I have longed wanted to visit St John and it very nearly made my list of places to visit this year. It was one of the restaurant to reintroduce nose to tail eating (before offal became a regular on menus up and down the country) back in 1994. It is just round the corner from work so me and a friend popped there for lunch, I have walked past lots of times but when I walked in I did not expect the place to feel so light and airy.
They have converted an old smoke house and put in skylights, a bar and little cafe in the main area and then the dining room, where we went is elevated from this by a few steps and feels cosier. The walls are all white and the furniture simple, it instantly feels honest but like you are going to get some great food too.
I wanted to make sure I tried things I had not before and nearly went for the snails in bacon but changed my mind at the last minute and started with roasted bone marrow and parsley salad. On my plate were four pieces of bone marrow, you scoop out the marrow and spread on the toasted bread, sprinkle in salt and top with the parsley, capers and fine shallots. The marrow was delicious and the parsley cut through the fat and stopped it feeling overly rich.
I also struggled to choose a main dish as I wanted to try everything! I decided to go for the hare saddle as I have never tried it before, this has quite a gamey flavour as you can imagine but it was cooked really well so was soft with a slight crisping on the outside, this came with well seasoned beetroot and we shared some sprout tops.
I would like to go back and check out the bar area for lunch and maybe try a cake as they looked yummy too. A little on the pricey side but if felt like a real treat, the food was fresh and great quality and most importantly cooked well, as you can tell by how clean my plate was.
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