Norfolk Arms

A Victorian corner pub in the Bloomsbury backstreets that has been cooking Spanish food since 2006 and keeps a sherry list to go with it.

Why go

Stephen Emms dates the current operation, a tapas bar crossed with an a la carte restaurant, to 2006, in a building that was a plain boozer before that (Gasholder). It sits in the streets off Marchmont Street, seconds from the Euston Road and minutes from King's Cross, in an area with very little else. Harden's diners call it a "lively gastroboozer" doing "a roaring trade, deservedly", and single out "a decent selection of sherries as well as wines" and "a relaxing, peaceful atmosphere for somewhere so central" (ref). Upstairs there are three private rooms, for ten, twenty and sixty. The cooking is old-school rather than modern, and both sources that assess it say some plates land and others do not.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the marinated salmon and the Valencian carrots, which are the two dishes Harden's diners name. Order across the table and keep going until you stop.
• Avoid: the stuffed vine leaves with rice, which Emms found "a bit fridge-cold" (ref). And avoid Monday lunch, because the kitchen opens at five.

What locals & experts say

• Stephen Emms, Gasholder (22 November 2018), on what kind of Spanish food this is: "It's Med flavours all the way, but unlike innovative Barrafina this is resolutely old-school in presentation and flavours." His verdict on six plates was that they "didn't dazzle, but nearly transported us to rural Spain". ref
• Harden's, whose survey is diners rather than a critic: "Excellent tapas, in a pub!" and "a relaxing, peaceful atmosphere for somewhere so central". The same survey carries the dissent: "while some dishes are very good, others can be a bit hit and miss". Another edition calls it "a useful option in an area with limited choice at reasonable prices". ref
• No chef vote. places-db/london/data/chef-votes.jsonl was searched on 1 August 2026 and holds nothing for this pub.

Good to know

• Where: 28 Leigh Street WC1H 9EP, off Marchmont Street. Russell Square or King's Cross.
• Kitchen: Monday 5pm to 9.30pm; Tuesday to Friday noon to 3pm and 5pm to 9.30pm; Saturday and Sunday straight through, noon to 9.30pm.
• Booking: advised at busy times, and needed for the upstairs rooms.
• Private rooms: the Yellow Room takes 20, the Purple Room 10, and the main dining area can be taken for 60.
• Hygiene: the FSA records rating 3, inspected 6 October 2023. Read the components rather than the headline: hygiene 5 is clean, and structure 10 and confidence in management 10 are what bring it down, where lower is better. The inspection is nearly three years old, which makes it weak evidence in either direction. ref
• Michelin: not recorded either way. Our cached Michelin data is stars only.

Jeff's take (his words)

Jeff has no note on this one. The saved-places export carries an empty Note for the row, so jeff_note stays empty and nothing here is attributed to him. The master spreadsheet's one-line description was an enrichment lead and has been replaced by the fetched facts.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

could-visit — It looks like a standard Victorian corner boozer in the Bloomsbury backstreets and it has been cooking Spanish food since 2006. What makes it worth knowing is the sherry list, which Harden's diners keep mentioning and which a pub has no particular reason to keep, alongside a wine list the venue prices to be drunk rather than admired. Two independent sources name the same two plates, the marinated salmon and the Valencian carrots. Stephen Emms is the useful corrective: this is old-school Spanish in presentation and flavour rather than anything like Barrafina, his six plates did not dazzle, and the stuffed vine leaves came out fridge-cold. Harden's own survey says some dishes are very good and others hit and miss. So: go if you are near Russell Square or coming off a train at King's Cross, order across the table, and book at busy times. The kitchen only opens in the evening on Mondays.