St John

The food at St John is always great. Simple, Authentic and Tasty.

I always have a great meal here. There are some Items I go back for (Bone Marrow, Snails, Suckling Pig), but generally I love to go to see what there will be.

I can't really fault anything, the decor is not to some peoples taste, but neither is the food. To those people I say ‘ptscchh’

The wine could be a little more than an encyclopedia of France for my palate, but what it does have is outstanding.

The eccles cakes are great and whenever I drive past I always try and pick up a couple.

The bar is a great place for a drink and a snack. If you have not been, you must go. If you have been, why are you reading this, surely you should be there now…or are you reading this on twitter?

Still one of the best places in Clerkenwell. Lovely airy and bright out in the bar, and serving excellent food and wine for a wide range of tastes. A joy whether just a quick glass of wine, or sitting down for dinner.

Our most recent visit was with a small group of friends at end Aug 09, having not eaten at St John for a couple of years. Its pretty much unchanged, and every bit as good, with its focus on simple high quality English dishes.

The main white walled dining room is rather stark and cold, especially with its warehouse style lighting – but perfect abattoir décor ! OK when busy, but it must be very “cold” when the restaurant is quieter.

The waitress and serving staff were very professional, friendly and knowledgeable, and were able to properly answer questions about the menu, and were also very willing to ask the kitchen where they were not sure. They coped very well with the very busy restaurant.

We loved the simple high quality very earthy style of meat, unusual off-cut and offal dishes (eg chitterlings). Compared to nearby HIx, St John menu seemed to have a slightly greater bias to the really gutsy stronger tasting cuts and dishes; but both restaurants are really very good.

All our courses were very tasty, although it would have been difficult for my grouse dish to have been any more “red”, which might not be to everyone’s… More

Fergus Henderson truly is one of the Gods of what I consider to be the Good Food renaissance along with Tony Bourdain, Anthony Demetre et al. As someone that was brought up on the cheaper offal ‘off’ cuts of meat I find it staggering that many people today refuse to go near them. St. John's was for me a trip down memory lane spliced with a toe dip into some slightly more left field offerings. What you can be assured of at St. John's is complete honesty. Food that is well thought out and lovingly prepared. Cured Sea Trout, Cucumber & Dill, Smoked Pork Chop with Spring Greens and the best ever Welsh Rarebit – Oh yes! Washed down with a very well priced Cotes De Provence. Highly reccomended. One of my favourite ever restaurants.

Excellent British food, good service despite lunchtime rush. Lighting in the dining room was harsh, but didn't detract from the excellent food.