St John

Photos by Jet Tila

As promised, the belated St John experience!

My expectation of St John was actually, embarrassingly, quite low. My impression of English food was not that good, even though I was always fed extremely well by my friends and family, and the foodie TV always looked appetizing and fabulous.

The anticipation of Taillevent (being a Michelin restaurant) was really built up, especially as they specify a dress code, and required a 2 month advance booking. So you can imagine my surprise when I actually sat down to the meal in London in jeans, then being served the most amazing array of food I think I have ever had.

We were joined by Jet's cousin Meg which was a lovely treat, and it also allowed us to try extra dishes as there were three of us rather than just two! And it allowed us to indulge once more in the familiar accent of home.

The restaurant seated us right by the kitchen, which would be hell for most other patrons, but for us, it allowed Jet to spy into the kitchen and watch the skilled chefs prepare everyone's meals. There was one particular chef that we watched with fascination. The intensity in which he prepared the salads for each dish was amazing. And if it's even possible, just seeing that made the food taste even better.

We started with:

 Roast Bone Marrow & Parsley Salad

Deep Fried Skate Cheeks & Aioli

Cured Beef, Beetroot & Pickled Walnut

Followed by:

Bath Chaps & Dandelion Salad

Pigeon & Radishes

Smoked Eel, Bacon & Mash

Then (as if we could fit any more in):

Apple Crumble & Custard

Ginger Loaf & Butterscotch Sauce

Chocolate Mousse & Hazelnut Biscuits

The meal was just so rich in taste, that even I, with my usually insatiable sweet tooth, couldn't finish off the desserts!

After dinner, we walked the long way back to the tube, said farewell to Meg (whom we will hopefully be seeing again soon) and made our way back to our digs, happy, full and exhausted.