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Diners Traveled to Japan for a Night at noma’s Kyoto Pop-up, a Resy Global Dining Access Event

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On March 30, 2023, diners attended an exclusive dinner in Japan with noma, the Copenhagen, Denmark restaurant named #1 in the world for 2021 by the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization. The special event was exclusively for members of Resy’s Global Dining Access program, a benefit for premium American Express Card Members1.

The event was part of noma’s 10-week pop-up at the Ace Hotel Kyoto. Diners found out about the event from booking platform Resy and immediately purchased tickets – travel arrangements to be sorted later.

According to the American Express Travel’s 2023 Global Travel Trends Report2, 47% of Gen Z and Millennial3 respondents said they have planned an entire trip around a restaurant and 45% say they book their dinner reservations ahead of their vacations.

Restaurant-obsessives will go to great lengths for an incredible meal, including flying to the other side of the world,” says Aaron Ginsberg, Vice President of Restaurant Partnerships at Resy. “Through our relationships with the world’s best restaurants, we create one-of-a-kind dining experiences that warrant planning a trip around them.

René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of noma, brought 95 employees to the Ace Hotel in Kyoto for a 10-week residency that coincides with cherry blossom season in Japan. For many years, noma team members have traveled throughout Japan, studying and researching the country’s history and food culture. That research and hands-on learning is evident in the dining experience filled with elements of surprise.

For the Kyoto menu, the noma team worked very closely to source ingredients from a local network of suppliers, including local farmers, hunters, fishmongers and foragers. And while the menu closely reflects the treasured sakura season in Kyoto, the pop-up is not technically a Japanese restaurant. The multi-course menu includes wild dishes like seaweed shabu-shabu, bamboo shoots in squid broth and lotus root steak.

Following the Kyoto pop-up, noma will return to its Copenhagen restaurant for summer season. Noma announced in early 2023 its plans to close its restaurant doors in 2024 – making a reservation more even more sought after. Since American Express and Resy have a long-standing relationship with noma, Global Dining Access members have access to exclusive events in the remainder of 2023.


1
Global Dining Access by Resy membership extends to eligible U.S. American Express Cards: Platinum Card®, Business Platinum Card®, Corporate Platinum Card®, The Centurion Card, Centurion Business Card, Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card, and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire (see Global Dining Access Terms and Conditions)

2 Methodology: The American Express 2023 Global Travel Trends Report is based on data obtained through an online poll conducted by Morning Consult between February 3rd – 11th, 2023 among a sample of 1,000 travelers from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, UK and 2,000 travelers in the SU who have a household income of at least a $70k equivalent, and who typically travel by air at least once a year. Results from each market’s survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

3 Gen-Z and Millennials are defined as respondents as being born between 1981 – 2012.