RESTAURANT – In mid-May, and after two months of closure, restaurants in Copenhagen were able to welcome their customers again. Good news for chef René Redzepi, who runs the star restaurant “The noma“
For the summer season, the establishment has a custom to pay tribute to vegetables with meatless dishes. And one of his original dishes on his menu is the celery kebab.
From a distance, you might think it’s the same food you can enjoy on the go with fries and dips. Golden, it seems to form a beautiful mixture of fat, as you can see in the video above. But in reality, this composition on a spit is not made of meat. It is a vegetarian dish.
A 100% vegetarian kebab
This crazy idea comes up at an event in Mexico. In 2017, the Noma team created a summer pop-up store in the middle of the street. As for street food, Mexicans are served with their “tacos al pastor,” a meat dish wrapped in tacos. Chef René Redzepi’s team then imagines its vegetable variant. “We had this amazing barbecue as we fed with charcoal. Mexico has tacos al pastor, which is very similar to shawarma, so we thought about turning it into a vegetarian barbecue as a main dish, ”recalls Brink Søberg, head of research and development at Noma.
Although the first attempt was inconclusive, the team did not give up and tested several dishes of the same type at their facility. “We worked a long time on it, to the point of getting a little tired. It tasted good, but it didn’t have that “wow” side, “he says. Vice Brink Søberg.
But once the recipe was found, everything sped up! Since the summer of 2018, and every summer season, their kebab is offered à la carte. It consists of thin slices of celery marinated and cooked in a truffle juice covered with linseed oil. In total, it takes more than two hours to complete mounting on the shaft. Then everything is grilled on the barbecue accompanied by pine branches and apples. Vegetables are served with the fully vegetarian plate.
A menu at 350 euros
For this summer, Le Noma offers two à la carte menus with ready-made dishes. “We will reopen with a menu that celebrates the best of what we have offered over the past two years. It also gives us the opportunity to work and support as many people as possible in our supply network ”, specifies the establishment on its website.
To be able to taste these small dishes and in particular the celery kebab, you will have to count around 350 euros per person. You have until October 9 to try the experience.
See also in The HuffPost: “Top Chef” Mallory Gabsi Opens New Pop-Up Restaurant
