A local chef is headed to Denmark this spring to gain experience in one of the world’s top restaurants.
Hiro Takeda, owner of 293 Wallace Street Restaurant, has been selected to participate in a culinary internship at Noma in Copenhagen, March 19-June 25.
“It will be an amazing experience to be in a kitchen with 50 other cooks who are all extremely serious about what they’re doing,” said Takeda.
“It’s literally learning from the best.”
Noma receives about 300-400 applications worldwide a month for their training program. Takeda is one of 20-25 chefs participating in the spring internship.
Takeda is looking forward to learning more about Noma’s philosophy.
The restaurant gives interns an opportunity to become an integral part of their daily operations – foraging for ingredients, harvesting from their farms, and working alongside the kitchen’s regular staff of 24 to create dishes for guests. The restaurant is committed to sourcing locally and serves a 20-course tasting menu for lunch and dinner. Takeda said their small plates are well-designed and focus on their primary ingredient along with a couple of garnishes.
“The purpose of me going is to make this restaurant better and explore the systems that they have in place for sourcing locally so that I can do more of that here,” he added. “Their style has already impacted a lot of things that we do.”
Takeda is hosting a fundraising dinner at 293 Wallace Street Restaurant on March 3 to help cover his travel expenses. He’ll be showing a documentary on Noma and serving a multi-course meal that’s influenced by the restaurant. Takeda will also share more about why he’s going and his goals for the internship.
For ticket information, contact 293 Wallace Street Restaurant at 604-860-0822.