Another Food Blog

Not in the sense of dead, of course, otherwise this blog would be an effective means of communicating with the afterlife (or the undead, thinking about it, given the late craze about vampires), but in the sense that I was about five minutes late. I know to most people that doesn’t sound like much, but to me, that is incredibly rude; it forces people to wait, often alone, but at least I messaged ahead. On to St John’s Chop House and the food…

I started with the beetroot soup. It was very thick, like a purée, but quite delicious, with a bit of spicy bite to it. I ate only half, it being so filling and knowing that I’d already ordered a second course. My patient dining companion had the scallops from the specials menu, and he said they were excellent. The two photographs above show each of those dishes.

We then moved on to our main course, which we both agreed was pretty damn good. I had the goat cheese (see photograph above), walnut and rocket salad, and although the online menu suggests there was watercress in it, I can’t admit to have noticed any during the eating. It was good; well-balanced dressing, beautifully tangy cheese. It was, however, far too big for me after that filling soup.

My dining companion went with the ’specials’ menu, and chose plaice, which came with sautéed potatoes with the skins still on. I’m told it was very nice. (See photo above.) Given our selections of food, we drank the Millbrook Chenin Blanc, which is from South Africa (the best place for it). It worked rather well, certainly with my main course, the soft, smoothness of the wine offsetting the tanginess of the salad. I’m sure it worked perfectly with the scallops, too (but I wasn’t so impertinent to ask).

Being rather hungry, I thought I’d make an omelette. There’s no picture, as it looked like any other omelette. What I didn’t expect was the amazing flavour of it (even if I do say so myself). Firstly, I chopped a tomato into small pieces and fried them until they were very soft. In the meantime, to a bowl, to two eggs I added a splash of milk, freshly-ground, black pepper and salt to my tastes (which I know from previous attempts), some sliced and chopped smoked ham, grated medium-strength cheddar and about one-fiftieth of a freshly-grated nutmeg. This I then mixed together, being sure that the yolks broke and mixed well, and I added it to the tomatoes in the pan. I mixed the ingredients again to blend the tomatoes throughout and cooked it on a low heat for about seven minutes, stirring once in the meantime, about half-way through, as my pan was a deep one (because I don’t own a non-stick shallow frying pan). When I served it, I put alongside three silver pickled onions (those small ones) and enjoyed it whilst watching the 1pm news. It was excellent, and thanks to the nutmeg, left such an excellent taste in my mouth that I’ll certainly use nutmeg again next time I make an omelette!

Again in Cambridge, this time we started with a shared plate of chargrilled ciabatta which had been rubbed with garlic, drizzled with olive oil and topped with tomatoes, basil and creamy ricotta. Perfectly, it came with two pieces of said description, which made life somewhat easier.

For the main course, I had the beef carpaccio and rocket salad (see above), which, I have to say, was magnificent. The beef couldn’t have been thinner without not existing (well, nearly…) and the stuff in the rocket salad went extremely well together, along with the right intensity and quantity of dressing.

My dining companion had the South Coast ‘fritto misto’ (see picture above) which was crispy fresh fish, using (as Jamie says on his menu) the fish we ’should’ be eating, which was served with a zesty tartare sauce and a slice of these things called ‘Amalfi lemons’ which I must investigate at a later date.

Because of the rather long wait, despite arriving just after 7pm, we went to the bar first and enjoyed some excellent dry rosé (in my case) and second some not particularly good sweet rosé, but we didn’t send it back because they’re new and were extremely busy. With the meal, we drank the wine in the above picture, which was called ‘Barbera d’Asti Ca’ del Matt’, and stood good ground at 13.5%. It was from 2003, and yet surprisingly cheap for a restaurant, at £18.40 for the bottle. It was relatively soft, but with the odd undercurrant (pun) of smokiness and a rounded finish which satisfied our tastes nicely. Definitely going back, but next time won’t bother with a drink elsewhere first; we’ll just have one at the bar whilst we wait for our table. (They don’t take bookings.)