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London Restaurants

St John

1 reviews | Write a review

Not good for: Vegetarains

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Lonely Planet review for St John

Bright whitewashed brick walls, high ceilings and simple wooden furniture keep diners free to concentrate on the world-famous nose-to-tail offerings. Expect offal, ox tongue and bone marrow.

 

Traveller reviews for St John (1)

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    St John – intriguing food…that I don’t know how to eat.

    thefakefoodie does not recommend this,

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    full review at: http://ordinaryvsextraordinary.wordpress.com/tag/st-john/

    Price: very reasonable, under 25GBP for the whole meal

    I was excited to go to St John, very excited. this would be my first “nose to tail” experience and I arrived eager and open to a new gastronomic experience.

    Unfortunately, at St John, my meal fell somewhere near “indifferent” on the Great Food scale. The meal wasn't bad by any means, but for a restaurant in the Top 50 it simply didn't have anything that special to offer. Let me explain…

    Before the main meal some soda bread arrives, with some solid butter. Unfortunately there's no butter knife, so I stare longingly at the bread for a while before just eating it without any delicious buttery goodness. A real shame.

    The rest: The marrow and salad I was really looking forward to, surely this would be where a nose-to-tail restaurant would shine, no? Also, I had previously been told that this was one of their specialties, so expectations were high. The dish arrives looking impressive, four bones with roasted marrow, a fresh parsley salad and grilled soda bread (burnt, sadly). The waiter garnishes with a teaspoon of sea salt and I am left to conquer the dish.

    But how does one eat marrow? There is a special fork next to me, but I have absolutely no idea what to do with it. How embarrassing. After debating I decide to scoop the marrow (no mean feat) and eat it on the toast with salad and a sprinkle of salt. Unfortunately the taste of the marrow is all but obscured by the copious amount of oil dripping from the bones. The salad accompaniment was a good addition but unfortunately without the sea salt the whole dish lacked flavour. Also, personally, it felt very odd eating with my hands in a Michelin restaurant.

    Final thought – I was glad to try St John, but although the food was “nice” – an awful adjective but the most appropriate here – I wouldn't call any of it outstanding, and as a first-timer I wasn't converted to the nose-to-tail philosophy.

    Not good for: Vegetarains

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