“Winifred”, “Louie DePelma” and “Pepper Potts and I wanted to go out for dinner. However, as Winifred has decided to reduce her red meat intake, we decided upon going to Charlie Noble. Charlie Noble has a very good reputation for their menu, so much so, we weirdly decided to meet there just after 5.30 to get a seat. It was not actually a bad move because at 6.15 the place was packed.
Steak Tartar
This was beautifully presented with the tartar rolled into four, each with a quarter of a half boiled egg and some finely cut toasted bread. I did like this dish. However, it did not blow we out of the water. I found it slightly weird that the egg was semi-boiled and it was missing something to complete the dish.
Chicken Liver Parfait
I did like this dish and it was great to actually see that there was enough bread for the parfait. The parfait was very smooth, had a thin jelly coating and had a good seasoning.
Spaghetti
The pasta on the menu is made on site and is fresh. I decided to have the spaghetti with prawns, garlic, chilli and spinach. This had a very nice flavour and very nicely presented. The prawns were cooked perfectly and it was nice to see a good helping of spinach in the dish. I did not, however, taste any chilli in the dish.
I also tried the others means. Winifred had the Ravioli with pumpkin, amaretti, sage, pine nuts, and brown butter, which was very nice. Pepper Potts had the Pappardelle with duck rague and grana padano, which I found to be very hearty and great in the winter time. Louie had the King fish special which was cooked very nicely.
Brioche
This was my least favourite dish. It was good but did not really do it for me. The dish had grilled pears with creme anglaise and also some grilled grapes. I think what did turn me off was the strong vanilla taste in the creme anglaise.
Marshmallow
This is a must order dish. The marshmallow with vanilla raspberry ripple is out of this world and if you have someone that ordered a dish with chocolate sauce, you must dip the marshmallow inside. They are not too sweet and a great way to end the dinner.
Firstly, I am surprised to see how busy this place is especially at the beginning of the week. I have a mixed opinion of this place. Sometimes the staff are onto it and sometimes they are not. The acoustics in the restaurant are terrible, the tables are relatively quite close to each other and if you have not noticed when you leave the restaurant your clothes smell of smoke from the open kitchen. I agree the food is nice, but some dishes are better than others. I feel there are just too many options on the menu, why not simplify it instead of over complicate things. It is very hard to read and decide what you want to eat. Overall, it is a good place to eat, but in terms of atmosphere I do not rate it.
Previous Visit; Aug 2015
Website; Charlie Noble
Address; 1 Post Office Square, Wellington
Trencherman's Travels 