St Johns. Again.

Rav and Rob have never eaten at St Johns. We thought that we'd organise a lunch over at the Smithfields restaurant one day.

Rocking up on a Friday, we're sat at our table. Fergus Henderson isn't in the kitchen today, though, I don't think he does lunches.... Had a look on the net for their on-line menu and I had been looking forward to ordering the ox heart and chips. However, we get there and they'd changed their menu.

I ended up ordering both entree and main from the specials of the day.
Duck hearts and mashed parsnips (?) Found the dish boring. Think it was more me than the dish - I like my taste strong and punchy... The duck hearts were chewy in texture but there wasn't all that much taste- the sherry reduction wasn't enough to lift the dish. Mashed, unidentifiable veggies... blah.... Rav had the roast marrowbone and parsley salad. I didn't take a photo, as I'd had the dish before. Rob didn't have a starter, but he did try some of Rav's and liked it.

Mains- Rob ordered the tripe and chips!!!!! As he said himself, this, coming from a person who'd normally go for a steak and veggie dish- this was a far outside his comfort zone as it ever could be... What you can see- breaded and fried tripe pieces, some chips and in the bowl are shallots pickled in some vinegar.

Rav had a pair of slip soles. We thought they were some sort of footwear... Nothing of the sort. Just a pair of really fresh fish, pan fried in butter.

I had another option off the specials of the day. Roasted woodcock. (I can already imagine the jokes). Kinda like a pigeon. It had been roasted whole, then the liver, sweetbreads... etc had been taken out, deglazed with sherry, then squashed and spread onto a slice of toast. The head was then split so that I could get at the brain with a little silver spoon.

Kinda okay. They roasted the bird till it was rare, so it made it hard to get at the meat. However, it was rather tasty. Just a bother to hack at. The brain... tasted like brain... FYI, it's almost three times the size of a chicken's brain. Shows how dumb chickens are, in comparison...

We skipped dessert and went back to work. Waaaaay too much rich food in one go, that's for sure.