Now that St John has moved to No 16 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant, I was really looking forward to this, especially after the lovely breakfast at St John Bread & Wine.
Food
We got 2 wine recommendations, the ANJOU BLANC Loire (2007) (£20.40) Domaine des Sablonnettes 'Le P'tit Blanc' was not to my taste, but the red…. Was much better. Some brown bread, with beautiful butter got us started. I knew we had a lot of food, so I restricted myself to one slice.
After a long wait, our entrees arrived, their signature dish was Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad, which I must say, wasn’t quite what I expected. Whole bone marrow arrives with some toasted bread. You scoop the marrow out with a crab pick, sprinkle with salt and add parsley salad. My overall impression was of an overwhelming amount of oil, yet the marrow itself didn’t have much taste. The Langoustines & Mayonnaise was much more pleasing. The langoustines were so fresh tasting, the meat firm and juicy, and the mayonnaise was so heavenly.
The piece de resistance, and the whole reason we came to the restaurant, was for the Whole Roast Suckling Pig. They informed us that they couldn’t get a big enough pig, so we got a juvenile one instead. I missed the ceremony of when they carted it out and chopped its head off, I only saw the head on a plate, but I did catch the carving. Luckily, the pig tasted great. The meat was meltingly soft, which even made up for the not remotely crunchy skin. I chewed some of the ear, but Slokky gave up trying to poke bits of the brain out of the whole. We think the stuffing was a mixture of bread and herbs, but the bread must have soaked so all the juices, as it was glorious. They gave us a choice of 2 other mains. The Whole Roast Fish Baked on Green & White Vegetables was pretty disappointing. The vegetable base was great, but the fish itself was a white mash. The Roast Beef & Horseradish was quite pleasant, on the other hand. The meat was still pink and juicy, and the horseradish was good enough to lick. It was served on yet another bed of bread, which was yet again, very tasty. So I guess they must excel in bread.
We were really looking forward to dessert, the Eccles cake I had from St John Bread & Wine was so good, we ordered it again here, but I was really disappointed. The Eccles Cake & Lancashire Cheese came with a huge wedge of cheese. The pastry this time was really tough, and the filling too was really hard. I wonder if they had over baked it? The cheese itself was nice, but I was so full I couldn’t really eat very much of it. The Steamed Marmalade Pudding & Custard was really good. British cooking at its best, the custard was real custard, not like that supermarket stuff you get.
Overall, it was a good experience, just to be able to sample all these food, but I definitely don’t think it deserves to be No16.
Rating - 6.5
Atmosphere
Much like St John’s Bread & Wine, the walls are white, with hooks all alone for you to put your stuff on. There is an open kitchen. The entrance is kinda like a garage, with a path leading to the restaurant proper. We were seated in “the dining room”, a large raised space. As can be expected, the place was full and buzzing. The tables were long and it was noisy, so it was hard to have any decent conversations except with people next to you.
Rating - 2
Service
Well, things didn’t start very well. Several of our friends arrived before us but could not get seated and had to wait at the bar, but I was able to sit at the table straight away. Apparently they were rude too but I didn’t have any problems. The waiter did flatter me by telling me that she really liked my top. Otherwise she recommended one very good and one quite bad wine. The service was very slow. We told them to serve us entrees for ages but didn’t get anything until nearly 8pm. By the time we finished dessert, it was past 11pm. For the price, the service is very casual, which fits the feel of the place really. Everything is served n platters and you just help yourself.
Rating - 2.5
C-factor
I was really disappointed. The bill came to £47 p.p. True, we had a lot of food, but we didn’t need that much and it felt like the whole thing was a waste. It wasn’t as if the ingredients used were very expensive. For that amount of money I could have eaten a lot better. I have a feeling though, that if we dined in a smaller group, it would be better, as I usually never have good experience with large groups.
Rating - 0
Brownie Points - 11
Info
26 St John Street
London
EC1M 4AY
Phone +44 (0) 20 7251 0848
Website
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