Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
£55. Mon-Thurs noon-2:30pm and 6-10:30pm; Fri noon-2:30pm and 6-11pm; Sat 6-11pm. Tube: Barbi-
can or Farringdon.
St. John
MODERN BRITISH “Nose to tail eating” characterizes Fergus
Henderson's no-nonsense approach. All parts of the animal are used—neck, tongue,
trotters, tail, liver, and heart—to produce dishes that devotees travel miles for.
Smoked sprats with potato and horseradish; potted beef and pickled prunes; or, for
the truly dedicated, roast bone marrow and parsley salad. It's a seasonally led menu—
in winter Gloucester Old Spot pork chop with bitter chard will keep out the cold. The
ingredients are the best; the cooking is superb; the dish is what it says on the menu;
the restaurant is a plain, whitewashed room in a former smokery. There's a sister
restaurant in Spitalfields,
St. John Bread & Wine
, 94-96 Commercial St., E1
(
&
020/7251-0848;
www.stjohnbreadandwine.com; Tube: Liverpool St.).
26 St. John St., EC1.
&
020/7251-0848.
www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk. Reservations required. Main
courses £13.70-£29.50. AE, DC, MC, V. Mon-Fri noon-3pm; Mon-Sat 6-11pm. Tube: Farringdon.
TOWER HILL
Moderate
Bevis Marks Restaurant
JEWISH Bevis Marks is a surprising venue—a
kosher restaurant attached to London's 18th-century synagogue. Stylish and very
popular, it's widely recognized as the best kosher restaurant in London. The menu is
an interesting mix of traditional Ashkenazi dishes and those with Asian influences.
On the starter menu, chicken soup with matzo balls sits happily beside “Bevis Marks”
crispy Thai salt-beef, bean shoots, sweet chili, and cilantro. Main dishes continue
down the same path: English lamb chops come with new potatoes roasted in rose-
mary; chicken with lime leaf-scented rice and Thai green curry sauce. There's an
interesting selection of Israeli bottles on a pricey wine list.
Bevis Marks, EC3.
&
020/7283-2220.
www.bevismarkstherestaurant.com. Main courses £14.50-
£24.95. AE, MC, V. Mon-Thurs noon-3pm and 5:30-10pm; Fri noon-3pm. Tube: Aldgate or Liverpool St.
East London
SHOREDITCH
Expensive
Les Trois Garçons
FRENCH Walk into Les Trois Garçons and you enter
a fantasy, or possibly a nightmare, according to your taste. The interior of this former
Victorian pub is full of glittering, lurid colored and crystal chandeliers, old handbags
that hang from the ceiling, stuffed animals, and general bric-a-brac. The three “gar-
çons,” Hassan Abdullah, Michel Lassere, and Stefan Karlson opened the restaurant
10 years ago and have not looked back since. The menu is equally flamboyant, offer-
ing dishes that some find sublime and others just too over the top. Try their famous
foie gras cured in Sauternes and cooked “
au torchon
” (in a tea towel), or perhaps a
perfectly cooked tortellini of crab with bacon crisp offset with lemongrass sauce. This
is an expensive restaurant, but great fun and a place to go if the culinary world seems
drab and predictable.
1 Club Row, E1.
&
020/7613-1924.
www.lestroisgarcons.com. Reservations essential. Tasting menu £62
(whole table only); set menu 2 courses £39.50, 3 courses £45.50. AE, MC, V. Mon-Sat 7pm-midnight.
Tube: Liverpool St./Train: Shoreditch High St.
Moderate
Princess of Shoreditch
MODERN BRITISH/GASTROPUB This handsome
old pub close to Old Street has been beautifully transformed. The downstairs bar fills
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