restaurant review: st. john bar and restaurant

The dining room at St. John.

During a recent trip to London, I returned for another dining experience at St. John Bar and Restaurant in the Clerkenwell neighborhood. See, there are certain things I like to eat when I am in London and the Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad dish is one of them. (The other things I love eating in London are St. John Bakery's custard doughnut and Tayyab's tandoori lamb chops.)

The scene
The restaurant and bar is very industrial looking because it used to be an old smokehouse. The decor is very minimalist - everything is white. Although it has one Michelin Star, the place is not stuck up. In fact, there's a nice (but not loud) buzz in the dining room.

The food

The Roasted Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad.

I've eaten plenty of roasted bone marrow dishes but St. John's version, which apparently has been emulated by many chefs around the world, tops my list. See, the richness of the bone marrow is tempered by the tangy parsley salad, and brought to life with a tiny bit of sea salt. And when you spread the marrow on top of the crunchy toasted bread, it's like eating heaven. Seriously, if this is all you order at St. John, you're golden.

The Eccles Cake and Lancashire Cheese is another dish that deserves a mention. Eccles cake is not a cake but a pastry... a very buttery pastry so it is nice and flaky. The dried fruit inside the pastry go well with the slightly salty flavor of the Lancashire cheese. It's delicious, and also a very British dish.
St. John offers more goodness. During this recent and previous visits, I've tried other dishes such as the woodcock (a small game bird), pig's cheeks, and herring roes. All are delicious but nothing beats the bone marrow and the eccles cake.

Eccles Cake and Lancashire Cheese.

The service

The staff got a bit distracted by not properly spacing delivery of each dish we ordered. Other than that, the service was friendly.

The price

St. John is not the cheapest one Michelin Star I have had the pleasure of dining in (that honor goes to Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong). But, I've paid about the same amount for less worthy restaurants in the US. With a bottle of wine and a digestive, the bill for a satisfying meal for two could range from US$150 to $200. Of course, if you order more food and booze, that will set you back a whole lot more.

How to get a table 

You can give them a call or book through OpenTable.

If you've eaten at St. John, what were your favorite dishes?