St. John Bar and Restaurant

Traditional British cuisine is rightly maligned. Most of it is heavy, overcooked, cr#p, in a variety of bland (and equally heavy) sauces.

If your don't believe me, consider this; my father's mother (Ethel Kilburn) was a 1st generation Anglo-American who lived with her mother and maternal grandparents (Mary Kilburn, and John and Mary Nicholson), all of whom were born and raised in England. By the 1970's, however, the only articles of British cuisine that had survived in my grandmother's repetoire were mince pie, which she made once a year at Thanksgiving for my dad, and shepherd's pie, which she made only because we all liked it. Everything else she liked to make and eat was what we'd consider "American" cuisine. That should tell you something about the food she ate as a girl.

That's what makes the St. John Bar and Restaurant so special - British people, making British food, with British tecnhniques, and making it all taste absolutely wonderful.

My wife remembered SJBR from Anthony Bourdain's show, when he went there because the chef at SJBR is an expert in the art of "nose to tail" cooking. As an aside, Bourdain may not be the greatest chef on TV, but he is a total, absolute, and utter bad $ss, able to hold his own in the kitchen, at the dinner table, on a bar stool, or around a campfire with everyone from Eric Ripert (multi-Michelin star winning classic French chef) to Tanzanian bushmen who litterally live off the land, and everyone else in between.

For the uninitiated, nose to tail cooking involves making delicious food out of every part of an aninmal, including parts we'd normally chuck in the bin (British for throw in the trash). SJBR not only specializes in nose to tail cooking, however, it also has its own bakery and butcher shop, which means that pretty much everything that appears on your plate is super fresh (:> x 5).

SJBR is in an interesting space. The main entrace is down past that metal overhead door and leads into what was once a smokehouse (just a few blocks away is Smithfield Market, which was once the place where Londoners got their fresh meat and produce).

The interior is painted birght white, but is largely simple wood and brick, with a dining room that is just off the main room and which adjoins the kitchen with an open pass between them (which allowed my wife to watch the chefs cook dinner - an added plus for her). From the moment we sat down, we were pretty excited, not only becuase of everything we'd heard about SJBR, but also because of the smells that were wafting from the kitchen through the pass.

Our choice of appetizers was obvious (at least for us). My wife had the roast bone marrow & parsley salad and I had the foie gras, which was a special. The foie gras was amazing (when it's done right, which this was it spreads smoothly and doesn't have any bitterness) and amazingly fresh. While the toast points provided were insufficient, the complimentary fresh bread which we had earlier been served was an excellant stand-in. As my wife said "I don't even like fois gras and I like this."

Unlike my wife's bone marrow episode at Firebox, this bone marrow at SJBR was served properly (in roundlets, not with the bone hacked open). As my wife said (quoting Bourdain) "like butter from the gods." She also thought the bitterness of the parsley salad was a perfect contrast to the richness of the marrow.

For dinner, we had the pheasant & trotter pie (for two). The British love their pies, and a good pie, encased in a lovely shell of flakey (but not dry) pastry, is a wonder. This pie was a wonder of perfectly-cooked (and fresh) pastry filled with a wonderous concoction of pheasant and pigs feet in a hearty (but not heavy) gravy of flour, stock, and cooked pheasant and trotter. Yes, I know pigs feet is not exactly what most people like, but the art of nose-to-tail cooking (mastered by SJBR) is to take something like pigs feet and make it delicious to the pallette.

We also had a plate of greens, which were perfectly cooked and provided a nice contrast to the pie, both in terms of texture and taste.

For desert my wife have sherry-soaked pears layered with creme fresh and topped with slivered almonds (:> x 10). I had the Chocolate terrine & almond ice cream (:> x 7).

We asked our server to pick a wine for us and she selected a lovely red (a minervois) which not only complemented our dinner quite well, but which was a remarkable bargain at 25 pounds ($40 or so).

Total tab, including wine and desert, was only 104 pounds (say $165-170). Our dinner was outstanding and at that price, it was a monumental value (:> x 25).

SJBR is not only a very clever restaurant, but also an excellent one. I can't say enough good things about it. If you come to London and you fancy (British for like) good, wholesome, and interesting food, SJBR is a must. Here is the link to St. John Bar and Restaurant website - http://www.stjohnrestaurant.com/