I first heard about St. John when I was reading about London restaurants many years ago, I think…read morefor a trip with my then boyfriend in 2010. We're married now, and just went back to London with my side of the family, a party of 11 including three small kids. I was in charge of booking restaurants for a few massive dinners, and I decided we would all try the iconic St. John.
This involved contacting the restaurant over a month in advance and going back and forth with events manager Thea Elder, exchanging over 20 emails about menus, children, signatures, etc. She was great, always prompt and helpful. With our party size, we had to pre-order the feasting menu, which was £100 per adult, and no charge for the children. It included two starters, two mains, and two desserts, served family style, which I selected with her guidance. I also added some extras, a starter and a few sides. Unnecessary, but I have no regrets.
After all that, I had a sick kid the day of our reservation, and St. Grandma ended up staying back at the hotel with both of my sons. I let the restaurant know, but it didn't really matter. I understood we were on the hook for a dinner for eight, and to be honest, my mom wouldn't have eaten her share anyway.
The restaurant was instantly likable, a casual, vibrant place with the easy air of a beloved institution. Service was professional and friendly. We didn't need much, as everything was pre-set. We weren't even shown the daily menu, and weren't given the option to order anything a la carte (I wouldn't have minded adding a thing or two that not everyone would have wanted, but Thea had told me this might not be possible, and we already had too much food). We did get an XL bottle of red wine to go with our XL dinner, as well as two other red bottles. Good wine at decent prices, especially for a Michelin-starred joint.
The food was outstanding. I'd heard from multiple people that St. John was British cooking at its best, and that was certainly my experience. Everything was delicious, and unlike anything I ever see where we live, in California. The presentation was homey but nice, the platters intimidatingly large.
Dinner started with the house brown bread and butter, fantastic, and langoustines with mayonnaise, one of my additions to the feasting menu. These were sweet, plump langoustines in their shells, served with mayonnaise and lemon.
For our starters, I went with the roast bone marrow and parsley salad and the poached salt fish, samphire, and potato. The bone marrow is famous, a St. John signature, on the menu continuously since 1994. It's the direct ancestor of all the bone marrow dishes in upscale restaurants across the world, and also an approachable example of Fergus Henderson's nose-to-tail cooking. It was delicious and fun to eat, the rich gloopy marrow served in open bones with bread to spread it on, coarse salt and bright parsley salad to put on top. The salt fish was equally excellent, sort of a big salad with delicate cold fish and creamy potatoes with samphire, a salty seaweedy plant I'd never had before. I loved this dish.
I ordered the roast beef and crispy pig's cheek for our mains, figuring the roast beef would be safe and the pig's cheek adventurous in the St. John spirit. The roast beef was lovely, tender and flavorful, served with horseradish, greens, and trenchers, bread to soak up all the juices. The crispy pig's cheek was great, meaty and gelatinous, tossed with green beans, roast shallot, and a dressing to bind it all together. There were enough vegetables in the mix that we probably didn't need our extra order of green salad, but it was nice. Likewise the potatoes. The Welsh rarebit, on the other hand, was definitely additive. A fat slab of golden toast smothered in a delectable hot cheese sauce.
Desserts were splendid. Moist, spicy ginger loaf came in sticky butterscotch sauce. On the lighter end, a lush berry mousse with thick cream and sweet raspberries and strawberries. Both top tier desserts, as notable as the meats.
This was a wonderful dinner, truly a memorable family feast. I hope to come back to St. John whenever I'm able to visit London. Maybe next time, I'll try a little more nose and tail.