If things stand as they are right now, nothing is going to happen and Noma (and Redzepi) will keep on, keeping on.
It depends on how credible these accusations are and whether the press decides to cover this story and amplify it.
We are in an “eat the rich” moment right now, so the story could gain traction. Or maybe not.
The powerful seem untouchable until the day they are not. But, as we are seeing, the truth usually comes out to the open.
There are a lot of people who would love a reservation who couldn’t care less who got punched.
Actually a perfect metaphor for our current political, social, and cultural moment.
I totally believe that.
But, as we are seeing right now with certain elites who thought they could get away with associating with bad actors, consequences and accountability have a strange way of catching up to folks.
Sure, if Rene shows up in the Epstein files it might move the needle. Punching some random dude won’t.
The Noma stuff (assuming all the allegations are true) go beyond just punching one person (or punching or stabbing a lot of people).
Obviously, I know a lot of successful people don’t care if people that they think are beneath them get hurt. Part of the reason they are successful is that they don’t have any qualms about brutalizing people and throwing them away to get ahead.
But, public opinion does matter. There was a point where sexually harassing your employees was considered acceptable, but when the shoe dropped, it dropped pretty quickly.
I’m not saying that is going to happen here. Maybe none of this can be substantiated. But, the reputational and brand damage here is considerable if this is true.
I think this pop-up and move away from Copenhagen is the answer to many years of criticism in Denmark, started years ago by Lisa Lind Dunbar, as you posted, and followed by a four-episode piece on Danish Radio(TV). Noma is not a cool word in Denmark anymore.
It isn’t Danes that were dining there anyways.
They definitely didn’t account for the majority, no. But Noma became an institution that left a steady stream of chefs who opened restaurants, who because of those four letters, always had lines around the block on opening. It was danes fueling that hype for all of these smaller franchises. Those days are long gone, and I suppose you can guess who’s to thank for that.
Except that they have been doing pop ups since 2012:
London 2012
Tokyo 2015
Sydney 2016
Tulum 2017
Kyoto 2024
Kyoto 2025
That is true, but the rethorics around it are different this time. I also remember Redzepis reasoning when the closing was announced— “Fine dining is unsustainable”— So I don’t know how much honesty to put into this new venture.
It was announced today that Barr will do a ‘residency’ at Nomas spaces from March until May. I don’t know or care what the maths are here, but I sincerely hope that Nomas spaces and R&D will become a giving thing down the line to grow new talent and solutions.
I don’t have it out for Noma, or fine dining for that matter, but I hope it’ll be gentler to the army of stages that makes it what it is.
I doubt any news articles will change most peoples opinion on the restaurant and whether they want to go to the pop up or not. I for one would still go because it’s going to be an experience put on by one of the best restaurants in the world.
These types of restaurants many employees only work there a year or two just to have it on their resume. Yes, they are paid as little as possible and probably not treated the best but the training and experience they get will undoubtedly further their career in the future which is why they do it. Do I wish they could be paid more and treated better, absolutely without question.
Look at Hunder Acre, they have a long waitlist and many people have strong opinions on Jayson. That obviously hasn’t stopped people from buying his wines. Same thing here for Noma.
I’m in general not that surprised to hear about these stories from Noma. A couple of decades ago some of my friends work in restaurants on various level (good restaurants to very good and competing which was a thing then) and I was quite shocked to hear some of the stories they told.
As well as that many of them, end of the day, just wanted to go eat at McD (!).
A few years back a very good friend, a restaurant owner, and I had a chat about having to manage staffing and all that. I asked him, what’s that complicated when it comes to manning and staffing? Perhaps I shouldn’t have been that surprised but he mentioned the obvious which office workers easily forget, many of those working in restaurants quite often come from more difficult backgrounds and sometimes even past/current addiction issues or just a bit more messy lives (to a higher degree than well off labor).
They have a website now
Well now you have a front page NYT article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/dining/rene-redzepi-noma-abuse-allegations.html
My guess to the impact of the LA popup? None.
And here’s a statement from Rene Redzepi posted today:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVl7WAPFAez/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
It’s incredibly easy to go through life and not act like an asshole. Regardless of how talented you might be.
Assume it will remain sold out and also assume less people will be posting about going here and on social media
Idk I haven’t figured it out yet 