Noma Returns to Ace Hotel Kyoto for an Autumn Residency

Noma is going back to Kyoto. On 4 March 2024 René Redzepi’s Copenhagen restaurant announced a second residency at Ace Hotel Kyoto, running from 8 October to 18 December 2024. Where the first visit coincided with cherry-blossom season, this one is timed for koyo, the autumn foliage period, with a menu built on forest foraging, seafood and game.

The team described the 2023 stay as “one of the most fulfilling and creatively electric periods in our team’s history”. That ten-week residency, from 15 March to 20 May 2023, was noma’s fourth abroad after Tokyo in 2015, at Mandarin Oriental, Sydney and Tulum. Announcing it in October 2022, Redzepi said: “I believe Kyoto to be the birthplace of the western tasting menu, and it remains one of the most important cities through which to understand the fine dining scene today.”

For the autumn run, noma says it wants to deepen its relationships with local purveyors and artisans met during the first residency. “Our first stay in Kyoto was unforgettable,” Redzepi said, adding that the team could not wait to return “to keep learning”.

Service takes place Monday to Thursday in the hotel’s main restaurant, with the same menu at lunch and dinner and communal seating. The menu costs €540 per person, with an optional alcoholic or non-alcoholic pairing at €300, plus a 10% service charge. Seats are sold with a room package at Ace Hotel Kyoto, priced at ¥200,000 for two before meals; guests book the room first and then receive an invitation to prepay the meal, which is non-refundable.

The residency is supported by NTT Urban Development and the City of Kyoto. The 2023 programme ran Wednesday to Saturday in a 64-seat dining room, with the tasting menu priced at €475.