A Chance to Eat at the World's Top Restaurant

Noma restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo. (Picture: Mandarin Oriental)

Expect a virtual food fight in four days when Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo begins accepting online reservations for a highly anticipated culinary event. In January 2015, Danish chef René Redzepi will temporarily move his Copenhagen restaurant Noma, which has been named the World’s Best Restaurant for the fourth time, from Copenhagen for a three-week “pop-up” in Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental.

The celebrity chef’s January 9-31 pop-up has the food world popping with anticipation. Dinner reservations will be available at Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo’s website starting this Monday, June 23 at 1 p.m. Tokyo time (in Eastern Time, that’s the stroke of midnight between Sunday night and Monday morning). They’ll cost about $1,400 for a party of two (no need to dine and dash; the price includes a one-night stay at the hotel).  For lunch reservations — a relative bargain at only about $380 per person — you’ll have to go to Noma’s website. Better be quick on your mouse because spots are expected to go quickly. 

Pop-ups aren’t usually announced with this much fanfare so far in advance. Foodies often have to find out about them last minute via word of mouth (or, more accurately, word of Twitter). Fortunately for those of us who have the pop-up bug and can’t wait for Redzepi’s Tokyo pop-up next year, we already know about a few others that are going on this summer. Check out Yahoo Travel for the ones you should feast on.