When Noble Rot came to town

Noble Rot is a legend of London's hospitality scene and on 20th & 21st March 2024, we had the pleasure of hosting them at Marion, in conjunction with Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and our friends at Bibendum​​​​​​​.

With locations in Bloomsbury, Mayfair and Soho, Noble Rot founders, Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew, are trailblazers of the wine world. No visit to London is complete without propping up at the bar for a glass at Noble Rot. They're known not only for their show-stopping taste, but delicious seasonal food and their eponymous quarterly magazine which celebrates everything food, wine and culture.

We share a common outlook on what we think makes a great wine bar, no matter where in the world it resides. For two days in March, we paid homage to this ethos and our wine bar was filled with the joy and excitement that only welcoming hospitality greats can bring.

These two days were high energy and fast-paced and as our sommelier, Penny Vine, said "the opportunity to open and pour rare wines is one of those reasons we do this job in the first place.” While plenty from across Melbourne’s dynamic wine scene paid us a visit, some of the memorable tables were those young wine lovers who’d never tasted anything older than the turn of the millennium, cradling a glass of iconic Australian wine from 1976. We poured lashings of Champagne from the great growers, carefully eased corks from antique Australian bottlings from Wendouree, Tyrrells and Lake's Folly, and through this, shared the stories of small producers from near and far. 

Over the two days, our menu was completely transformed in true Noble Rot fashion, with the help of local ingredients and Noble Rot’s Executive Chef, Stephen Harris. Fan favourites included the choux bun with chicken liver parfait and tokaji, pipis in riesling and of course chicken with vin jaune and morels. As our Head Chef Shun Yang said, “to work with Stephen was inspiring - particularly to see how passionate he is about cooking with seasonal ingredients to create a perfect dish.”

Our most sincere thank you to Dan, Mark and Stephen for a truly memorable two days. It was such a pleasure working with, learning from and drinking with you. See you in London!