Noble Rot Lambs Conduit
Bloomsbury, London
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The hybrid offering of wine bar and restaurant works like a dream at Noble Rot’s original spot in Bloomsbury. It’s a warm, welcoming scene: a casual, low-lit bar area leads through to a crepuscular dining room and a happy hum of conviviality from diners who are 'positively cosseted by the staff'. A flavour-first approach to wine and food sees a celebration of the grape coalesce seamlessly with some very fine cooking. The self-titled, concise ‘Franglais’ menu is Gallic at heart, but not dogmatically so (much like the wine): you’re as likely to find burrata with vesuvio tomato and basil or finocchiona salami as you are boudin noir with brandy-soaked prunes, (Dorset) snails with garlic and parsley or a Comté beignet (a must while you settle in). A majestic tranche of fish braised in oxidised fine wine is a menu mainstay, as is a buttery, immaculately cooked slip sole to start and a delectable tart exhibiting fine pastry work for dessert. Simple presentation expresses a culinary confidence and needless flourishes are gratefully absent. The wine list, arranged by grape variety, majors in Old World names – from ‘heartbreak’ Pinot Noirs (so called because of the grape’s fragile temperament) to venerable vintages – though minimal-intervention wines and new-wave producers get a fair look-in too. The adventurous can explore new regions and styles via the expansive ever-evolving selection of some 40 by the glass or the pricier Coravin specials. Inevitably, given the restaurant’s name, dessert wines are no mere footnote.
