• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Major Foodie

Fine Dining Honestly Reviewed

  • About Me
  • Most Recent
  • Highest Rated
  • Restaurant Map
  • Locations
    • London
      • City
      • East
      • East Central
      • Mayfair & Central West
      • North Central
      • Southbank
      • South East
      • South West
      • West End
    • Rest of UK
      • Central England
      • Jersey
      • North England
      • Northern Ireland
      • South East England
      • South England
      • South West England
      • Scotland
      • Wales
    • Rest of World
      • Europe
        • Croatia
        • Denmark
        • France
        • Germany
        • Ireland
        • Italy
        • Malta
        • Norway
        • Portugal
        • Spain
        • Turkey
      • Asia
        • Bali
        • China
          • Beijing
          • Hangzhou
          • Hong Kong
          • Macau
          • Shanghai
        • Japan
          • Kobe
          • Kyoto
          • Tokyo
        • Singapore
        • Thailand
          • Bangkok
          • Phuket
          • Koh Pha Ngan
          • Koh Samui
      • Dubai
      • America
        • Chicago
        • Las Vegas
        • Napa Valley
        • Nashville
        • New York
        • Washington DC
      • Australia
  • Cuisine
    • African
    • American
    • Asian
    • British Modern
    • British Traditional
    • Chinese
    • Classic
    • Creative
    • Croatian
    • French
    • Indian
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Meats and Grills
    • Mediterranean
    • Modern
    • Nordic
    • Peruvian
    • Portuguese
    • Regional / Country
    • Tempura
    • Turkish
    • Seafood
    • Spanish
    • Sushi
    • Vegetarian
  • Best For
    • Atmosphere
    • Breakfast
    • Brunch
    • Burgers
    • Counter / Bar Dining
    • Celebrations
    • Fish & Chips
    • Michelin Starred Pubs
    • Pizza
    • Pre-Theatre
    • Private Dining
    • Romantic
    • Set Menu Under £25
    • Sunday Roast
    • Top Major Foodie Rating (90%+)
    • Value Set Menu
    • Vegetarian
    • View
  • Filter Search
  • Blog

Noble Rot (Bloomsbury)

15th September 2017 by Richard Bagnold Leave a Comment

Wine bar-style restaurant, originating from the founders of the Noble Rot wine magazine, serving simple yet highly effective dishes

  • 15th September 2017
  • 15th August 2016

I only had to be told that Steve Harris (owner of my hallowed Sportsman pub in Kent) had teamed up with the Noble Rot founders (Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew) to create a restaurant in London, to make me throw down the tea I was drinking immediately and start looking at reservation dates for my first visit.  A year later and a quick drop in for a great glass of red and the undeniably superb breads (focaccia and soda) at Noble Rot is still one of the nicest things that can be done in the whole of London in my view.  This was a very brief visit in comparison to the previous one in 2016 which will have more detail on the menu for here.  Suffice to say we left with heads bowed and questioning whether we should cancel the main lunch booked at different venue (Pied a Terre) where myself and my associate Mr Bainbridge had the actual appointment for this day.   Although the cold meats were better on our first visit, the £18 each for superb breads, wine and good charcuterie is a no brainer and a delightful option and I am glad we have this in the UK.

Food Review: 75%

Noble Rot entrance
Main dining room
Home made breads with two glasses of red (Damiano Ciolli Cesanese Superiore ‘Silene’ 2015 & La Pialade Cotes-Du-Rhone 2012)
Focaccia essence
Coppa cured meat
Nibbles for two with wine

I only had to be told that Steve Harris (owner of my hallowed Sportsman pub in Kent) had teamed up with the Noble Rot founders (Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew) to create a restaurant in London, to make me throw down the tea I was drinking immediately and start looking at reservation dates.  It re-launched back in November 2015 now, so I am behind on this however, it was a pleasure to drop by for an early, midday lunch in to the Parisian style interior, dimly lit by candles on all tables.  The immediate impression of the place on closer examination, was that the owners clearly held a sensational wine cellar(!).  Wonderful, simple food served in a dimly lit setting from people who know the importance of quality.

Read full review

The service was very good from the off with a waiter and sommelier in one, who ended up marrying us up with some wonderful glasses of white and red with our small plate dishes (another lunch was being done after this one).  But first came the bread.  I am not over-egging this when I say the focaccia made here is among the best, if not the best on this blue-green planet of ours.  The memory of the salted-herbed crust, the perfect squidgyness and with the fact that a delightful amount of oil is left on the fingers from just picking it up, actually makes me salivate just writing this.  I’d be in danger of overdosing on carbs if I had a longer time in here as I could happily munch on this for about an hour with the right, supporting drinks.

The other bread is also worth mentioning as the sour dough is the same as that served at Hedone (widely considered to to be among the best available in that league) and the soda bread has treacle within it giving it have a chocolaty quality.  These don’t really need butter but the unfortunate thing is that the butter here is also very good, so that’s any hope of taking things ‘easy’ here, immediately shot.

The starters were all simple and very good at the same time.  The lomo (cured loin of ham) was a pleasure with its supporting new potatoes and capers and the iberico bellota paleta (bellota = purely acorn fed, paleta = shoulder of the iberico pig) was extremely good to eat.  Better still was placing one of the slices on the focaccia for utter decadence!

Then of course, the signature slip sole was clearly going to be tried, especially as it is served not with seaweed butter as it is at The Sportsman, but with a twist using smoked paprika.  In the main I thought that the Noble Rot version slip sole just pipped it to the post for me on flavor as I did quite like the interesting zing that came with this version.  That said, I have always loved the way the seaweed butter version is used to ‘paint’ the fish and make it look close to how a slip sole actually is.

There is understandably a superb wine list at this venue with options by the glass you simply will not find in many other places.  As we had to stay relatively modest on this occasion that was fine too as the Occhipinti Rosa 2105 and Envinate Taganan Blanco 2014 were both lovely glasses of wine to have and came across very well with their dishes.  In general, this is a gem of a place, particularly for wine lovers and those that want to come in for a quick top up of sheer quality at reasonable prices.  There is no doubt for me now – this is a down to earth, impressive and lovely venue.

Food Grade: 82%

Noble Rot rear dining room
The menu – 15 Aug 16
Sour dough, focaccia and soda breads
The power of the grease
Iberico Bellota
Iberico with foccacia bread – heavenly and recommended
Lomo
Slip sole
The bill for 2

Location

Leave a Review of this Restaurant Cancel reply

  • Food Rating - 82%
    82

Summary

Excellent flavours and simplicity.
Hospitality.
Superb winery.

Narrow food menu.

Restaurant Details

Michelin Stars: N/A

Cuisine: British Traditonal

Address: 51 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3NB

Website: Noble Rot (Bloomsbury)

Wine List: Click Here

Telephone: +44 20 7242 8963

Recent Visit – 1 Star

Mikla (Istanbul)

8th March 2025

Recent Visit – 2 Stars

Brooklands by Claude Bosi (Hyde Park)

16th May 2024

Recent Visit – 3 Stars

L’Assiette Champenoise (Reims)

22nd June 2023

Recent Visit – Not Starred but Recommended

Dishoom (Covent Garden)

5th November 2022

Food Consultancy

Concierge Services

Concierge food-themed experience

Concierge day out experience

Concierge tea experience

About Me

meMy hobby-turned-passion began to evolve during my assignments to London where I was fortunate enough to be able to explore all the Michelin starred restaurants in my spare time and as a result, I gradually built up a catalogue of all these venues.

Recent Additions

  • Kioku Bar (Raffles at The OWO) 2nd May 2025
  • Bleecker Burger (Bloomberg Arcade) 1st May 2025
  • Mikla (Istanbul) 8th March 2025

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Sign up to be notified whenever a new review is posted.

Read our privacy policy here.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy (UK)

Copyright © 2025 · swank WordPress Theme By, PDCD