St John Bread & Wine Spitalfields

St John Bread & Wine Spitalfields
94-96 Commercial Street
London E1 6LZ map
Reservations 020 7247 8724

My umpteenth visit to St. John’s Bread & wine behind Spitalfields, for both business and pleasure. Highly recommended.

I do think you need to be a little careful when ordering at St. John’s with people you don’t know well, as people’s tastes for this food can vary and there’s so much good, it’s best to gain a small consensus and then share. That’s my philosophy anyway. It can also be surprisingly good for veggies depending on what’s in season and this time, we ate all veggie (ok and seafood which strict veggies won’t count).

First, if you’re hungry grab as much yummy bread as you want (normally, I don’t advocate eating too much bread as it fills you up, but it can depend on your hunger status).

Secondly, scour the menu for what’s fresh in season. New English peas (fresh no adornment, just squeeze them out of the pod) and razor clams (garlic, shallots, some vinaigrette) were high on the list. Also French bean salad with duck egg (soft bean, a little shallot for texture and taste, yolky egg) and I had to restrain myself from the foie gras, which last time was melting, buttery and slightly milky, without the hint of bitterness or overcookedness lesser foie gras can have. All in all, excellent on the food front.

Thirdly, check the black board for specials and make sure you get your odre in before they all disappear! They often have great large dishes for sharing like whole leg of kid or should of lamb.

No wine this time, but the wine list is very regional French, I’d go for the lesser known wines and by the cup is fine. The mark up is very transparent as the take home price is also given. This might annoy some, but I prefer to know what the margins are than not. Acutally St. J is probably the mid to lower end in terms of wine mark ups compared to many other restaurants.

The atmosphere can be a bit noisy and occasionally a bit smoky, but it’s always relaxed and the pared back wood floor and white wall (for white I wonder if Ottolenghi took a lead out of the St. J book). It is simple , functional and for me, comforting.

The score:

Food: I go back again & again for both lunch, dinner and some time breakfast (see bacon sarnie tip below). Provenance of food is top notch. One of the only places to get middle white pig (my favourite breed of pig to eat).

Wine: Eclectic, interesting regional French, from cheap to burn hole in pocket prices

Value: Starters £2-£8, mains £10-15 (you can share 3 dishes at £5 and eat lots of bread, for two of you or go all out and be £20 to £40 a head.)

Veggie friendliness: Surprisingly ok for veggies and fish although meat does tend to dominate.

Top tips: For breakfast one of the best bacon sarnies (old spot bacon, home made ketchup). Make sure you check out the blackboard specials for food and wine. Eccles cakes and savouries very good to take back too.