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Noble Rot Soho chef departs
Alex Jackson, cookbook writer and head chef at the Soho branch of Noble Rot, will be leaving the cult wine bar next week.
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Noble Rot Soho, the second Noble Rot site, opened on Greek Street in September 2020, with Jackson heading up the kitchen.
“We’d admired AJ’s – as he is known to pals – style of homely regional cooking since his early days at Dock Kitchen, and then at his own much loved Sardine restaurant,” a statement from Noble Rot founders Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew MW explained. “When he closed the latter just as we were looking for a chef to help breathe life into our new place, and over a glass or two of Muscadet he agreed to come onboard, we felt sure that we’d met our perfect match.”
Jackson’s cooking, with its “pronounced French accent” as Keeling and Andrew put it, proved to be something of a hit, and not only turned Noble Rot Soho into a popular dining destination, but also got him a deal to pen a cookbook (his second, after that of his restaurant Sardine) about the eclectic cuisines of France’s border regions. Published last year, Frontières was shortlisted for Cookery Book of the Year at the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2024.
It has now been announced that just shy of four years after he joined, Jackson’s final shift will be on Tuesday (9 July). According to the chef, he will be enjoying “a much needed change of pace”, taking the summer off and then, come autumn, cooking at the Leila’s Shop café in Bethnal Green and also private events. He will also continue to contribute to the Noble Rot magazine.
Jackson’s second-in-command, Mike Murphy, has moved on from Noble Rot Soho to take the head chef position at Leroy in Shoreditch. Adam Wood, head chef at Noble Rot Mayfair, which opened last year, will now oversee both the Mayfair and Soho Noble Rots, and chef Áron Stigmon will be transferring from Mayfair to take charge of the brigade in Soho.
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