In the fickle world of restaurants, sticking to a vision takes guts
And, in the case of St John in London, bone marrow
IT IS NEARLY 30 years since St John opened in a former smokehouse, just to the north of the City of London. Back then, the restaurant felt daringly stark: whitewashed walls and concrete floors, drinks specials on chalkboards, a high-ceilinged dining room with white tablecloths and wooden chairs, no music. After the pastel-coloured 1980s, it seemed to smack of the mortuary or the operating theatre. Today the decor is reassuringly unaltered.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Closer to the bone”
Culture February 19th 2022
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