London Day 1 - Dinner at St John

We arrived in London from Paris on October 21^st via the Eurostar train to celebrate a very special 7^th anniversary with an 8 night stay at The Savoy Hotel.  I booked dinner at St John Restaurant months in advance and we were joined by very dear, close friends, Brian from Madrid and Phil from Victoria.  St John Restuarant ( www.stjohnrestaurant.com , 26 St John Street, London, 020 3301 8069) is owned by Fergus Henderson and his wife who started the ‘nose to tail’ food trend in 1994, with specialties like roasted bone marrow, veal sweetbreads and ox heart.  It was a bit of an ordeal to find the restaurant then an even greater ordeal once we were there!

We arrived a few minutes late after navigating a huge smoker crowd outside, and a huge bar crowd inside before getting to the restaurant entrance which lead us to a smoking hot (temperature) dining room.  All of the staff, dressed in white to appear as butchers, are super professional and knowledgeable.  Our server told us about some interesting specials, we ordered the house Bordeaux and chose our starters.  Our starters consisted of the special squash soup, grilled sardines, crispy pigs ears and calf brains on braised chicory.  Each were prepared using simple techniques and were all fabulous.  The sardines were deboned and grilled with a simple vinaigrette to allow the flavour of the sardine to shine through.  The squash soup topped with tiny croutons, one of the few vegetarian starters, was one of the most flavourful vegetarian soups I have ever tried.  The crispy pigs ears were the type of dish you could serve to anyone who loves deep fried food and they would love it, as long as they didn’t know what they were actually eating. Similarly, the lamb brains I ordered were prepared in the traditional grenoblaise style with lemons, capers and olive oil.  Similar to sweetbreads, although not breaded, the texture and flavour were even more delicate than sweetbreads.

Our main courses were more disappointing.  The grouse I ordered exceeded my expectations, with a side of grouse foie gras on toast and mashed potatoes.  The grouse itself was cooked medium rare, tender and gamey as I expected.  However, the other main courses did not meet expectations.  The middlewhite (pork chop) was quite thin and exceedingly fatty.  Both Jeff and Brian ordered the braised hare with swede (chard), but were disappointed with the gamey flavour, portion sizes and lack of tenderness.  We expected the hare to be fall off the bone tender but it was a bit of a challenge to eat.  As we approached the end of our main courses one of us had an issue with a rock hard hare bone which resulted in an abrupt end to our dinner.  I had looked forward to dinner at St John since 2009, but was disappointed by our collective experience.  That being said, it was a real treat to meet our dear friend Brian on this very special evening in London.

Paris - Dinner Day 1 - Les Diables au Thym

On October 12 we left Dresden Germany for Paris France, with our lost luggage, on Lufthansa via Munich.  The structure, organization and discipline of German society was very interesting to see.  I saw it manifested in the timeliness and cleanliness of services and public areas.  Trains leave exactly on time, not 30 seconds early or late.  There is no gum or garbage anywhere, and the streets and sidewalks are swept nightly.  Rules are posted everywhere that people are expected to follow, and they do.  It is clear to me why Germany is such an economic powerhouse.  Now we are on our way to Paris, then London, were things were not nearly as structured or organized as in Germany!

My birthday dinner in Paris was at Les Diables au Thym “Devils Time” (www.lesdiablesauthym.com , 35 Rue Berger Paris 75009, 01 47 70 77 09) a restaurant recommend by my dear friend Trish Saltys.  We walked from our hotel beside the Opera Garnier to this 24 seat right bank restaurant just off of Rue Faubourg-Montmartre.   Our server was fabulous, he was fast, efficient, funny and really knew how to upsell!  He suggested the Kathmandu cocktails to start (pink peppercorn infused vodka topped with champagne), then recommended a bottle of wine called ‘Les Couilles d'ânes rouge’ which he told us translated to ‘Donkey’s Balls’, we assumed he was just kidding, who in their right mind would give their wine a name like that.  With the power of the internet in our hands we confirmed the translation was indeed correct!  This soft, smooth 2006 Malbec was a great pairing for our dinner.

In France food menus are labeled with Entrees and Plates, were entrees are starters or appetizers, and plates are main courses, what we would typically call entrees.  To start Jeff ordered the ‘Foie gras de canard cuit en terrine’ which was a perfect slab of silky smooth foie gras topped with some flaky fleur de sel.  I ordered the ‘boudin noir aux pommes’, a thick slice of blood sausage served with gingerbread and roasted apple, another delicious rich entrée.

Stuffed Rabbit Saddle

We both love rabbit and decided to have the stuffed saddle of rabbit for our main course.  The rabbit saddle (boneless loin of rabbit) was stuffed with a delicious combination of dark rabbit meat, shallots and fresh herbs; then served with wild mushrooms and cannellini beans.  This dish looked and tasted great except that it was overcooked.  Rabbit is not very forgiving when it comes to being overcooked!

For dessert I ordered a delicious Chestnut Mille-feuille while Jeff had a selection of French cheeses like Forme d’Ambert, Morbier and Brie (all available from fine cheese shops in Vancouver and Victoria).  Dinner at Les Diables au Thyme was a great start to our first trip to Paris and my birthday celebration.