Inside Noma Projects' Silver Lake Store: What the World's Best Restaurant Chose When They Went Local

I was walking through a plaza on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake when I spotted it. Unassuming sign. Beautiful natural design visible through the window. A friend of mine standing just inside the door ready to welcome whoever walked through next.

That friend is Nico. We met at the MAD Academy in Copenhagen, where we were both there to learn about sustainability, the environment, and how to bring those ideas into hospitality. Nico is from the San Gabriel Valley. So am I, in a sense. The moment we met in Copenhagen we clicked the way people do when they realize they come from the same place but found each other halfway across the world. When I heard he was working at the Noma Projects store in Silver Lake, I knew I had to go see what he and the team had built.

What I found surprised me in the best way.

What Is Noma Projects and Why Is There a Store in Silver Lake?

For those who don't know, Noma is a three-Michelin-star restaurant based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It has been named the best restaurant in the world five times. This spring, the Noma team is spending sixteen weeks in LA, from March 11 to June 26, cooking, listening, learning, and building a body of work rooted in this place. The restaurant itself is at the top of the hill at the Paramour Estate, with 42 seats a night.

But at the base of that same hill, on Sunset Boulevard, is something far more accessible. The Noma Projects shop in Silver Lake is the brand's first standalone retail space outside of Denmark. It is open Thursday through Sunday and it is free to walk into.

Walking In: What the Store Actually Feels Like

Nico greets every single person who walks through the door. Not with a transaction, but with a welcome. That tone carries through everything in the space.

The design is considered without being cold. You see natural wood, beautiful hanging plants, pine cones, and the kind of material choices that feel intentional rather than decorative. One of the store associates, Mandy, mentioned that a lot of the wood used in the tables comes from local trees around Los Angeles. That detail matters. It means the physical space itself is sourced with the same philosophy as the products on the shelves.

On the left wall, every product is lined up in its bottle, clean and precise. In the back, you find the merch. And on the wall, there is a piece of art that simply asks: What is Koji? If you know, you smile. If you don't, you start asking questions. That is exactly the kind of invitation this store is making.

There is also a tapestry toward the back that came from Japan. In a store rooted in a Danish culinary philosophy, currently operating in Los Angeles, featuring a Japanese tapestry alongside California ingredients. That layering is not accidental.

The Copenhagen Products: Where It All Starts

Before you get to the local collaborations, you encounter what Noma Projects has built over years in Copenhagen. Garums, vinegars, ferments, and cookbooks line the shelves. The wild rose ferment is a deep, beautiful red. The peaso, which is essentially miso made from peas rather than soybeans, is one of those products that makes you reconsider what fermentation can do with an ingredient you thought you already understood.

These products are the foundation of the store. They represent the accumulated knowledge of Noma's fermentation lab and the philosophy that has driven the restaurant since 2003. Everything else in the store exists in conversation with that foundation.

The Local Collaborations: This Is Where It Gets Interesting

When Noma comes to a new place, they do not just bring Copenhagen. They go looking for who and what is already here. In Los Angeles, these are the makers they chose.

Fermensch Kombucha, Huntington Beach

The kombucha on the shelf is a Noma recipe, brewed in partnership with Fermensch out of Huntington Beach. The flavor I tried was passion fruit and saffron. Vibrant, alive, not too sweet. The kind of combination that sounds surprising until you taste it and wonder why nobody thought of it sooner.

Noma Kaffe: A Coffee You Cannot Buy Online

The coffee is an LA exclusive. It comes from a farmer named Carlos Guamanga, whose farm in Pitalito, Colombia is called Finca El Recuerdo. The Memory. He and his wife Patricia named it after the two decades it took them to build it. The slim path to the coffee trees leads through a protected forest with butterflies and bright flowers, and the forest provides the farm with a natural source of clean water. Tock

You cannot order this coffee online. You have to come to Silver Lake to get it. That is not a marketing strategy. That is a statement about what this store is for.

Spinnaker Chocolate, Seattle

The chocolate is a Noma recipe made in partnership with Spinnaker, a bean-to-bar producer based in Seattle. What makes this particular collaboration interesting is where the cacao comes from: Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Domestic cacao, single-origin, every stage of production handled in-house by Spinnaker. As a chef, tasting the hazelnut berry praline they have developed stopped me in my tracks. It reminded me of a red and fruity Nutella, fudgy and earthy and just sweet enough. The kind of thing I immediately want to put on every dessert I make that needs a chocolatey, nutty, fruity note without going over the top.

The Fragment Market Bag

And then there is this. Hiroshi Fujiwara, the godfather of Japanese streetwear and founder of Fragment Design, designed a farmers market bag for this store. Conceived in Tokyo, made in Los Angeles. Inspired by the markets of this city, with compartments designed to keep ingredients separated and easy to carry.

I had never heard of a farmers market bag before seeing it on that shelf. The idea made immediate sense. A bag designed specifically for the act of going to a market, staying organized, and carrying your ingredients with care. Just opened for pre-order online, but the only place to see it in person is here.

Noma also just released a full Fragment merch collaboration, hoodies and sweaters, available for pre-order at nomaprojects.com.

What Noma Found in Los Angeles

When I heard Noma was coming to LA, I was genuinely curious about what they would discover about local and indigenous California ingredients. They have not disappointed. The cooking at Noma LA is shaped by what exists here, the Pacific, the mountains, the desert, and the long distances between them. California bay laurel leaf, native ingredients, local coastal flavors. That inspiration shows up in the store as much as on the menu.

As someone who works at the intersection of sustainable sourcing and Filipino culinary heritage, watching Noma ask the same questions I ask every time I develop a dish, which is who grew this, where did it come from, and what does this place actually taste like, was genuinely moving. Their answer in LA is what you see on those shelves.

A Note on the Controversy

It would be incomplete not to mention that the Noma LA residency has arrived amid ongoing allegations about workplace culture at the restaurant, including protests outside both locations earlier this spring. Noma has since published a full transparency review of their workplace practices, and those protests have reportedly ceased. I am not in a position to adjudicate that history. What I observed at the Noma Projects store was a team that took genuine pride in their work, treated every visitor with real hospitality, and built something thoughtful. I encourage you to read the available reporting and form your own view.

Workshops, Events, and Why You Should Go Before June 26

The store is not just a place to buy things. They are running workshops on building flavors, reductions, and fermentation. There are book signings. There are conversations happening in that space that you cannot have anywhere else in the city right now.

The residency ends June 26. The store goes with it.

Address: 3300 Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake, Los Angeles CA 90026

Hours: Thursday through Sunday

Workshops and events: nomaprojects.com/collections/in-person-events