, Noma was voted number one restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine.

  • And then again in 2011... and 2012... and 2014.

  • Two other restaurants have taken the title in 2015 and 2016.

  • All the while, though, Noma has hovered near the top.

  • But not too long ago, Chef Rene Redzepi shut everything down.

  • And this latest move could give them back the title.

  • Noma closed at the end of 2016 before opening its new space in February 2018, roughly a mile from the original location.

  • It's received visits from foodies around the world and A-list celebrities like Justin Timberlake.

  • It's different 15 years in.

  • People expect more.

  • I mean, they expect to have maybe the meal of a lifetime and an experience as well, on top of that.

  • But why would a chef risk his profitable business to start all over?

  • I was getting a bit annoyed with how we were working.

  • I felt the routine has... was sort of stifling us, and we should probably be looking for a new place to see if that could give us something.

  • The new location seats 42 people, each seat costing 2,250 Kroner or about $340 U.S. dollars.

  • But the biggest change is in what everyone comes to taste, the restaurant's three seasonal menus.

  • Vegetable-based in the summer, seafood-based in the winter, and meat-based in the fall.

  • Each dish is thought out carefully and focused on local ingredients found in the Nordic region.

  • In the very beginning, we just sort of have a brainstorm:

  • "Okay, what could be fun to have on this menu?"

  • And then we just started tagging it.

  • So we always have at least a couple of weeks where we're not actually putting things on a plate and trying to make dishes but where we just sort of investigate all these creative ideas that we have.

  • Some of those ideas include the celeriac and truffle shawarma and rose-scented cake resembling a small herb pot.

  • The team hopes the seasonal menus will encourage guests to visit Noma more often.

  • But they'll have to wait another year to see if they will make the best restaurant list again.

  • In a restaurant like this, it's about the everyday.

  • It's about finding the balance between creativity and production and your team and hard work, low pay, family, ingredients, suppliers.

  • It's a network of a lot of things happening, and sometimes people recognize it in an extraordinary way.

  • And you get to be changed forever, like our restaurant did when we first became number one.

  • But I still truly, wholeheartedly believe if you go to work with only that thing in mind, you won't last long in this trade.

  • As for whether starting over was worth it despite taking some pretty big risks along the way?

  • Of the 15 years we've been open, this is the moment where we have the most requests.

  • I stopped counting actually but probably in the thousands every day of people waiting for a table.

  • So it's been good for business, but it's done even more to motivate Rene and his team.

  • I don't know how I can explain except that it's like a hunger.

  • I feel like I just can't stand still, you know that when you...

  • Sometimes you see, or you hear a song, or you see a movie, or you...something that makes you wanna do something and change your life or do something.

  • I feel like that. Almost all the time.

Noma, it's a place people recognize for being named the best restaurant in the world four times.

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