‘As good as you will find in London’: Noble Rot Mayfair, reviewed

Noble Rot, which is named for a sickness that afflicts grapes, a self-aware name for a restaurant in London, is becoming a chain. Don’t get me wrong. The Rots in Lamb’s Conduit Street and Greek Street (which replaced the Gay Hussar that died in sympathy with the intelligent left) are two of the best restaurants we have. My only complaint is that, like the Plastics in Mean Girls, they know how lovely they are and have their own promotional magazine.

Now they have expanded into Mayfair – but the least horrifying part, which is Shepherd’s Market. This has been ebbing too: the Curzon Mayfair, its local cinema, a listed post-war jewel, is always in danger of closure because its neighbours think they live in suburban Twickenham and want comparable noise levels. You won’t find a shepherd either.