The popular Noma is closing its doors at the end of 2024

It has held the title of world’s best restaurant for years, Noma, with three Michelin stars, announced on Monday that it will close its doors at the end of 2024 to reinvent itself as a culinary laboratory.

“To continue as Noma, we have to change (…). Winter 2024 will be Noma’s last season,” the Copenhagen restaurant said in a statement posted on Instagram.

A portmanteau of the Danish words “nordisk” (Nordic) and “mat” (food), Noma (with a lowercase “n”) opened in 2003 on a waterfront in central Copenhagen, reopening two years later before closing in 2016. Then in a slightly more suburban and wooded district of the Danish capital.

“In 2025, our restaurant has been transformed into a giant laboratory – a pioneering test kitchen dedicated to food innovation and the development of new flavors,” he explained on his site.

For example, the champion of fermentation that allows pine cones to become edible, René Redzepi, who is praised for his innovation in the world of gastronomy, always manages to change the cards.

During the pandemic, he turned his restaurant into a wine and hamburger bar for a month in the summer of 2020.

Now with an emphasis on creativity, it’s possible to occasionally eat at Noma, in Copenhagen, or in medieval restaurants elsewhere in the world.

“Serving customers will always be a part of who we are, but being a restaurant no longer defines us,” Noma wrote to describe its “Noma 3.0” plan.

“Most of our time will be spent researching new projects and developing multiple ideas and products,” he continues, without elaborating.

In the spring, Noma will temporarily open in Kyoto for two months from March 15 to May 20.