What Noma's Under the Bridge pop-up reveals about Noma 2.0

When chef René Redzepi announced his revolutionary Danish restaurant Noma would be staging a pop-up under a Copenhagen bridge, the excitement was inevitable.
Not only was it a chance to sample the team's cooking on home turf, but it might also offer some hints about Noma 2.0, the much-anticipated new version of the restaurant, which opens in February 2018.
Little has been revealed about the upcoming eatery since the original incarnation closed it doors in February 2017.
But when I arrive and take my place among the 60 people already sitting elbow to elbow at the long wooden table, it automatically feels different to the more formal, cerebral tasting menu experience associated with the Noma brand.
For a start, we're outdoors on a cobbled passageway directly under central Copenhagen's Knippelsbro Bridge.

  Hygge' experience

Tented in from the chill with plastic sheeting and gas heaters installed at intervals, warm light from woven wicker pendant lamps casting a rosy glow over the table and faces of people eating, it's the definition of "hygge" -- that now famous Danish concept of conviviality and contentment.
The crowd is also a little younger than the usual fine-dining set.
Most are in their 20s and 30s, much like the staff -- possibly because the 1,250 DKK ($200) price, inclusive of pour-your-own wine pairings, is more affordable than Noma's typical $480-plus charge.
Two seatings are offered for the prix fixe, five-course, family-style dinner and dishes are kept secret until they're served.
Richard Hart, founder of San Francisco eatery Tartine, is working with Noma until he opens his bakery in Copenhagen in 2018 and our first platters are heaped with huge hunks of crusty bread baked by the man himself, with mandatory slabs of Danish butter.
Welcome nibbles in the form of light, crispy tostadas quickly give way to bowls of warm mushroom broth with black trumpets, young spinach, grilled baby cucumber and wild Swedish blueberries.