St. John Bread and Wine

St. John was recommended to me as one of London's best "tip to tail" restaurants. I was fortunate to find a reservation on the last night of my stay and it was absolutely worth it. Without a doubt, the best dish was the smoked cod roe, egg, and cress. The roe is pureed, but unbelievably flavorful. Paired with the creamy egg yolk, the tang of the cress, and salty crunch of the layered potato pave, every bite was delightful. The house-made sourdough and pickled mackel on rye were also fantastic. The main entree was a special of the day - lamb heart with horseradish and carrots. The flavors of this dish were lovely, but lamb heart is a tougher cut of meat. The chocolate terrine with brandied prune was silky smooth, but a bit strong on the brandy for my taste. Overall, a fabulous meal. I'd absolutely go again, but with additional people so that I can try even more of their locally sourced dishes.

It was hard to get a table here and with reason, the food is phenomenal. They offer very interesting takes on English classics with fresh and quality ingredients, and an extensive wine list (try their in house Pinot Noir) immersed in a "communal long table" setting (it's one big room). Hard to pick a favourite but the treacle tart was sublime. What sets this place apart however is the service, kindest and most attentive I found in London, without pretence. Would definitely recommend this place for a cozy dinner date but also to a family.

Our fifth visit to St John Bread and Wine in Spitalfield (we're also fans of the St John Smithfield restaurant). Once again we enjoyed the friendly service from the young staff, the delightfully British menu and the comfortable surroundings. We enjoyed the Welsh Rarebit (we got the last one before it was sold out), the squid was lovely, smoked mackerel and a delightfully fresh salad. We also enjoyed a bottle of St John Cremant. We were disappointed that the bone marrow, wasn't on the menu any more. The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because they run out of menu items way too often. If your reservation is after 7pm, you can expect that most of the daily specials will be gone and even some of the regular menu items. That said, St John is still one of our favorite restaurants !

What a sad day for me….. I think I just ordered wrong. I have been here an uncountable amount of times and couldn’t normally speak more highly of the place. Hence I will be back and I will recommend to others….. However!! Cold greeting without any smiles or pleasantries. Our server comes and offers us “tap water or still / sparking” - if you want to upsell don’t offer tap unless the customer asks. Anyway, she returns and asks about other drinks, my wife misheard due to language barriers on both sides and starts to order food….. to be met with “oh right, food order then and not drinks” in a snotty response. No effort to offer up sides or make recommendations. We were asked if we wanted it all as it comes or as starters then mains - we opted for the latter but this was clearly not communicated. We received 1 soup. Then 5 mins later a starter and a main. 15mins later the other main. After we finished eating, the side of steamed veg greens arrived!!! The waitress was clearly miffed about the confusion over food vs drinks orders and told the other staff who were all looking over at my wife and clearly talking about her. Food wise; Liver parfait was more like a spread with no texture and limited taste - toast was hard and burnt Snail and chorizo was over powered by the latter and you couldn’t taste the snails. Odd dish that could have been great. Faggots and mash. Faggots had an odd texture and tasted too much of foul offal and not enjoyable or seasoned well. Mash sat in split oil or butter - again wasn’t seasoned. Steamed buttered greens - perfect as a dessert! Dessert - wanted to order but experience to this point and lack of staff attention meant we didn’t bother and left. Wine suggestion was good. Breaks my heart to write this, just have to look forward to a better experience when I return, albeit will have to convince the Mrs to return.