By Tamara Palmer
San Francisco entrepreneur Stephanie Robesky plans to celebrate her 39th birthday at the end of this month in true gourmet style, enjoying dinner and wine pairings at Noma Tokyo. It’s a two-month dinner pop-up at Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel from globally-lauded Danish chef René Redzepi, who owns Noma restaurant in Copenhagen. In short, it’s currently one of the hottest and most ungettable tables in the world. Robesky was able to score a reservation for two, and The Guardian notes that she beat out close to 60,000 other people who tried to do the same.
Only hitch is, Robesky isn’t hitched and could find herself solo on the eve of such a potentially life-altering meal, so she’s taking applications on her website Nerdgirl for a Bay Area man aged 28–46 to join her. She will pay for the dinner and wine, while the gentleman will pay for his stay and airfare (which she currently estimates to be around $1,000).
Of course, you can’t be a total heathen; one of her requirements is that “you know how to use a fork and knife properly,” while the application includes the yes/no statement, “you agree to be a gentleman.” Robesky will pick three finalists to meet over coffee and plans to make her final selection by January 16.
Eater reports that the opening menu for Noma Tokyo on January 8 included dishes like shaved monkfish liver toast, clam tarts, cuttlefish “noodles” in wild rose petal broth, and freshly killed ants. Meanwhile, Redzepi told the Wall Street Journal that his menus would largely focus on vegetables but could still include ingredients like venison tongue, horse meat, and deadly hornet larvae.
Update: Robesky has received dozens of applications and an invitation to call in to the KFOG morning show. She plans to inform her finalists that they’re in the running by Wednesday (January 14).
Top photo from Nerdgirl; above photo by Mandarin Oriental Hotel
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