I went to the party to celebrate the 25th. anniversary of St. John, the wonderful and austerely carnivorous restaurant established by Fergus Henderson, who was trained at the Architectural Association and has an eye for design as well as pigs, and Trevor Gulliver, also once an architect, in St. John Street in an old smokehouse in the days when, nearly impossible to remember, property was cheap owing to its proximity to the meat market. I was reminded of the fact that we interviewed Trevor Gulliver to run the restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery. At the time, he had a smart restaurant, Putney Bridge, on the banks of the Thames. Over the years, I’ve had many memorably delicious meals at St. John and even more at St. John Bread and Wine in Spitalfields, as well as living as much as possible on their bread and doughnuts from Maltby Street. I salute their achievement !
St John is the best thing to happen in the British restaurant world these last 25 years, although I loved early Fat Duck, c. 1998, which I reviewed a few times wearing my Good Food Guide inspector hat. Alas, discarded in 2007.
Ex-St. John Bread & Wine chef, Tom Pemberton, now at Hereford Road, Notting Hill, still producing earthy & tasty food at astonishingly low prices – especially the brilliant set lunch @£13.50 for 2 courses. Always delicious. Always seasonal.
Anchor & Hope on the Cut at Waterloo also a St. John descendant as is the Canton Arms in Camberwell. We eat at all as often as possible but not often enough.
Dear Pam, The St. John diaspora. Harvey Cabaniss who ran Verde in Spitalfields in another brilliant ex-St. John chef. Charles
St John is indeed splendid, though it is perhaps rather over the top to say it’s the best in London over the psst 25 years.
Good to know about the Anchor and Hope. Thank you.