The 'world's best restaurant' comes to London

Voted the best restaurant in the world in the ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards’ in 2010 and 2011, Danish restaurant Noma is credited with spearheading international interest in Scandinavian cuisine. Its name is an amalgamation of the words Nordisk and mad, meaning ‘Nordic food’ and the restaurant’s head chef, René Redzepi, was last week celebrated as one of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ by Time magazine.

For ten days this summer, British diners will be able to experience Noma on home soil as it sets up a pop-up restaurant in the ballroom of Claridge’s hotel in London. Present over the entire period, Redzepi will produce a menu, spread over five courses, that reflects signature Noma dishes and flavours but utilises seasonal British ingredients. The cost per person will be £195 and more specific details on the menu are to be released in the coming weeks.

Overlapping with the Olympic Games, the temporary restaurant is open from July 28 to August 6. Noma in Copenhagen is closed for refurbishment from July 22 to August 13 so Redzepi will be accompanied in London by a contingent of staff from the original restaurant.

The announcement that Noma will open for a limited period in Claridge’s follows other highly successful partnerships between major London attractions and internationally recognised restaurants. Last October, Californian restaurant The French Laundry welcomed 1,400 diners to its pop-up space in Harrods over a ten-day period. Its nine-course tasting menu cost £250 per person, without wine. In 2009, Pierre Koffmann set up a pop-up restaurant on the rooftop of Selfridges as part of the inaugural London Restaurant Festival.

Demand for the limited number of dining spaces available is likely to be significant, with places being made available for reservation from May 9. Claridge’s is allowing potential diners to register their interest in advance through its website.