Noble Rot Lamb's Conduit — Restaurant in London

Noble Rot wine bar and restaurant in Bloomsbury offers a good choice of wines by the glass and staff are happy to help you select something that matches your food. I was very happy with their recommendations.

Noble Rot is located in Bloomsbury on a quiet street. The place is a beautiful wine bar and restaurant with a simple, modern look. The walls are dark and prints of covers of the Noble Rot wine magazine add interesting, colourful accents. I also enjoyed the atmospheric lighting, especially in the back where the restaurant is.

As you expect at a wine bar opened by the people behind a wine magazine, the staff are knowledgeable and give good wine recommendations.

I started my dinner with a bread selection - sourdough, foccacia and sweet soda bread, if I remember correctly. To go with the bread, I ordered some Iberico Bellota - pretty tasty, high-quality ham. The foccacia and sourdough were a perfect match for the ham. When I asked for a white wine to have with this starter, my waiter - or waitress, I was served by various staff throughout the evening - recommended the San Lorenzo, Verdecchio dei Castelli a Jesì Classico "Le Oche" (2013) from the Marche region in Italy.

To be honest, the strong flavour of the wine, perhaps a bit rough around the edges, would not have been my favourite choice without the food. But the combination worked very well for me.

As main, I ordered a beautifully presented rabbit dish. At first I was a bit irritated and thought I probably forgot to order a side, but actually, there are no sides on the menu, or at least I did not find them. The rabbit was tasty and light with a tangy sauce. However, the puree it came with did not really add too much for me. I thought having no side is probably for the better, as it leaves more room for dessert!

Again, the white wine recommendation of a E & E Vocoret Chablis "Le Bas de Chapelot" (2014) from Burgundy, France, was spot on. I greatly savoured the mineral notes and the flavour complemented the rabbit nicely.

For dessert, I opted for the warm chocolate mousse, and to make the most of my visit, I had the English sparkling wine Hambledon "Classic Cuvee" (NV) from Hampshire with it. It was surprisingly and pleasantly sparkly, and came in a beautiful glass. The wine had a strong, distinct flavour. Dry, while also being somewhat fruity - an interesting and very delightful sparkling white.

The dessert tasted great, but I did not really liked the presentation and also thought it was probably a bit too liquid and not airy enough for a mousse.

Noble Rot is a beautiful wine bar and restaurant with a nice selection of food and great wines. Staff are very friendly and guide you through the wine list to help you find a glass or bottle that matches your...

An unforgettable experience, for all the wrong reasons. Had this been a little unpretentious bistro, I would have scored 2 stars. But given the cost (150 pounds for a weekday meal for 2) and overall positioning of Noble Rot, I feel like 1 star is the highest we can go. Service was slack, disattentioned and almost rude, with pretentiousness filling the air. We were left standing in the entry until a waitress slowly came towards us to show us to our table, not even offering to take our bulky coats (which we noticed she did with other clients). One second in, we get a waiter asking us which glass of wine we will choose, we said we needed a minute and were never asked if we wanted advise or had questions about the wine list. The wine list itself was massively disappointing: a bottle of the very commercial Gran Credo (9 pounds) for a staggering 25 pounds is shocking. It is not a great wine, let's face it, and in the accessible natural wines world there is much, much better options. No bottle felt highly "researched", with even the higher 160+ pounds options being easily found in any good wine shop. The truffle spatzle had an overpowering "gravy" flavour that sadly covered the cheese and the fresh truffle, while my wife's goose was well cooked, nothing special and questionable value for 36 pounds. The biggest food disappointment was the Armagnac Baba. I am not sure whether the chef knows it, but Baba is a pastry SOAKED in alcohol. I understand you could add a staggering 33 pounds Armagnac shot as a pairing to it, but they should have specified the pastry is soaked in syrup, and change its name on the menu! What could have been the high note of the meal (as the whipped cream was delicious, not too sweet, amazing consistency) ended up as an all-time low. Overall, an underwhelming experience, we were never once asked if everything was fine, not even upon paying, and I think it's a shame. Will not be returning and definitely not...

There was nothing discernibly wrong with our meal at Noble Rot as much as there was absolutely nothing to write home about.

The greetings on entry through to service at the table and my interaction with other staff when seeking directions to the bathroom was cursory at best. I was not shown to my table- Merely pointed toward the back of the building, the same with the bathrooms and our waiter at the was blunt, perfunctory and almost chucked our cutlery to the table.

The wine list was impressive, but slightly unwieldy. It was like a first edit of a soon to be great novel. Or a Harry Potter fully published! My burratina with peas was nice ish. The peas were tasty but hard, not exactly as bullets - but you get the picture. My friend had the fish starter with a smoked butter that appeared on a plate like an unclad lady, delicious though it was a garnish would have spared her blushes.

Mains were solid. Well presented. But uninspired. My pork with its massive beans and a pile of aioli! I enjoyed the taste but it was not an appealing sight of beige and beige and beige.

Deserts were good, taste on point. The choc mouse cake delicious and the rhubarb pie too. Presentation was deli style slice and plate. service was slid to us (once the order was sent back for the correct dish).

But overall, at £75 a head it was desperately underwhelming. Food felt slightly over priced against the appearance more than the taste or quantity. Service was nothing better than an average pub in an average night.

It’s a shame. It was pay day. A splurge. We enjoyed our night, the company. But nothing was enhanced by our £150...