A BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Thankfully our time in London was brief. Although we had some enjoyable moments, we feel there is really not that much to like about London.

After travelling for 18 hours we arrived in London and checked into our expensive hovel. After the limited and inedible offerings on our British Airways flight (thank goodness for the movies as a distraction) we arrived exceptionally hungry, jet lagged and surrounded by pommies. We decided the appropriate remedy was a trip to St John Bread and Wine for simple British fare and something that would give us some lining for a good night’s sleep. We walked into a bright white room, which was buzzing (on a Tuesday night), and which felt like a school mess hall (but in a good way). We were seated promptly and ordered with much haste. We ate the following, and it was all delicious.
* Smoked eel with horseradish cream
* Marrow soup with back fat
* Potted hare with pickled cucumber and onion
* Artichoke heart salad with boiled egg
* Spring lamb with lentils
* Lemon and raspberry posset for dessert

I think we broke records with how quickly we ate – the maitre d’ who cleared our plates even commented on how fast we finished everything.

The following night we went to the flagship St John Bar and Restaurant. This was the original, and we were hoping the best (or at least as good as the night before). We were however bitterly disappointed. With a cold welcome from the maitre d’ we were dumped at our table and left. We were eventually approached by our waitress who showed little interest in our dining experience. She struggled to describe dishes we asked about, and decided at the last minute she might vaguely tell us about some of the specials as she leaned on our table and squinted at the whiteboard on the open kitchen.

The menu being simple, sounded lovely, but when it is simple the produce has to be exemplary. We ordered 6 dishes (including dessert) and only 2 were excellent, the others are really not worth mentioning. Our favourite dish was the bone marrow with parsley salad, which was delicious and everything you could hope the dish to be – you can understand why it’s a classic after having had it. The other dish we enjoyed was the chocolate fondant with whiskey ice cream, which was the epitome of decadence, balance and richness. During our meal the waitress was more interested in polishing cutlery than topping up our wine or seeing how we were enjoying ourselves. At the end when we did not tip (yes, very unusual for us, you have to do something very wrong for that to happen), the waitress asked if everything was ok – yeah it was ok, but it should be more than ok. So as the restaurant is still full and food is still coming out of the kitchen at 10pm, the chefs thought it was timely to start drinking beer….at the pass where the whole restaurant could see. Not a good look.

It seems that St John Bar and Restaurant is riding on its reputation from years passed and that the people working there are not there because they are passionate, but because they want to work for a name. It was an unfortunate disappointment for us, but it just makes the good ones seem even better.

On our final day in London we had lunch at Moro, Sam and Sam Clark’s restaurant. We often cook from the Moro cookbooks and love their food. And sitting in the restaurant eating was like eating the pictures in the book. It was a very yummy lunch and a good place for us to catch up with an old friend of Luke’s. Of particular note were the pinto beans with mojama (air dried loin of tuna) and mint, and the setas a la plancha (fried mushrooms) including griolles and ceps.