St. JOHN London

Awards

MICHELIN Guide

One star restaurant, 2024

All Michelin stars in London All Michelin stars in United Kingdom All 1 star Michelin in London All 1 star Michelin in United Kingdom

OAD

European Casual Restaurants 2023, Highly Recommended

All OAD European Casual in London All OAD European Casual in United Kingdom

Restaurant Ranking

Restaurant Ranking 2023, #4442

All Restaurant Ranking in London All Restaurant Ranking in United Kingdom

Eatinerary's

Eatinerary's Locals Short List

Eatinerary's Locals Short List in London Eatinerary's Locals Short List in United Kingdom

Chef

Fergus Henderson

Cuisine

Traditional British

• 2016

8 / 10

Meal at St John Bar & Restaurant

on 29 Jul 2016

by Richard Bagnold

This was a long over due visit as I have not been back since 2011 – five years later it is very good to see it again. The food was very much the same, winning formula of clean and flavoursome ingredients which are not complicated. The cooking here is confident and respectful to the key parts to each dish – the sardines, as fresh as they come, had beautifully crisp and light skin with succulent meat with natural oils, lemon and subtle herbs to maximise the sardine flavour and not let that... More

This was a long over due visit as I have not been back since 2011 – five years later it is very good to see it again. The food was very much the same, winning formula of clean and flavoursome ingredients which are not complicated. The cooking here is confident and respectful to the key parts to each dish – the sardines, as fresh as they come, had beautifully crisp and light skin with succulent meat with natural oils, lemon and subtle herbs to maximise the sardine flavour and not let that be overtaken.

I can’t quite believe the pictures of the crispy pig skin or bone marrow did not come out, however, the latter was better than I remember and when is it not nice to have pork scratching done to near perfection? The welsh rarebit was also better than I remembered and the butterscotch sauce with the bread and butter pudding was basically faultless. A superb meal again with a lovely pint of Trinity ale which is the other wonderful bonus of this bar, come bakery, come restaurant venue that, it uniquely even looks like a blend of all three and in its informality you can have a pint. A lovely lunch making me resolved to getting round to doing the other St John establishments whenever I can.

I can’t quite believe the pictures of the crispy pig skin or bone marrow did not come out, however, the latter was better than I remember and when is it not nice to have pork scratching done to near perfection? The welsh rarebit was also better than I remembered and the butterscotch sauce with the bread and butter pudding was basically faultless. A superb meal again with a lovely pint of Trinity ale which is the other wonderful bonus of this bar, come bakery, come restaurant venue that, it uniquely even looks like a blend of all three and in its informality you can have a pint. A lovely lunch making me resolved to getting round to doing the other St John establishments whenever I can.

In terms of the food, the bone marrow dish I had along with welsh rarebit was a simple delight and the addition of a bottle of Worcestershire sauce at the table to allow for individual taste added to the unpretentious nature of the establishment. It is, essentially a carnivore’s heaven and a good celebration would be for a pork-friendly group to have the whole suckling pig with all the trimmings as this would be wonderful dinner I am certain, based on the quality of the dishes I had and the style of the menu. All in all, a special place owing to its individuality and I definitely need to come back again to stretch the menu more.

https://major-foodie.com/st-john-bar-restaurant/
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