After a number of lunch-time visits, this is now a favourite destination for me. A walk-in wine bar at the front and a restaurant at the rear. For me, it is mostly about the wine here. The list is extraordinary and excellent value, though not necessarily cheap, but the food that may stand in the wine-list’s shadow, is wonderful too.
Small plates in the wine bar are of the highest quality: Ortiz anchovies, burratina, coppa and delicious bread.
In the restaurant, the food is serious but not fussy and I have enjoyed sweetbreads, Swaledale lamb, guinea fowl all precisely cooked, interesting but leaving room for the wines to shine.
Wines are available by glass (enomatic) and there is also a very full and broad list. The staff are extraordinarily well informed and take great pleasure finding something to suit your interest and budget. I have discovered and enjoyed wines ranging through an excellent grower champagne, 1995 red Chinon, 2015 Loire chenin and, at a different price level, a 1999 Charmes Chambertin, all served with the same interest and enthusiasm. All of them stand-out wines.
Didn’t a Parisian Michelin-starred palace (not Robuchon) open a London location to emphasize a good portion of its mammoth wine inventory instead of getting too serious you.about the cooking? Thank
They have a magazine of the same name as well and I think they are being self-deprecating of what they write. (Noble Rot is also a happy state for a grape destined to become sweet wine.)
I wonder if you are thinking of 110 Taillevent London? I have been to the one in Paris and found it self-important, expensive and was disappointed by the wines.
I have just looked at the London menu and it brought back the horror of my Paris experience.
Each menu item has a proposal of 4 different wines arranged by price. Up to £8, less than £14, less than £20 and more than £20 for a 125ml glass. These are not comfortable decisions in a small or large group.
My main objection though is that it is so very focussed and serious, a wine and food tasting experience rather than an enjoyable meal. (It didn’t help that I did not think much of the wine pairings and was up-sold to a wine I found disappointing.)
I gave up tasting menus for broadly the same reason though I would still go back to the Fat Duck which I recall with affection, perhaps because it was fun.
I ate at Noble Rot last summer and really, really liked it (detailed review here). Still not sure how we managed to live in London for three months this spring and not go back.
