I've had this restaurant on my London list since finding out about the San Pellegrino Top 50 restaurants in the world list several years ago. St. John peaked at number 10 several years back, was rated 41 in 2011, but sadly didn't make the final cut in 2012. Perhaps the cuisine doesn't figure in the recent trends; nonetheless the reputation built upon modern British cooking prevails.
The notion of nose-to-tail cooking is highlighted here - respecting an animal enough to use the whole beast for food. The menu therefore reads as exciting to someone like me, and simultaneously potentially disturbing for less adventurous eaters.
On our visit, the daily menu tickled us with less common dishes using pig's skin, duck hearts, trotters, ox hearts and other ingredients I hadn't come across before such as pink firs (a type of waxy potato), sea aster (an ocean plant), and damson (a type of plum that tastes like a prune) amongst others.
- Devilled Pig's Skin & Smoked Cod's Roe - akin to smoked pig flavoured prawn crackers
- Brown Shrimp, Artichoke & Boiled Egg - simple and tasty, although the prawns didn't seem to have strong intrinsic flavour
- Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad - lusciously soft marrow (ie. fat) spread upon toast and brought to life with a sprinkling of salt flakes and an optional topping of parsley and raw spanish onion. Fat never tasted so good. Ever.
- Razor Clams, Pink Firs & Sea Aster - nice ingredients obviously notably the clams with good texture and mild flavour
- Snails, Duck Hearts & Trotter - a rich buttery sauce soaking the ingredients nicely. I don't think I paid enough attention to the heart and trotters as I should have. Will have to try it again next time and be more awake.
- Ox Heart, Turnips & Mustard - ox heart is one of my favourite ingredients from any restaurant and this was a quality specimen cooked to a light red inside and the excellent characteristic texture and flavour I expect from it.
We finished off the meal with some nice sweets including Baked Cheesecake & Damson, which is made with a goat's curd that makes it unusual but also a bit strange having such a prominent curd-flavour as a dessert. Raspberry & Almond Eclair looked like a fat kid's dream with raspberry sauce dripping from the pastry, and Treacle Toffee Ice Cream was as rich as it sounds. Good but I wouldn't say any were necessary if you aren't a dessert person.
A great meal, long overdue, and such an impressive collection of ingredients.
Next time I would order Roast Bone Marrow and Ox Heart as my favourite dishes of the night. Snails had a lovely sauce and I particularly want to try the duck hearts & trotter again. Of the rest of the menu the Venison, Prune & Trotter Pie looked great on another table and would be a definite order if I had more appetities for company.
