Reservations for Noma's soon-to-open Sydney restaurant were snapped up in minutes after online bookings for a $345-a-head “Australia menu” opened last week.
Lunch and dinner bookings were quickly sold out for the 10 weeks that chef Rene Redzepi is opening in Sydney’s harbourside Barangaroo South development from next January. His restaurant in Copenhagen, which has won the World’s Best Restaurant title four times, will close early next year, the Danish chef said in a letter on the restaurant’s website.
Demand for a Noma Australia table was reminiscent of the frenzy over reservations for the Fat Duck Melbourne last year, when more than 250,000 people vied for 14,000 seats.
“We are expecting a high-volume of reservation requests when the system opens on Friday,” Noma said on its website. E- mails sent out of hours to Noma’s managing director and public relations manager in Denmark seeking comment on the booking process and availability in Sydney didn’t receive an immediate response.
Noma’s Australian residency will run from 26 Jan to April 2, offering a menu of local produce. It will also offer pairings of all-Australian beverages, as well as a short wine list.
The Noma team has been on six research trips to Australia in the past 10 months to understand “the great and diverse produce” there, Redzepi said in his letter.
“In December, the entire creative team will move to Sydney to focus their energy on creating a menu that will showcase the best of what we’ve found on these trips,” the Danish chef said.
Noma won the World’s Best Restaurant title from 2010 through 12 and again in 2014. This year, it dropped to third, behind El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain) and Osteria Francescana (Modena Italy).
News by Bloomberg, edited by Hospitality Ireland
