How to Score the Last Tickets to Noma's Tulum Pop-Up
By Jordi Lippe-McGraw, Betsy Blumenthal. Photos: Courtesy Noma Mexico.
Copenhagen’s Noma has been one of the world's hottest reservations for years. But it’s been chef René Redzepi’s two-year world tour with the two-Michelin-star spot that’s getting the buzz lately: Its Tulum pop-up sold out in the first day. If you're only just hearing about it now, we have some good news: A few new reservations were just made available.
Here's how it works: In early February, Colibri Boutique Hotels announced that guests of its two Tulum hotels—La Zebra and Mi Amor—would have access to some of the last remaining tickets to Noma Mexico, which will run April 12 to May 28. The restaurant, which plans to take up residency under the canopy of the jungle just steps away from La Zebra, partnered with Colibri to create special packages for guests, including the option to buy two tickets to dine at Noma. The limited packages start at $1,550 and include a three-night stay at La Zebra or Mi Amor, one five-course dinner for two at Mi Amor Restaurant by Paul Bentley, a gift certificate for El Pez Restaurant by Paco Ruano, daily à la carte breakfast, and complimentary in-room minibar. If guests choose to dine at Noma, tickets will be charged separately at the pop-up's dinner price, $600 a head including drinks.
Colibri has since launched a new offer that includes not only La Zebra and Mi Amor, but two other (slightly less pricey) Colibri-brand hotels—El Pez and Mezzanine—to give prospective guests another last-minute way to purchase the coveted pop-up tickets. This new, second package (dubbed “Gourmet Getaway”) requires only a two-night minimum stay at any of the four hotels in order for guests to qualify for pop-up tickets. The new deal doesn’t include additional dinner gift certificates or free drinks as it did before—but it is a bit easier on the wallet: At Mezzanine, you can book a (non-view) room for two nights for as little as $470 (plus 19 percent tax), for as long as they're available. All four hotels are also offering complimentary breakfast as part of the deal.
Now that some more reservations have become available, you can start to daydream about the menu: “We went to a tiny town in Yucatán called Yaxunah and we had one of the very traditional dishes there called cochinita pibil [a slow-roasted pork marinated with citrus and spices and wrapped in a banana leaf],” [Redzepi told Condé Nast Traveler](http://www.cntraveler.com/story/what-to-expect-from-rene-redzepis-2017-noma-pop-up-in-tulum-mexico). “We’re not going to try and fiddle with traditional dishes like that, but we’re going to look at the taco and the masa, those kind of dishes, and try to do our own rendition of those.”
This seven-week run could perhaps be his last as Redzepi saw incredible success in 2015 with his pop-up in Tokyo (there was a 60,000-person-long wait list) and last year's stint in Sydney where reservations sold out in 90 seconds. “Success is one of those feelings that changes from project to project, but with the pop-ups the feeling of success is multiple because it’s about many things,” added the Danish chef. “Success is, of course, that our guests are happy… but success would be doing something that will make the locals say, ‘Damn, that’s great.’”
This article was originally published February 6; it has been updated with new information.
This story originally appeared on Conde Nast Traveler.
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