Gordon Ramsay hated dining at Noma: Rene Redzepi

LONDON — Renowned British chef Gordon Ramsay may have fans all over the world, but he himself isn’t a big fan of Danish restaurant Noma, said Rene Redzepi, the man behind the former “world’s best restaurant”. In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Tuesday, he revealed a few little known secrets about his life and business.

“He was here, he hated it. But he was nice about it,” he said. Considering Ramsay’s reputation for feuding, we’d say Redzepi got off lucky.

And much as Noma’s cuisine is feted for pushing the envelope, Redzepi also revealed his fondness for Mexican food, saying that it could be the most underrated cuisine and putting it on a pedestal up there with “the classic greats” such as French, Japanese and Italian. “Unfortunately it’s often viewed as a quick, cheap eat. I find that to be wrong,” he said.

As for a chef’s relationship with his restaurant, Redzepi said that while he’s only had a few jobs in his career, chefs should stay at a restaurant for a year so they have a change to see everything. Especially “if it’s a place that follows the seasons and cooks up a full range of what’s available”, he said. “We have people who have been in our kitchen for seven, eight, nine years and we’re still all learning!”

He claimed not to have a favourite restaurant (“any place where food is cooked with generosity and honesty”) but said that he always loves it when his wife cooks. He also said legendary Japanese sushi master Jiro Ono rendered him “awe-struck”. “(An) interesting note is that you’re not supposed to shake his hand when meeting him because he doesn’t want them polluted before touching the rice. I got to shake his hand though and as soon as I remembered I wasn’t supposed to do that — I almost s**t myself, literally. It’s mind-boggling to have two hours privately with a man that is full of wisdom the way he is.”

And as for that age-old debate about chefs as artists, Redzepi - who previously said he doesn’t consider chefs to be artists — now said there are a few who have achieved this level of mastery in the kitchen. “Having cooked now for 12 years, I’ve seen some people, very few, who can have a transcendental, life changing experience from a meal. Sometimes you see people eating out and they seem to have a different world view after a meal — that’s what I would describe as an artistic experience, but it is of course quite rare.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH