Noma Is Back in the Michelin Guide

For Noma — one of the world’s most acclaimed restaurants — the question wasn’t so much if it would get its Michelin stars back but when. Well, the wait is over: Last night, Michelin formally announced the stars for this year’s Nordic countries guide, and Noma ended up right back where it was before its recent transformation — with two Michelin stars.

As anyone who follows fine dining already knows, Noma — which has topped The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list four times since opening in 2003 — closed its original Copenhagen location at the end of 2016 and relaunched with upgraded facilities in a different part of the city in early 2018. Because of that year hiatus, the acclaimed eatery found itself ineligible for a number of the honors of which it had previously been an annual staple such as the World’s 50 Best and the Michelin Guide. But with a year under its belt, Noma 2.0 (as it’s unofficially called) is back in the iconic red book.

“We have built a new restaurant, so it’s lovely to be back with two stars. We are happy and proud,” Noma’s director Peter Kreiner said according to The Local Denmark. “This means that we’re not the only ones who think what we do is good. So do professional people who come and judge us. And it really means a lot to us that they have come and made this assessment.”

However, will all the effort put into reinventing the concept — including things like a new rotating seasonal menu and a dedicated fermentation lab — it’s also natural to wonder if staying put with two stars is actually a bit of a letdown. “I would like to have three, but I’m also very happy to have two,” Kreiner continued. “It is a huge recognition to be given two stars.”

Seriously. If you want to talk about a letdown, maybe go talk to the team over at Geranium. That’s Denmark’s only restaurant with three Michelin stars — not that you’d know it with all the hype their little Copenhagen neighbor named Noma gets!