UPDATE: VERY SORRY TO REPORT THE NOSH BAR HAS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS.
UpTHE NOSH BAR is back in lights on Great Windmill Street and that alone is cause for celebration, if not a detour from New York, Newcastle or even New Oxford Street. But wait: surprise of surprises, this is not just another West End revival looking to cash in on the imagined nostalgia of gullible tourists or Londoners too young to remember the dearly missed Soho institution. The brand new Nosh Bar, opened on the goodest of Good Fridays by Paul Jonas and his sons Billy and Jody, began by serving the very best hot salt beef sandwich in London. Although the consistency has slipped some since the opening, The Nosh Bar remains a must stop on every food tour of London’s West End.
At its best, Nosh Bar’s succulent salt beef surrenders to the chew, melting in the mouth and flooding it with flavor. At its less than best, the meat can be tepid and a bit soggy. The rye bread, cut into desirably thick slices, is sufficiently crusty and chewy to accommodate the meat and mustard. Other salt beef bars tend to use limp rye bread through which you can feel the damp, fatty met in your hands.
Salt beef, known as pickled beef in the north of England, is a Jewish deli meat comparable to New York corned beef. The benefits of curing brisket, the cut used for salt beef, were originally twofold: First, the salt preserved the meat and killed bacteria, which greatly extended its storage life in the pre-refrigeration era. Second, the salt softened and broke down the tough brisket while letting its flavors slowly develop.
Most salt beef bars do not prepare their meat from scratch. Nosh Bar sources its cured briskets from Henson’s Famous Salt Beef in North London, which uses meat from grass-fed Irish steers and heifers. (If you live in the UK you can have Henson’s briskets, cooked or uncooked, delivered to your door). This hardly means that anyone who sources meat from Henson’s will achieve the same results as Nosh Bar. Cured salt beef requires hours of careful simmering to further tenderize the meat and sweat out its fatty juices. Furthermore, expert trimming and hand-slicing can make all the difference. Maintaining the quality of Nosh Bar’s salt beef ultimately depends less on sourcing than on diligence, theirs as well as ours. They need to baby their briskets and take care with every slice of every sandwich. And it is up to us to admonish them if and when they don’t. A salt beef bar is no place for British reserve. We’ve already lost the Nosh Bar once. Let’s not let it happen again.
The Nosh Bar – 39 Great Windmill Street, London; 020 7734 5638. Open M-Th, noon-midnight; F-Sa noon-2am. Closed Sundays. MAP
Fantastic news ! If what you say is correct I can save considerable shoe leather when I need a fix as will not need to walk all the way to Selfidges/Brass Rail !
How can you call it the best salt beef in London if all they’re doing is reheating someone else’s salt beef – and from their website that someone looks like a very commercial organisation so no doubt, other salt beef bars will be using exactly the same salt beef. Are these guys even cooking it properly on the premises, afterall on the Henson’s website they make big play of offering a heat and serve option.
I’ll take it on your authority that this place is good, but what makes it the best, better than anywhere else serving Henson’s? And what makes Henson’s so good?
You’re right, Anthony, the Henson’s website does not exactly inspire confidence. I also understand your questioning how a salt beef bar that does not cure its own meat could be the best. I initially felt similar scepticism bordering on disbelief when I learned that famous Jewish delis like Katz’s and Carnegie in New York and the great Langer’s in LA did not cure their own pastramis. But clearly the art of steaming, trimming and carving these briskets plays a significant role. If this process were as simple as “reheating,” wouldn’t others sourcing the same meat as The Nosh Bar also be layering their rye bread with “thick, moist, fat-glistening…succulent meat [that] surrenders to the chew, melting in the mouth and flooding it with flavor?”
I look forward to reading your critique, Gastro1, which hopefully will include your assessment of a Nosh Bar vs Selfridges salt beef Derby.
I tried this salt beef bar and it is fantastic. Everything just like Mamma used to make. Try the soups as well as the Salt Beef Thank goodness it is there, now I can relive my youth and enjoy a terrific meal at the same time. And at Credit Crunch time it is not going to break the bank.
Susi Q London
I had the pleasure of finding the nosh bar on their opening day and it is indeed the best salt beef I have ever tasted and is cooked on the premises (I asked.) It is a welcoming place with friendly faces and great food. Can’t wait to return.
I tried the Salt Beef on Rye Bread today and in fact had two sandwiches for research purposes of course.
The meat is outstanding and I therefore concur with Dan it is superior to Selfridges.
Room for improvement – the Mustard ! For me the current offering is to runny.
Anyone have any recommendations on mustard for Mr Jonas ?
I look forward to visiting the new ‘Nosh Bar’ when I’m in town but in the meantime thought I’d correct a couple of inaccuracies in the article. In the heyday of salt beef bars there were three in Great Windmill Street – ‘The Nosh Bar’ (which I believe the new restaurant has modelled itself on), ‘Phil Rabin’s’ and ‘Carroll’s’. ‘The Nosh Bar’ which is the restaurant shown in the old black & white picture was actually at 42 Gt Windmill St and shouldn’t be confused with Phil Rabin’s. How do I know this? ‘The Nosh Bar’ belonged to my father!
I remember the old Rabin’s nosh bar from 20 years ago, run by a guy called Simon, wife and son etc. Brings back a lot of memories, was very disapointed when I went back looking for it a while back and found that it had then turned into a Japanese pizzeria. Have been having salt beef at the Brass Rail in Selfridges over past few years but will definately now go back to the Nosh bar when next in London to try it out. Don’t care where the beef comes from as long as it’s good.
I visited the “Nosh Bar” today and all I can say is “WOW!”. If you want a really good, authentic, salt beef sandwich filled to the brim with tasty succulent salt beef then look no further, I believe this one to be the best in town.
keep up the good work.
I’ll be back.
well Thomas , you sure make a real mean Salt beef sandwich , not had one in years , but well worth every penny .
my first salt beef sandwich I at 1in 1949
at blooms than intill they close down
in windmill street anuntill 2 years ago
Selfridges,but because of what you all write next monday 1 Feb 2010 i will be in London and will try the Nosh bar i will
let you know how it felt.
I’m the MD at Hensons and were were delighted when the Nosh Bar re-opened and contacted us to supply them with the brisket. We have been making salt beef for decades, and we used to supply Carrols in Windmill Steet back in the 70s before I joined the company. To answer the question about whether commercially produced salt beef can be as good as home cured: we have a very strict selection criteria for our briskets, as you can’t make good salt beef out of mediocre brisket. It is essential that the meat is cured evenly throughout, so you don’t get uncured beef in the middle of a slice, and this isn’t as easy as it sounds, our cure has been developed over the years to reduce the amount of salt used, whilst still retaining that unique salt beef taste and texture. It takes several days to turn raw brisket into salt beef, and this is why it is rarely made from scratch by the restaurants themselves. As was pointed out, the way the beef is cooked is very important and chefs can achieve a subtly different taste by adding a variety of herbs and spices. Finally, we offer the ready cooked alternative for those who don’t have the facilities or the time to cook the product from raw, but the Nosh Bar, like almost every other restaurant that serves salt beef, uses the uncooked product and prepares it first thing every morning with a long, slow, gentle cook.
I live near Brighton, please tell me where I can obtain your wonderful salt beef and save my life, Harry Finn
Nosh appears to be closed. Just went looking for a salt beef sandwich there and to my horror it was all closed up. I need a good salt beef sarnie in the west end without paying Selfridge prices.
Darryl – Try salt beef at Gaby’s – 30 Charing Cross Road, Leicester Square.
I planned to stop in over the holiday weekend, and also noticed that the Nosh Bar was shut up tight. Anyone had any indication as to why? I saw that the place next door was closed for hygiene reasons (significant cockroach infestation!), but that certainly didn’t seem to apply to the Nosh Bar, which was always spotless whenever I went in. Please don’t say this is permanent! Gaby’s is all right, but the salt beef is much fattier, and the rye isn’t the same.
I have had salt beef sandwiches from most of the mentioned outlets and would agree with most of the comments made.Over the last month or so I kept hearing about this new salt beef deli in Romford Essex with people i know saying its the best they have had.Well being local to the area I decided to give it a try and WOW I have to say this is up there with the best something I didn’t expect even with all the recommendations. The beef just melted on contact with the tongue and the rye bread was sliced by hand so I could have it as thick as i liked.The guy who runs it is called Eddie and he cooks the brisket himself and talks with passion about his product.I also got talking to a few other customers and heard ‘best salt beef iv had’ a number of times and one old gentleman saying its better than selfridges which i am inclined to agree with and half the price.I must say is not easy to find if you don’t know the area but its in the Romford shopping hall which is in the market place opposite debenhams.As you walk in its on the ground floor at the far end in the left hand corner next to a butchers.I don’t need to travel to london any more for a real salt beef sandwich so hope this place does well and stays open so if you’re local or not give them a try you wont be disappointed.