Restaurants: Noble Rot, Lamb’s Conduit Street
Website: Noble Rot
Noble Rot needs little introduction to wine lovers. It’s one of the places you absolutely need to go to if you are exploring the London wine/restaurant scene. There are two locations: Soho and Lamb’s Conduit Street, and it’s the latter I’m reviewing here. It’s the mother ship, and it’s always excellent.
My last visit was a weekday lunch and three of us ate from the a la carte menu in the dining room. Oysters and a special of clams satisfied the seafood urge. Then the house signature dish of slipsole, plus some beautifully simple gnocchi with summer truffle, and an excellent rabbit leg. Smoked eel on tomato was also really good. Wine choices were the superb Gonet Blanc de Blancs, a lovely Muchada Leclepart Univers 2019 and a brilliant Thillardon Chenas Vibrations 2020.
On the previous visit it was a Saturday lunchtime, and we ate in the main dining room. The bar area is great, and you can eat there, but there are no reservations. The dining room has a great atmosphere, and the set lunch menu on Monday to Saturday is brilliant value for money. We had a vegetarian version of the set lunch menu, and it was faultless, washed down with an excellent bottle of G Mascarello Freisa.
Of course, once you get here, you are going to spend considerably more on wine than on food. It’s not because the wine list is expensive (the mark-ups are extremely reasonable); it’s because the list is so deep, so broad, so innovative and so fun that you will find yourself ordering one bottle and then a second one.
The food quality? It’s excellent. I can think of few places I’d rather eat. The theme is great ingredients, prepared beautifully, and without too much clutter. There’s a beautiful simplicity to many of the dishes.
This isn’t a fancy place, but it’s utterly good, and don’t let the seeming informality distract you from appreciating just how good it is. This is a restaurant run by people who understand food, understand wine, and understand service.
- Food: 9/10
- Ambience: 8/10
- Wine list: 10/10
- Pricing: 8/10
