Noble Rot Soho

Noble Rot soho - looking outside through the window

I have a confession to make: I am late to most culinary trends and “best kept secrets”.

I had never been to the Gay Hussar, the restaurant that used to be in these premises. I actually barely knew anything about it, its fame (used to be frequented by politicians on their old-school long lunches) or the type of cuisine it cooked (Hungarian), until it was threatened with closure.

And then it was finally closed and boarded up, and I never had the chance to visit, and then it spent quite a bit of time shut, and I would cycle past it and never give it a second thought (there’s only so much you can be saddened with before everything drags you down).

Then a couple of weeks ago Devvers said we should visit the restaurant as it had just opened.

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Bollit / hervido (“boiled”)

Picture of a portion of bollit / hervido in a soup dish, containing half a red onion, a carrot and one potato with a dash of butter

In the quest for the most extravagant and spectacularly looking dishes, we often overlook the basics. What a shame!

So here’s one of them: bollit (in Valencian) or hervido (in Spanish). Which literally means… boiled!

This dish is extremely simple, consisting of boiling vegetables in salted water, and then having them with a bit of fat of your choosing. I know—it sounds “unappetising”, and it looks “ugly”, but it can be oh so comforting, especially when the weather is cold or if you’re feeling not so great and all you need is some simple food that doesn’t require extremely sophisticated skills to prepare.

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