Lunch at St John Bread and Wine Spitalfield - Aug 2010

Where: St John Bread and Wine, Commercial Street

With who: Northern Mother
How much: £25 for three largish plates to share, at least half a loaf of their excellent sourdough bread and a nice glass of Voignier.


Arriving back in London via Liverpool Street on a Sunday still has me straining at the leash to hit Spitalfields, but since my chain resto disappointment detailed last month I've totally lost faith with the 'old' market, and now loop round it to hit the Up-Market (geddit, geddit!!!), Truman's Brewery (for the inestimable Rough Trade Records) and the food stalls clustered around the top end of Brick Lane under the new and shiny Overland line.


That being said, a new street food dim sum concept eatery called NOW has just opened on Liverpool Street and I'm a sucker for concepts, especially steamed ones, so I hauled Northern Mother along there. Before walking in, I'd been entertaining hopes of a dim sum version of the legendary Moolis and hadn't, yet, realised that it was part of the Ping Pong chain. It's fairly obvious as you walk in that's where they're from and the initial view was disappointing. A pared down range of pre-prepared parcels sat in their take-away boxes in a central steamer. I would report on the food but the four staff took ten minutes to serve the couple in front of us, seemingly not happy for them to leave the counter and refusing to move to the next customers until every item had been commented on, loaded onto their tray and paid for. As for the concept of lunchtime dim sum boxes, they've certainly got to get a lot better at actually serving the stuff at speed, even if it does just arrive pre-packed from a warehouse in Slough. 


A derisory stomp past the grockles queueing outside Wagamama and The Real Greek brought up Commerical Street and a cheeky sidestep into St John Bread & Wine. It was like diving into a cool outdoor pool on a hot summer's day. The high white walls are reminiscent of a butcher's shop from bygone days and the tiled floors, piles of bread and high windows remind me of my grandmother's pantry. The casually efficient staff glide between the close parked tables with insouciance and slot us neatly into a spare two top. Owned by Fergus Henderson and sister to the splendid St John in Farringdon, this, the smaller restaurant, is a more casual spot, opened some seven years ago when they needed room to expand and moved the bakery operation down to Commercial Street. 


The food arrived as it was ready, looking like it could have come from the rose tinted pantry of my childhood. Potted pork with sweet pickled gherkins was creamy and moreish, with a salty kick and a pleasing bite. It was an enormous portion for the price and perfect spread on the rapidly diminishing pile of sourdough. This was followed by thin sliced Middle White ham, served with a side of crisp, tart and mustardy piccalilli and the light lunch finished off with thin slivers of a nutty and slightly sour Ticklemore goats cheese, served with freshly shucked raw peas and topped with peashoots. Food of champions.