Noma whipping up a new identity

Danish restaurant Noma, which has claimed the title of world's top restaurant several times, says it will shut down to transform itself into "a pioneering test kitchen" dedicated to "food innovation and the development of new flavors."

Chef Rene Redzepi's house of Nordic gastronomy will close by the winter 2024 and reemerge in 2025 as Noma 3.0 to "share the fruits of our efforts more widely than ever before," its webpage said.

Redzepi, who is also the coowner, said they will travel to "search for new ways to share our work" and added there could be "a Noma pop-up," including a season in Copenhagen.

The restaurant will be transformed to develop products for the Noma Projects line that will include cooking classes too.

"Serving guests will still be a part of who we are but being a restaurant will no longer define us." Redzepi said. "Instead, much of our time will be spent on exploring new projects and developing many more ideas and products."

Noma - a contraction of Nordisk and Mad, meaning Nordic and food - opened in 2003.