Noble Gastro House — Restaurant in 's-Hertogenbosch

Went with a friend whilst we were visiting Den Bosch. We have both eaten at many fine dining restaurants and having scanned the offerings in the Den Bosch area, were excited to try Noble.

The restaurant's aesthetics are great, a very clean, modern feel and the staff were very welcoming upon arrival. I was planning on doing the wine pairing and my friend asked them to match roughly every second course with a beer. Aperitif orders were taken and the drinks arrived. Lovely. This was probably as good as the meal got for the next 90 minutes though.

As others have noted, in what feels a slightly mean decision, no "surprise" amuse-bouche(s!) were brought before starting the menu and no bread / butter accompaniment was brought at any time during the meal. This isn't necessarily a big deal, but it smacks of parsimony and thoughtlessness that would recur over many courses.

The first plate was a halfway house between an amuse-bouche and a full course - a rather forgettable "tropical" King Crab taco that promised much but had almost no discernible flavours at all.

Next up was the highlight of the savoury courses - an excellent Chinese style beef tartar - the acidity of the vinegar and pickles perfectly balanced the hoisin sauce - I could have eaten this all night.

Unfortunately, the next course brought us back down to earth...again a rather bland scallop dish. The scallops were well cooked, that is as complimentary as I can be, the rest of the flavours (Pumpkin, Yuzu, Sourdough, Ginger Beer) really didn't mix on the plate as they might have in the mind.

Another fish course followed, Octopus with green asparagus, Jenever bacon, burrata and green olive. It was great, apart from the octopus, which completely ruined it.

The next two courses were completely non-descript, a strange pork belly and shrimp combination followed by roast beef and Szechuan pepper. Both fine, nothing more, nothing less.

This leads us on to the penultimate course. It may be the worst course I have ever eaten in any restaurant, never mind a Michelin starred, fine dining one. It was a small (thankfully!) ramekin of Epoisse cheese covering grape and duck liver. It was so pungent that i struggled to eat it without gagging. My friend and I enjoy pretty much any cheese going from the mildest to the bluest, but this was something else - there was no taste of grape or fois gras, just the cloying foulness of the overpowering cheese. This is a taste I will never forget. In order to add some balance to this - there was a charming Dutch couple at the table next to us who were enjoying an anniversary dinner at a Michelin restaurant for the first time - they both enjoyed the Epoisse, so if I am being generous, I will say it was perhaps catered to local tastes.

Still sitting in a state of shock, we awaited the dessert course with a sense of disbelief and an urge to get out of Noble as quickly as possible. Much to our surprise, the dessert course was actually the best of the night by far; we finally had a taste of something Michelin Star-worthy - a delicious combination of Speculoos, Mandarin and Vanilla. I have not mentioned the dish presentation until now, mostly because it was poor to average, but again this was plated well and the first bite with the eyes was nearly as good as that with the mouth!

I will pay tribute to the sommelier before I sum up - his wine choice was consistently better than the plate of food he had to pair it with - I think he must be the hardest working member of staff in the restaurant, as trying to liven up the bland fare served during most courses is no mean feat, and on the whole he succeeded and surpassed expectations.

So, what can I say in summary? If you can go a la carte and just order the Tartar and Dessert, you'll have a wonderful meal. If you can't and have to sit through the rest of it, you'll probably feel you wasted time and money. I think my advice to the couple next to us pretty much sums the evening up..."Please don't be put off fine dining by this meal, there are plenty of better...

Very disappointing considering they are supposed to have a good reputation, high rating on The Fork and have 1 Michelin star. Did not feel welcome as we were seated but then waited for some time before water/ bread/ warm hand-cloths. Starter1: Pani-puri = very disappointing and shouldn’t carry that name. Starter2: Peking duck - fried spring rolls. Main: Chicken was great but came with potato instead of polenta. Side: Asian stir fry was too rich and salty. Main: Coquilles were great. (?No amuses?) Dessert: deconstructed dessert - deconstructed food (to me) is a lazy chefs way of easily making things look cool…but to lose flavor combinations for the customer. Not worth repeating dessert. Lactose intolerant partner was given a lactose snack with coffee and told it wasn’t lactose - only realized after tasting it and then asking again. Apparently Noble has a patron cuisinier …but we experienced quite a bit of disorder. Restaurant decor= great. Restaurant experience overall= definitely not...

From the moment I made the reservation to getting our coats after our meal, the staff at Noble made us feel welcome and taken care of. They were friendly and really accommodating to not only my dairy allergy but also to needing to speak English.

For dinner we had the turbot (adjusted for dairy), the langoustine dish and a side of pointed cabbage. Honestly, that cabbage dish will be something I think about often (and will definitely be back to eat again), it was devine!

For dessert my husband had a delicious looking yoghurt dish with parsley icecream that he said was a taste sensation. And for me they had a dairy free chocolate mousse/cake with coconut shards and a mango and citrus gel? Puree? (and a banana icecream, which was nice but not my favourite) it was so creamy and rich with chocolate and then sharp with citrus. The mango packed the most mango-y mango flavour ever.

Everything was wonderfully prepared and we were taken care of spectacularly. Thanks...