So, Royce and I just returned from an amazing trip in Copenhagen. We have tons of photos and stories to share with you, but I thought it would be best if I started off with a quick backstory on how this all came about.

Towards the end of last year, we would discover shocking news: Noma — the 2-michelin starred, 4-time winner of Best Restaurant of the Year — had announced its plans to close. Granted, the plan is to reopen, but it will certainly be a different restaurant when this happens. Could we really live with ourselves if we missed the opportunity to experience the legendary Noma? (Could Royce?)

Later that year…
My alarm went off at 03:45a.m. on March 28, 2016. It was time — July reservations for Noma were open! Royce and I both crawled out of bed and began to groggily paw away at our laptops. (Copenhagen is 6 hours ahead of us here in Toronto, and the reservations were scheduled to open at 10:00 a.m. CEST.)

Just before 04:00a.m. Royce and I (as well as his sister and cousin, who planned to accompany us on this trip) began to refresh the page anxiously. By this time the website had become noticeably slow, it seemed as though our fears were coming true! The whole world was trying to make a reservation! We’d never get a table! Many failed attempts later and we (along with our travel companions) sulked back to bed, thinking we’d failed.

Later that morning…
A few hours later, I got out of bed and began my usual routine. Traces of the early morning’s failure littered the room: our laptops lay in the middle of the floor in the spot where we’d abandoned our dreams; Noma’s website was still open on my phone. I went to close the window, but first clicked on the online booking link, one last time, out of curiosity. And then –what’s this??? In the queue??? Could it be?? In the queue?!!?!? I was in the queue! My excitement was immediately tempered by doubt upon realizing that I was number one-thousand-and-something in the queue. Wishful thinker than I am, I stayed in the queue as I continued my morning routine. About forty-five minutes later I was approaching the front of the queue — the moment of truth. Lo and behold, there was one time slot available and let me tell you folks, I was on it like white on rice.

Our reservation made, we had just shy of 4 months to plan a Copenhagen; all because of a very special restaurant.