From Dishwasher to Co-Owner of One of the World's Top Restaurants

The Danish restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, 2012 (Jens Dresling/Polfoto via AP, File)

Everyone loves a good rags-to-riches story.

That’s exactly how things played out for one-time Gambian farmer Ali Sonko. He immigrated to Copenhagen, Denmark, 34 years ago and spent 14 of those years as a dishwasher at one of the world’s best restaurants, Noma. Now, according to the New York Times, the 62-year-old father of 12 has been promoted to co-owner of the restaurant, which is reopening this December.

The gravity of the moment was not lost on the Michelin-starred restaurant’s head chef and co-owner René Redzepi, whose Muslim father followed a similar path from Albania to Denmark in the ’70s. As the son of an immigrant, Redzepi has helped Noma become world famous for its inventive, foraging-heavy cuisine. “I feel a special connection to Ali because my own father is called Ali and was a dishwasher for most of his life,” Redzepi told the Times. “He has spent every hour of his life at that restaurant, works hard and hardly takes a day off. He is a great example of an immigrant done good.”

Learn more about Redzepi’s culinary prowess (and his award-winning restaurant) in the Vice video below.