Photos: The Edible Theater of Noma

Noma's five-week pop-up restaurant in Tokyo has a waiting list of 60,000, holds 56 people and has two daily seatings where diners can feast on a 14-course meal that includes langoustine speckled with black ants, shaved monkfish liver and cuttlefish "soba" with a bowl of pine broth and rose petals.

Noma’s 37-year-old chef and founder, René Redzepi, took on the challenge of Tokyo because it was foreign to him and has such a rich food culture. “Even though we’re considered a success, you sometimes can be so comfortable in your success that you stop seeing opportunities and stop seeing possibilities. The pop-up is a shake-up," Redzepi said.