St John Restaurant

I think that the first time I heard about Fergus Henderson and the St John restaurant was in Anthony Bourdain’s “Les Halles Cookbook / A Cook’s Tour”, and I’ve wanted to go to the restaurant ever since. I check the online menu on a weekly basis, bought Fergus Henderson’s “Nose to Tail Eating” cookbook and salivated over the recipes, and talked dreamy-eyed about how good the food would be.

So you can imagine how excited I was to FINALLY be going to St John on a recent trip to London.

The sun was getting low as we walked up to St. John Street from the Farringdon tube station, and the expectation was building.. All of those reviews I’d read, and the glowing references from Bourdain et al, were running through my head. But as we turned the corner I’ll admit to being somewhat surprised. For a Michelin-starred restaurant (which usually means some pretension and shirty-ness) the relaxed and friendly atmosphere was immediately noticeable – the large double-doors were wide open, and people from the bar casually chatted out on the pavement in the summer sun.

The restaurant is located, rather fittingly, in what was previously a bacon smokehouse next to London’s most famous meat market, Smithfield. The interior is minimalistic and bare, with white tiles and black paint-work predominating – it’s been described as ‘abattoir-chic’ by those in the know. From the description it might sound austere and sterile, but far from it – it’s cosy, comfortable, and honest, and leaves you in no doubt – you’re there to eat!

The crowd in the bar looked to be casually enjoying a drink in their local bar, and that was exactly the easy-going, welcoming vibe that I picked up. But as we made our way up the small staircase to the restaurant proper, the atmosphere changed – a buzz of conversation from our fellow diners, and the sound of some serious digesting going on. The dining room put me in mind of a Victorian refectory – rows of wooden tables, white walls, and grey flooring.

The focus is entirely on seasonal and traditional British dishes, simply cooked and presented. I’ve read elsewhere, and from experience it’s important to bear in mind that, what is states in the menu is exactly what you get – for example, “crispy pigs’ tails and green salad” means you get pigs’ tails and salad, no more, no less. As you can already tell, the menu is an eye-opener: dishes that have fallen out of fashion, with ingredients that might make the meat-comes-in-cellophane-from-the-supermarket types blanch but which are full of flavour and don’t waste a single speck of the animal, are in abundance. The waiters all seem to be extremely approachable, and are certainly knowledgeable – ours explained dishes and suggested accompaniments as we navigated through the menu, which was really appreciated.

Starters

Kelly choose Foie Gras with Sourdough toast to start. Luckily for me that we have a long-standing agreement – we always get to taste each other’s dishes – and the foie was certainly worth it. The rich, butter-y, slightly game-y flavour was complemented perfectly by the tangy sourness of the bread for an indulgent “pate on toast”.

I chose Fergus Henderson’s signature Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad. Eating there for the first time, I think it’s a “must have”. Four roasted bones duly arrived, served oven-hot with a fresh salad of parsley, capers and shallots and two slices of toasted sourdough. Our waiter provided me with a fork-like utensil with which to extract the unctuous marrow, and placed sel gris onto my plate. The rich, meat-y aroma was almost too much to endure and I eagerly attacked the plate. Half the fun of the dish is rooting around in the bone to find every morsel of marrow, and I made sure that they were picked clean by the end. The combination of marrow, parsley salad, sel gris and toasted sourdough is simply phenomenal: sticky, rich, fatty marrow, against the fresh and bitter parsley, the sweet shallots, and the sharpness of the capers and salt is heaven. Your tastebuds literally explode!

Main Course

I LOVE offal, but it’s something that you rarely see on menus in Northern Ireland – and one of the reasons why St John is such an attraction for me. The Tripe, Sausage & Chickpea main course confirmed that we really are missing out here – the bowl-like dish was swimming in a rich, meaty, tomato-based broth, with tender, spicy sausage (very like chorizo) and chickpeas bobbing on the surface, and a bed of tripe in the centre. I’ll admit, tripe has a bad reputation, but I’ve always found it to have a subtle liver-y flavour which, with the spicy sausage and tomato was just heaven. Even the slighty sponge-y, honeycombed texture gives the dish a new dimension – a tactile treat as your tastebuds savour the combination of flavours.

Kelly’s Chitterlings (or “Chitlins” in America) with chicory and butter beans was a new one on me – neither of us knew what to expect – but we needn’t have worried! Chitterlings are pigs’ intestines and have a sort of creamy tenderness to them – the texture reminded me slightly of Calamari, but more meaty in texture. The flavour is also difficult to describe: there’s a subtle pork taste, some mild saltiness. Together with the butterbeans they were delicious – I was lucky to get a taste, to be honest, as the next time I looked Kelly mopped up every morsel.

Dessert

Kelly has a real penchant for anything lemon (and vodka!), so the Lemon Sorbet and Russian Vodka leapt out from the menu. The combination was certainly interesting: the bitterness of the vodka was balanced by the slight astringency and lingering sweetness of the sorbet; the cold of the sorbet giving way to the warm blast of alcohol from the vodka. It was also a great way to end the meal – satisfying but light enough so you didn’t feel as if you’d need the waiter to roll you out the door.

For me, the dessert has never really been the attraction – I much prefer savoury flavours, and usually go for a cheese-board rather than some confection. But, just like the Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad the Eccles Cake & Lancashire Cheese is a part of St John’s personality – and hey, it has cheese in it! The cheese was good – a wedge of salty, soft and mellow Lancashire cheese served at room temperature to release the aroma and flavours. It was also a perfect partner for the pastry: a puff of crisp and butter-y pastry filled with a thick layer of intensely sweet, gooey raisins. By themselves the two components were extremely good – together, they were superb.

Wine

Cotes du Rousillon (2008) – You can read the review of the Cotes du Rousillon (2008) here.

Our Verdict

St John is excellent – really. Everything you should admire and love about good food and eating out. Go. Eat there. Again and again and again.

Our rating: 5 out of 5

St. JOHN Bar & Restaurant Smithfield
26 St John Street
London
EC1M 4AY
Tel: 020 7251 0848 (reservations)
Fax 020 7251 4090
w: www.stjohnrestaurant.com
e: reservations@stjohnrestaurant.com (reservations)
You can also see St John Restaurant Smithfield on Google Maps

There is a sister restaurant called “St John Bread and Wine” in Spitalfields (94-96 Commercial Street, London E1 6LZ)

La Cucina Caldesi

Niall and I are always debating what our favourite foods are and I have to say mine has to be Italian, I just LOVE it. Italian cooking is very difficult to pin down though – almost every city and town has its specialties, and there are regional trends too. The end result is a huge number of local cuisines rather than a single national cuisine. That is why I think I love it so much, there is so much to choose from that you never get bored.

For Niall’s birthday I decided to take him to an Italian Cookery school in London (not that he needs the experience!!). La Cucina Caldesi in Marlyebone is the only Italian cookery school in London and it has lots of different courses that will suit everyone. We decided to do the ‘Saturday Night Italian’ Course with chef Stefano Borella.

When we arrived to be honest I was feeling slightly nervous – I’m the “Dessert Queen” (Niall’s words, not mine) in our house and I never usually cook a main course. As soon as we arrived though all my nerves went away as we were warmly greeted by chef Stefano, handed our Caldesi aprons, and given the all-important menu.

To both our delights we were going to be cooking rocket salad with char-grilled and marinated peppers and roasted goats’ cheese. Seafood Fregola followed, and the meal was rounded-off by meringue nests with summer fruits and chantilly cream. One thing though, what is Fregola?? Thankfully it wasn’t just me that didn’t know what it was. It is a form of pasta that is used mostly in Sardinia and is kind of like Couscous (both fregola and couscous are fine beads of semolina pasta).

As people drifted in we started by getting to know each other – the people in the class came from all over the world, from England to as far afield as America and Australia. We all had an interest in cooking and eating which made the introductions and small-talk that much easier.

Chef Stefano ran through the menu with us and then gave everyone in the class a job to do. My job was to chop the VERY HOT chillies and Niall got the easier job (although I’m sure he would disagree) of chopping the herbs…… We even got to use the blow-torch to brown the top of the goats cheese which was pretty fun. Chef Stefano showed us how to make a wonderful stock for the Seafood Fregola which was so tasty and surprisingly simple to do. We then set about making the meringue nests with summer fruits and chantilly cream which was superb. My meringue was an interesting shape…. although it worked out great because it ended up the biggest (not that I deliberately made it that way, I swear!!)

The atmosphere was really relaxed and everyone had great fun preparing the meal. Once everything was ready we all sat down together with a few glasses of wine and got tucked into the food. It was fantastic, i loved the starter in particular but I couldn’t fault any of the courses – they were delicious.

Niall and I were the last to leave as we chatted away to Chef Stefano about food, working in the London food scene (particularly about the high-profile restaurants in which he has – the Savoy and Churchill, as well as Caldesi), and football (Chef Stefano is a Charlton supporter.. it takes all sorts I guess).

I would definitely recommend La Cucina Caldesi for an alternative night out. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday evening – we met some really nice people, ate some great food, and we learned a lot from Chef Stefano who was a great tutor.

There are a whole range of different courses, from wine-tasting courses, to Saturday night cookery classes, to 7 week Italian cookery courses – and we’re already looking online to see what course we can book next!

You can view the slideshow hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5

Other Information

Our Saturday Night Italian Cookery Class cost just over £90 per person.

La Cucina Caldesi
118 Marylebone Lane
London, W1U 2QF
Tel: 0207 487 0750/6/8
Fax: 0207 935 8832
w: www.caldesi.com/la-cucina-caldesi/
e: lacucina@caldesi.com
You can also see La Cucina Caldesi on Google Maps